A legal battle has erupted between a Catholic service organization and the Biden administration over alleged religious discrimination after the group was barred from holding its longstanding Memorial Day mass at a national cemetery. The Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal order, has filed a motion for a temporary restraining order against the National Park Service in Petersburg, Virginia.
At the center of the dispute is the denial of a permit for the Knights to conduct their annual Memorial Day religious service at the Poplar Grove National Cemetery – an event they had held for the past six decades. This marks the second consecutive year the organization has been denied permission to hold the mass at the cemetery.
“The policy and the decision blocking the Knights of Columbus from continuing their long-standing religious tradition is a blatant violation of the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act,” said John Moran, the McGuireWoods partner representing the Knights in the lawsuit against the National Park Service (NPS). “We urge the court to grant our restraining order and allow the Knights to hold their service this Memorial Day.”
Defending the permit denial, Alexa Viets, superintendent of the Petersburg National Battlefield which manages the cemetery, stated that national cemeteries are “established as national shrines” to honor fallen service members. As such, she explained that any special activities within the cemetery “are reserved for a limited set of official commemorative activities that have a connection to military service or have a historic and commemorative significance for the particular national cemetery.”
The park’s website indicates that religious services and vigils have been classified as “demonstrations” since at least 1986 and are prohibited in national cemeteries, with exceptions made for official commemorative events on Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and other dates designated by the superintendent.
However, attorneys for the Knights argued that the group had previously been allowed to conduct a mass or prayer service at the cemetery every Memorial Day for years until a recent policy change obstructed their tradition.
“The National Park Service is way out of line,” said Roger Byron, senior counsel at First Liberty, a religious freedom legal organization supporting the Knights’ case. “This is the kind of unlawful discrimination and censorship RFRA and the First Amendment were enacted to prevent. Hopefully the court will grant the Knights the relief they need to keep this honorable tradition alive.”
A court hearing for the temporary restraining order is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. The Knights of Columbus contend that the denial of their permit violates their rights to free exercise of religion and underscores what they view as an unconstitutional policy of religious discrimination by the National Park Service.