News Release
For Immediate Release: 11.3.26
Contact: John Manning, media@firstliberty.org
Direct: 972-941-4453
Ukrainian Catholic Church Appeals Decision that Allows Unlawful Double Standard in Zoning Decisions to Continue
Court of Appeals indicates church likely to win case but denies preliminary injunction that would immediately end county’s discrimination.
Collier Township, PA—First Liberty Institute, Troutman Pepper Locke LLP, and the Independence Law Center petitioned the entire U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit to review a divided decision that denied immediate relief to Holy Trinity Ukrainian Catholic Church from Collier Township’s unreasonable restrictions and refusal to grant permits for the church’s plans to construct a new shrine. Despite the court indicating that the church will win the case on the merits, the court permitted Township’s discriminatory treatment of the church to continue.
“No church should have to wait years for its religious liberty to be protected,” said Ryan Gardner, Senior Counsel for First Liberty Institute. “It’s little comfort to Holy Trinity when judges say it’s likely to win the case, but it has to wait months or years to enjoy the freedom the First Amendment guarantees. Such a holding is not only incorrect but also relegates the natural right to worship to a second-class status.”
“The decision to delay justice for Holy Trinity contradicts precedent in both the Third Circuit and the Supreme Court. We hope the court will step in to correct this error,” said Joshua D. Davey of Troutman Pepper Locke LLP.
Chief Counsel at Independence Law Center Randall L. Wenger, Esq. said, “It is an abuse of power for the Collier Township to make decisions based on hostility to a church’s religious beliefs. The court should grant our petition to stop this abuse from continuing.”
Holy Trinity Ukrainian Catholic Church is part of a small branch of the Catholic Church headquartered in Ukraine which worships according to traditions that arose millennia ago in Eastern Europe. Ukrainian Catholic refugees fled from communism in the 20th Century, finding respite in Collier Township. They sought to worship in peace according to their own customs and traditions, and eventually, the refugees acquired a 41-acre parcel of land which they transformed into a cemetery.
When the Church was ready to construct a shrine and related facilities for prayer and worship consistent with their liturgical tradition, their plans were thwarted when the Township rejected the church’s proposal for its own property. Despite the discriminatory treatment of the church, less than a mile up the road, the local carpenters’ union maintains a 19-acre campus that includes classrooms, conference rooms, offices, a cafeteria, an event space, and a meeting room with seating for 400 people. Further, the Township’s zoning code allows for comparable secular uses like amusement parks, ice rinks, fitness centers, and country clubs to operate as a matter of right in the same zoning district while not allowing the same for churches.
The petition states the current ruling bars churches “seeking to construct a new building [from getting] preliminary-injunctive relief on a meritorious . . . claim challenging a preexisting, facially-discriminatory zoning code—even when the municipality has acted out of religious intolerance.”
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About First Liberty Institute
First Liberty Institute is a non-profit public interest law firm and the largest legal organization in the nation dedicated exclusively to defending religious freedom for all Americans.
To arrange an interview, contact John Manning at media@firstliberty.org or by calling 972-941-4453.
