News Release
For Immediate Release: 1.8.26
Contact: John Manning, media@firstliberty.org
Direct: 972-941-4453
Pennsylvania Township Applies Unlawful Double Standard to Ukrainian Catholic Church
The First Amendment guarantees churches the right to worship free of government interference.
Collier Township, PA—First Liberty Institute, Troutman Pepper Locke LLP, and the Independence Law Center filed a federal lawsuit seeking a preliminary injunction against Collier Township for imposing unreasonable restrictions and refusing to grant permits for Holy Trinity Ukrainian Catholic Church’s expansion plans to construct a new chapel. The Township’s actions prevent the church from conducting religious services consistent with its historic traditions.
You can read the complaint here and motion for preliminary injunction here.
“The Township has shown clear discrimination in applying strict limitations on the church but giving free reign to comparable secular activities and neighboring organizations,” said Jeremy Dys, Senior Counsel for First Liberty Institute. “Religious freedom means precious little if religious organizations cannot use their property for religious purposes.”
“It’s shameful when a local government puts a stranglehold on a church whose Free Exercise rights are protected by the First Amendment and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act,” said Joshua D. Davey of Troutman Pepper Locke LLP. “It is unlawful for Collier Township to prohibit the church from conducting its religious traditions when the law clearly protects it.”
“It is a bitter irony that a Ukrainian Greek Catholic parish, part of a historic faith tradition that suffered brutal repression under the Soviet Union, is now facing government hostility here in the United States,” said Randall L. Wenger, Esq., Chief Counsel at Independence Law Center. “When officials restrict religious exercise without a compelling government interest, they endanger constitutional rights that protect all Americans.”
Father Jason Charron, pastor of Holy Trinity said, “We are a parish that seeks to worship freely and serve the needs of the community while being treated fairly and equally as all organizations in the Township.”
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 chapel 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. The Township also added unlawful restrictions such as limiting the church for how long and when church bells could ring, for whom memorial services could be held, and on the size and height of proposed buildings.
Despite the restrictions imposed on 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.
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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.
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