The Knights of Columbus, a service-based Catholic fraternal organization, has filed a lawsuit against the National Parks Service (NPS) in Petersburg, Virginia after being prohibited from holding its annual Memorial Day Mass in the Poplar Grove National Cemetery.
The group is seeking a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction so that they may hold this year’s event as planned.
In addition to the NPS, the Knights of Columbus name several others in their lawsuit, including the U.S. Department of Interior, as well as Superintendent Alexa Viets of the Petersburg National Battlefield and Chief Park Ranger Aaron Scott in their official capacities.
The Knights of Columbus allege in their brief that the defendants have unlawfully prevented them from holding their traditional Memorial Day Mass, which has occurred nearly every year since the 1960s.
According to the Knights of Columbus, the defendants’ refusal to grant their permit represents a violation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the Free Exercise Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
The Religious Freedom Restoration Act, passed by Congress in 1993, “prohibits any agency, department, or official of the United States or any State (the government) from substantially burdening a person’s exercise of religion” unless it either “furthers a compelling governmental interest” and “is the least restrictive means of furthering [that interest].”
In their filing, the Knights of Columbus explain that because their mass is a “religious service,” the NPS has deemed it to be an impermissible “demonstration” under the current interpretation of agency regulations that have been in place for nearly four decades.
Consequently, the Knights of Columbus were only granted a permit to hold their mass “outside the cemetery on a patch of grass near the parking lot, which they have designated as a ‘First Amendment Area.'”
“Defendants’ treatment of the Knights is unreasonable, unnecessary, and unconstitutional,” the organization wrote in their brief.
The organization filed their lawsuit on Tuesday, May 21, just over a week before their Memorial Day mass was scheduled to be held.
Because of this extraordinarily short timeline, the Knights of Columbus requested that the court grant “immediate preliminary relief” in order to allow their event to take place.
“By prohibiting the Knights from exercising their religious convictions and expressing their patriotism by praying for and honoring the fallen through a Catholic mass held inside the cemetery,” the group argued, “NPS is misapplying its own regulations, unlawfully infringing on the Knights’ First Amendment rights and violating the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.”
“Defendants refuse to allow the Knights to hold their traditional Memorial Day event in the Poplar Grove National Cemetery, as they have done for generations, because it involves a Catholic mass, which is a ‘religious service’ and therefore, they say, makes the event a prohibited ‘demonstration.'” the Knights of Columbus wrote in their brief. “The Court should immediately enjoin that unlawful and unconstitutional burden on the Knights’ religious practice and allow them to resume their annual religious tradition.”
“For more than half a century, the Knights expressed their patriotism for the United States and appreciation and reverence for our Nation’s veterans by hosting an annual Memorial Day mass at Poplar Grove National Cemetery in Petersburg, Virginia,” they explained. “That suddenly changed last year, in 2023, when the NPS abruptly revoked permission for the Knights to continue their longstanding tradition of holding the annual Memorial Day mass inside the National Cemetery.”
“Despite decades of allowing the commemoration, the NPS relied on a new 2022 policy memorandum from the Director of the National Park Service to conclude that the Knights’ solemn event would henceforth be categorized as a prohibited ‘demonstration’ under NPS regulations because it is a ‘religious service,'” they continued.
The organization goes on to explain that in the sixty-plus years that the Knights of Columbus have held this mass, the NPS had never before objected to the service being held despite the fact that the relevant regulations have been in place since 1986.
Under these rules, a “demonstration” is defined as “a demonstration, picketing, speechmaking, marching, holding a vigil or religious service, or any other like form of conduct that involves the communication or expression of views or grievances, engaged in by one or more persons, the conduct of which is reasonably likely to attract a crowd or onlookers.”
Although these regulations have been in place for nearly forty years, the NPS did not interpret them as prohibitive of the Knights of Columbus’ Memorial Day mass until this past year.
“Defendants’ policy allows an incredible amount of secular conduct that works against its purported interest of a solemn and quiet atmosphere, and does so far more severely than the Knights’ mass,” the group wrote. “The policy allows pageants, festivals, celebrations, and even parades, among other things. All of these are more damaging to the atmosphere of the cemetery than any mass the Knights have ever held.”
“It is no answer for Defendants to argue they never have granted an exception to the prohibition,” the Knights of Columbus argued. “That ship has sailed. Defendants have been granting an exception to the Knights for almost 40 years now.”
Click Here to Read the Full Lawsuit Filed by the Knights of Columbus
Representing the Knights of Columbus in this case are the international law firm McGuireWoods and First Liberty Institute, a legal organization dedicated to defending religious liberties.
“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, Partner at McGuireWoods in a press release Tuesday.
“We urge the court to grant our restraining order and allow the Knights to hold their service this Memorial Day,” Moran continued.
“The National Park Service is way out of line,” added Roger Byron, Senior Counsel at First Liberty. “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.”
Click Here to Read the Full Press Release from First Liberty
Viets of the Petersburg National Battlefield responded to the lawsuit in a statement to the Washington Times, effectively reiterating the NPS regulations regarding what kind of events can and cannot be held in National Cemeteries.
“National Cemeteries are established as national shrines in tribute to those who have died in service to our country, and as such 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,” Viets said.
The NPS has reportedly told members of the press that it does not comment on pending litigation.
A true outrage . The Knights have an honorable history. They were instrumental in fighting for worker rights. Where are the unions ?