A city in Massachusetts has found itself in the spotlight over an ongoing effort to install two statues depicting Catholic saints outside of a municipal public safety building.
Depicting St. Michael the Archangel and St. Florian, the statues slated for placement outside the new Quincy Public Safety Building are said to have been selected for their importance to firemen and policemen around the world.
Critics, however, have taken issue with the use of taxpayer money to fund the installation of Catholic imagery on public property.
Commissioned in 2023, the statues are each ten feet tall and cost a combined $850,000. The figures are intended to complement the new $150 million facility that will house the city’s police and fire departments.
In May of 2025, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Massachusetts filed a lawsuit on behalf of fifteen residents from various faith backgrounds challenging the statues.
The plaintiffs in this case argue that the statues send an “exclusionary message” by suggesting that non-Catholic residents “are second-class citizens who should not feel safe or equally respected” by their own government.
Joe Davis, senior counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, pushed back on these accusations in an interview with Fox News Digital.
“This case is about a city trying to beautify a public space and honor those who put their lives on the line every day,” Davis said. “These are figures that are important to firefighters and police officers around the world. The purpose of these statues is to inspire and encourage the people who work there.”
“If we say that a symbol cannot be displayed in public just because it has religious associations for some, that’s going to require us to take down quite a bit of public imagery across this country,” said Davis.
“At the U.S. Supreme Court, there’s a statue of Moses holding the Ten Commandments,” he added. “It has religious meaning, yes, but it also symbolizes law and justice. The same is true here.”
An injunction temporarily halting the statues’ installation has already been filed, but Becket Fund, which is said to specialize in defending religious expression in public life, is expected to file an appeal.
While Thomas P. Koch, the Quincy mayor who commissioned the statues, has maintained their purpose as symbols of support for first responders, critics have pointed out that they were commissioned without public notice or approval.
A petition with 1,600 signatures opposing the installation of the statues was submitted, and an interfaith coalition of nineteen clergy members from Catholic, Jewish, Unitarian and Protestant congregations issued a public statement suggesting that the display “sends a message that there are insiders and outsiders in this community.”
This case will likely end up before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court where Justices will decide whether displays containing religious imagery are permissible under the constitutional provision for the separation of church and state.
The ACLU of Massachusetts and the City of Quincy do not appear to have responded to requests for comment on this matter from Fox News Digital.
