By Michael Gryboski, Editor Friday, October 17, 2025

A court has blocked a Massachusetts city from erecting two 10-foot-tall bronze statues of Catholic saints as part of the construction of a new government building.

Massachusetts Superior Court Justice William F. Sullivan issued a preliminary injunction on Tuesday against Quincy officials from including the two statues on the façade of the new public safety building.

Sullivan ruled the plaintiffs, an interfaith group of local residents, have "demonstrated that they are likely to succeed at proving that the permanent display of the oversized overtly religious-looking statues have a primary effect of advancing religion."

"Plaintiffs will likely be able to show that the statues convey to the public observing them the implicit government support for the religious doctrine and adherents of Catholic / Christian faith, and as a result, the subordination of other religions," wrote Sullivan.

Sullivan also rejected the defendants' argument that stopping the installation of the statues would violate the First Amendment by caving in to the plaintiffs' anti-Catholic bias.

"This argument has no merit and would turn constitutional jurisprudence on its head," he wrote. "Plaintiffs are not government actors; Defendants are. Plaintiffs do not seek to exclude, burden, or target Catholic beliefs."

The plaintiffs are represented by Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Freedom From Religion Foundation and Cloherty & Steinberg LLP.

Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United, said in a statement released Tuesday that she considered the preliminary injunction "a win for religious freedom and church-state separation."

Laser blasted the efforts of local officials to install the statues, saying that they are "violating the constitutional promise of church-state separation and sending a message to all who rely on city services that one faith is favored over all others."

Quincy garnered controversy after moving to add the bronze statues of St. Michael the Archangel and St. Florian, patron saints of police and firefighters.

The two statues were to be on the façade of the building and cost of approximately $850,000 out of an overall construction project that costs $175 million, reported Boston.com.

In an interview with AM Quincy in February, Mayor Thomas Koch defended the statutes, describing them as "beautiful public art" and something that he does not consider "specifically as religious."

"It's not like Tom Koch is imparting an image, trying to put on the fire, police. That image has been related to both of those services for decades across the world, not just here in Quincy," said Koch.

"I think people in the end will understand that it's beautiful public art, and it connects with both the fire service and the police service."

News Source : https://www.christianpost.com/news/massachusetts-court-blocks-catholic-statues-from-govt-building.html