- The fraternity has held a service at the national cemetery every year since 1960.
- But a change in policy means the rally is now classified as a “demonstration.”
A Catholic fraternity is suing the White House after it was banned from holding an annual mass it has hosted at a national cemetery for more than 60 years.
The Knights of Columbus has celebrated a Memorial Day Mass at Poplar Grove National Cemetery in Virginia every year since 1960.
But it alleges religious discrimination after the National Park Service (NPS) decided the religious service amounted to a “demonstration” and decided to ban it at the Petersburg site.
“The policy and decision preventing the Knights of Columbus from continuing its long-standing religious tradition is a flagrant violation of the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act,” their attorney John Moran said in a news release.
“We urge the court to grant our restraining order and allow the Knights to perform their service this Memorial Day.”
The Knights of Columbus, pictured here in DC, have been banned from celebrating their annual Memorial Day Mass at Poplar Grove National Cemetery in Virginia.
The Catholic fraternity had organized the service every year since 1960, but they were told it violates National Park Service rules on “demonstrations.”
The group was founded in New Haven, Connecticut, as a social welfare organization in 1882 and has more than two million members worldwide.
The NPS has had a rule in place since the 1980s that classifies religious services and vigils as “demonstrations.”
There was a specific exemption for “official commemorative events held for Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and other dates designated by the superintendent as being of special historical and commemorative significance to a particular national cemetery.”
But the NPS clamped down on the Knights after a policy change in 2022 that called for “demonstrations” to be held that are likely to draw “spectators” elsewhere.
“National cemeteries are established as national shrines to honor those who have died in service to our country,” Alexa Viets, superintendent of the Petersburg National Battlefield, told the Washington Times.
“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 historical and commemorative significance for the particular national cemetery.”
Former President John F. Kennedy was a member of the Knights, but his Catholic successor in the White House now faces a court battle over religious discrimination.
President John F. Kennedy was a member of the fraternity, but his Catholic successor in the White House now faces a court battle over religious discrimination.
“We assume there must have been some kind of oversight or miscommunication, and that the park service is just going to approve the permit,” said Roger Byron of the law firm First Liberty Institute.
‘If they don’t, we will know that something else has happened, something that bears the unmistakable marks of religious discrimination.
“The National Park Service is out of line.”