Lawsuit challenges Catholic statues at Quincy public safety building

A Massachusetts neighborhood is split over whether or not to permit two towering bronze statues of Catholic saints exterior its new public security constructing.

In an interview with Fox Information Digital, Joe Davis, senior advisor on the Becket Fund for Spiritual Liberty, mentioned Quincy, Massachusetts’ plan to erect statues of St. Michael the Archangel and St. Florian displays a centuries-old inventive and cultural custom of honoring braveness and sacrifice, and never a violation of the Structure’s separation of church and state.

“This case is a couple of metropolis making an attempt to beautify its public areas and honor those that put their lives on the road every single day,” Davis mentioned. “These are figures which are vital to firefighters and cops all over the world. The aim of those photographs is to encourage and encourage the individuals who work there.”

Facet-by-side view of two bronze statues created for Quincy’s new public security constructing. One depicts Saint Michael the Archangel standing over a defeated determine with a defend and spear, and the opposite depicts Saint Florian pouring water over a burning construction. (Norfolk County Superior Courtroom)

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Background details about the dispute

The statues, every about 10 ft tall and costing a mixed $850,000, had been commissioned by Mayor Thomas P. Koch in 2023 and are anticipated to be put in on the facade of Quincy’s new Public Security Constructing, a $150 million constructing that may home the town’s police and fireplace departments.

The challenge has fueled months of heated debate in south Boston, with critics arguing that utilizing taxpayer cash to show Catholic photographs on authorities property violates each the Massachusetts Structure and the Institution Clause of the First Modification.

In Might 2025, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Massachusetts, together with the Freedom From Faith Basis and People United for Separation of Church and State, filed a lawsuit on behalf of 15 residents from totally different religion traditions.

The plaintiffs say the statues ship an “exclusionary message” suggesting that non-Catholic residents are “second-class residents who mustn’t really feel protected or equally revered” by their very own authorities.

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The ACLU had beforehand warned metropolis officers in a Feb. 24 letter that the plan “clearly violates” the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights.

“Inserting larger-than-life statues of Catholic saints in entrance of a public constructing unequivocally promotes one faith to the exclusion of all others,” the letter mentioned, noting that the statues of St. Michael standing on the neck of a demon had been “notably repugnant” and “harking back to brutal violence.”

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Davis: ‘That is about honoring service, not selling religion’

Davis rejected these claims, emphasizing that the town’s intent is in line with long-standing American traditions of civic artwork that carry spiritual associations.

“If we are saying {that a} image can’t be displayed in public simply because it has spiritual associations for some, that may require us to take away fairly a number of public photographs on this nation,” Davis mentioned. “There’s a statue of Moses holding the Ten Commandments on the U.S. Supreme Courtroom. It has spiritual significance, sure, however it additionally symbolizes regulation and justice. The identical is true right here.”

Davis in contrast the Quincy statues to the Bladensburg Peace Cross, a World Struggle I memorial in Maryland that the U.S. Supreme Courtroom upheld as constitutional in 2019.

‘That cross honored the victims of warfare. Quincy needs to honor firefighters and cops,” he mentioned.

One in every of two websites in entrance of the brand new Quincy Police Headquarters on Sea Road, which is designed to deal with a statue, on Friday, September 19, 2025. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger / USA TODAY NETWORK by way of Imagn Photos)

The Becket Fund, which makes a speciality of defending spiritual expressions in public life, plans to attraction the order that quickly halted the set up of the statues. Davis mentioned the workforce hopes the case will make clear whether or not public symbols with spiritual origins can seem in public areas when used for secular or historic functions.

“It may go to the intermediate court docket of appeals in Massachusetts, or it may go straight to the Supreme Courtroom, the Supreme Courtroom of Massachusetts,” Davis mentioned. “And that court docket can be requested to reply an vital query and set an vital precedent, which is whether or not public symbols may be faraway from the general public sq. simply because they’ve spiritual associations with some individuals. I do not suppose that is proper. It might set a really harmful precedent.”

A bronze statue of Saint Michael the Archangel standing over a defeated determine, holding a defend and spear in a dramatic pose symbolizing safety and conquer evil. (Norfolk County Superior Courtroom)

Native response

Koch has maintained that the photographs had been chosen to “honor and shield” first responders, noting that many cops and firefighters carry medals or prayer playing cards bearing the identical photographs of saints. The works are sculpted in Italy by artist Sergey Eylanbekov, who additionally created public monuments of John Adams and John Hancock for the town.

Critics say the mayor ordered the challenge with out public discover or approval from the Metropolis Council. In accordance with the lawsuit reviewed by Fox Information Digital, the primary funds to the artist had been made in 2023, however most metropolis officers and residents didn’t study of the plan till February 2025, when an area newspaper printed photographs of the constructing with the 2 saints on both aspect of the doorway.

A petition in opposition to the statues gathered greater than 1,600 signatures, and an interfaith coalition of 19 clergy from Catholic, Jewish, Unitarian and Protestant congregations launched a public assertion warning that the show “sends a message that there are insiders and outsiders on this neighborhood.”

The areas on both aspect of the brand new entrance door of the Quincy Police Division await the set up of two controversial statues on Monday, June 2, 2025. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger / USA TODAY NETWORK by way of Imagn Photos)

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The lawsuit argues that the photographs don’t meet all 4 elements of the Massachusetts Supreme Courtroom’s check for establishing spiritual neutrality. Though the federal Supreme Courtroom deserted this check in 2022, Massachusetts courts proceed to use it below the state structure.

Nevertheless, Davis mentioned courts have lengthy acknowledged that authorities speech can have combined spiritual and secular meanings.

“It is very disturbing to say that as a result of some individuals contemplate one thing to be spiritual, which means it needs to be eliminated. And actually, if the spiritual points needed to be kind of erased, that might be a extremely unbalanced and inaccurate presentation of our historical past and tradition,” he mentioned.

A bronze statue of Saint Florian pouring water over a burning constructing, symbolizing safety in opposition to fireplace and honoring firefighters. (Norfolk County Superior Courtroom)

What comes subsequent

The case may quickly go earlier than the Massachusetts Supreme Courtroom, the place justices will weigh whether or not public artwork incorporating spiritual imagery violates the state’s strict constitutional separation of church and state.

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For now, the photographs will stay saved abroad, awaiting cargo to Quincy later this 12 months. Metropolis officers have mentioned they are going to stay “silent on the affirmation entrance” because the authorized battle performs out.

“Quincy is doing what cities have been doing for hundreds of years,” Davis mentioned. “Utilizing artwork to honor the individuals who shield and serve. That’s not a spiritual act. It’s an act of gratitude.”

Fox Information Digital has reached out to the ACLU of Massachusetts and the town of Quincy for remark.