Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch is teaming up with a distinguished authorized group in interesting a court docket order that has blocked him from putting in statues of Michael the Archangel and Florian on the metropolis’s public security constructing due to their Catholic nature.
Koch and The Becket Fund for Non secular Liberty are asking the state appellate courts to overturn the Norfolk Superior Courtroom ruling issued final week, arguing that the 2 10-foot-tall bronze statues would honor public service, not faith.
“We respect every citizen’s beliefs,” Koch stated in a press release, “religious or not. But the statues of Michael and Florian honor service – not a creed. We’re hopeful that the court will reverse this order and allow our city to pay tribute to the men and women who keep our city safe.”
The attraction comes after Norfolk Superior Decide William Sullivan declined the town’s request to dismiss a lawsuit filed this previous spring by an ACLU-backed multifaith group of Quincy residents, discovering that the statues are too carefully associated to faith to be put in on the public security constructing.
Sullivan additionally granted a preliminary injunction that has prevented the town of Quincy from continuing with the set up of the statues whereas the lawsuit proceeds.
Honoring first responders with the statues has ignited a speedy backlash locally since Koch commissioned the figures in 2023 for $850,000 in metropolis funds. Opponents argue that the mayor didn’t solicit public suggestions earlier than making the choice.
St. Florian is taken into account the patron saint of firefighters, and Michael is the patron saint of police.
Sullivan dominated that the statues are “drawn directly from and are wholly consistent with Catholic scripture, teaching and iconography, and serve no discernible secular purpose.”
“Plaintiffs have also demonstrated that they are likely to succeed,” the choose wrote, “at proving that the permanent display of the oversized, overtly religious-looking statues has a primary effect advancing religion.”
“The placement of two statues seemingly befitting a house of worship,” he added, “on the exterior facade of the public safety building, overshadowing public access points, indicates the primary effect is likely to convey a religious message.”
The Becket Fund for Non secular Liberty, a nonprofit, public-interest authorized institute, has argued that if Sullivan’s choice is “allowed to stand,” cities and cities throughout the Bay State can be pushed to “strip historic symbols from civic life whenever they carry religious associations.”
The group additionally famous that the Supreme Courtroom has upheld the “use of symbols with religious roots in public life … when they carry historical, cultural, or commemorative significance.”
“Everyone is free to have their own opinions about public art,” Becket senior counsel Joseph Davis stated in a press release, “but in America, the fact that something may have religious associations is not a legitimate reason to censor it.”
“Our nation, like many others,” he added, “has long drawn on historic symbols—including those with religious roots—to honor courage and sacrifice. The court should reject this lawsuit’s attempt to block these symbols of bravery and courage.”
The statue controversy comes as the town neighboring Boston is dealing with $1.6 billion in excellent debt, in response to the Patriot Ledger. A choose additionally just lately dominated towards there being a poll query in November’s election to undo Koch’s $135,000 increase that the Metropolis Council authorised final yr, the Ledger has reported.
Koch, who makes $285,000 yearly, greater than the mayors of Boston and New York Metropolis, discovered himself mired in much more controversy final month after he stated in a radio interview that the Catholic church’s sexual abuse scandal was “mostly homosexual issues, not pedophilia.”
“Pedophilia is a younger age than a teenager,” Koch stated through the interview on Dan Rea’s “Nightside” radio present on WBZ. The mayor issued a public apology after making the controversial remarks.
He stated, “I know better and will do better.”
