NPS Allows Knights of Columbus to Hold Memorial Day Mass at National Cemetery After Legal Challenge to Ban
The annual Mass had been deemed “a prohibited demonstration" under NPS regulations because it is a "religious service."
By Gary Gately
The National Park Service has reversed its decision to ban the Knights of Columbus from holding a Memorial Day Mass at a Civil War cemetery in Virginia after the Catholic organization sued, claiming NPS’s decision violated its First Amendment right to freedom of religion.
First Liberty Institute, a Christian conservative legal organization that represented the Knights, said the NPS relented after the legal challenge, filed in U.S. District Court in Richmond.
The local chapter of the Knights had held a Mass each Memorial Day at Poplar Grove National Cemetery within Petersburg National Battlefield, about 30 miles south of Richmond, since the 1960s until the NPS banned it last year.
The Park Service had deemed it “a prohibited ‘demonstration’ under NPS regulations because it is a ‘religious service.’”
The NPS again denied the Knights a permit this year but said the organization could hold the Mass on a patch of grass near a parking lot.
“Banishing the Knights from the sacred ground of these National Cemeteries is not a reasonable alternative accommodation by any measure,” attorneys with First Liberty and the law firm McGuireWoods wrote in their District Court filing.
The attorneys also wrote that the ban violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a 1990s law that restricts government infringement on religious liberties.
Roger Byron, senior counsel at First Liberty, said, “The Knights are thrilled that they will be able to exercise their religious beliefs and keep this honorable tradition alive.”
NPS officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The eight-acre Poplar Grove National Cemetery is the final resting place for over 6,000 U.S soldiers who died during the Civil War. Soldiers who served in the Spanish American War, World War I, World War II and the Korean War are also buried in the cemetery.