Religious land use

RICHARD A. SOKERKA

Plans to erect a small adoration chapel in honor of St. Padre Pio on a 40-acre wooded site in rural Michigan has gotten serious pushback from local residents and the town, sadly necessitating a lawsuit focusing on religious land use and religious liberty rights.

Catholic Healthcare International (CHI), a Missouri-based nonprofit, is planning to erect a replica of St. Padre Pio’s adoration chapel that is located in San Giovani Rotondo, Italy. The project, to be near Howell, Mich., would consist of a 6,000-square-foot, 95-seat chapel, as well as three prayer trails through the wooded property, including an outdoor Stations of the Cross. The Diocese of Lansing had donated the land for this purpose.

In March, the Township Planning Com­mission in Livingston County recommended approval of a special land use permit, site plan, and environmental impact assessment, which would allow CHI to erect the chapel honoring St. Padre Pio. However, disregarding the planning commission’s recommendation, the township’s board of trustees rejected the plan, citing concerns about traffic and insisting that the land should remain undeveloped.

Opponents of the chapel also felt the site would become a widely known pilgrim destination attracting busloads of pilgrims, like apparition sites such as Lourdes or Fatima. However, the planned design calls for only 39 parking spaces with the chapel situated 600 feet from the main road.

In June, Catholic Healthcare International, with assistance from the American Freedom Law Center, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against both the township and its ordinance officer. The suit alleges that by denying Catholics the right to pray on church-owned property, the township is violating the federal Religious Land Use Institutionalized Persons Act and the Michigan Constitution, and has failed to protect CHI’s First and Fourteenth Amend­ment rights. The lawsuit contends the township “substantially burdened and unlawfully infringed upon plaintiffs’ rights to religious exercise, religious expression, and expressive association.”

The township has filed a motion to dismiss the case and the court is scheduled to hear it on Nov. 4.

“This is one of the most breathtaking attacks on religious liberty that I have witnessed during my 20-plus years of civil rights litigation,” said Robert Muise of the American Freedom Law Center, who filed the lawsuit defending CHI’s First Amend­ment rights. “We intend to fight this for as long as it takes to restore CHI’s fundamental right to religious freedom.”

It is our hope, through the intercession of St. Padre Pio, that an amicable resolution can be reached so that this land can be used as its religiously affiliated owner intends it to be — to honor St. Padre Pio.