Richmond, VA—Today, First Liberty Institute and the international law firm McGuireWoods LLP announced that the National Park Service has granted a permit to the Knights of Columbus Petersburg Council 694 allowing the Knights annual Memorial Day Mass service in the Poplar Grove National Cemetery in Petersburg, Virginia. The Knights have held the service at the park every year since at least the 1960s.
“We are
grateful to the NPS for allowing the Knights to hold their service this
Memorial Day,” said John Moran, Partner at McGuireWoods.
Roger
Byron, Senior Counsel at First Liberty, added, “The Knights are thrilled that
they will be able to exercise their religious beliefs and keep this honorable
tradition alive. We appreciate the tremendous support of Governor
Youngkin and Attorney General Miyares in this case.”
Founded
almost 150 years ago in the United States, the Knights of Columbus is a
Catholic fraternal service order with over 2 million members worldwide. One
long-standing way the Knights have lived out their faith and their patriotism
is by holding Memorial Day masses to honor and pray for the nation’s fallen
soldiers. Until last year, the Knights had always held
a Memorial Day mass within the Poplar Grove National Cemetery, and the mass (or
a prayer service when a priest was not available) had been celebrated there
every year without incident since at least the 1960s. But last year, for
the first time, the NPS denied the Knights a permit to hold the service in the
cemetery, citing a new policy that designates “religious services” as
prohibited “demonstrations.”
A lawsuit
against NPS filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District
of Virginia by First Liberty Institute and the international law firm
McGuireWoods LLP was dismissed after an agreement to allow the service was
reached.
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About
First Liberty Institute
First Liberty Institute is the largest legal organization in the
nation dedicated exclusively to defending religious freedom for all Americans.
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