PETERSBURG, Virginia (LifeSiteNews) — The Biden administration’s National Park Service (NPS) announced on Thursday that it is granting the Knights of Columbus a permit to hold a Memorial Day Mass at a national cemetery in Petersburg, Virginia, after the Knights filed a lawsuit over its initial denial of their request. The lawsuit has now been dropped.
First Liberty Institute and McGuireWoods LLP filed a motion on Tuesday on behalf of the Knights for a temporary restraining order against the National Park Service so that the Knights could hold a Memorial Day Mass at the Poplar Grove National Cemetery, an ongoing annual tradition that began in the 1960s.
According to the First Liberty Institute, the NPS denied the Knights a permit to hold a Memorial Day Mass because of a 2022 policy update that categorizes “religious services” as “demonstrations” that are prohibited at national cemeteries.
“The policy and the decision blocking the Knights of Columbus from continuing their long-standing religious tradition is a blatant violation of the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA),” commented McGuireWoods partner John Moran in a First Liberty press release. “We urge the court to grant our restraining order and allow the Knights to hold their service this Memorial Day.”
Roger Byron, First Liberty senior counsel, likewise said the NPS’ initial denial of a permit for a Memorial Day Mass at a national cemetery violated the First Amendment.
“The National Park Service is way out of line,” said Byron. “This is the kind of unlawful discrimination and censorship RFRA and the First Amendment were enacted to prevent. Hopefully the court will grant the Knights the relief they need to keep this honorable tradition alive.”
The NPS website says that “religious services,” along with demonstrations, are considered First Amendment activities, which, when involving over 25 participants, “require special use permits” and may be regulated by the park with regard to “the time, place and manner in which they are conducted.”
The NPS had offered to let the Knights use a location for a Memorial Day Mass “immediately adjacent to the cemetery” rather than at the cemetery itself, according to The Washington Times.
It is unclear under what grounds permission to hold a Memorial Day Mass in the Poplar Grove National Cemetery was denied. Alexa Viets, superintendent of the Petersburg National Battlefield, told the Times: “National Cemeteries are established as national shrines in tribute to those who have died in service to our country, and as such any special activities within the cemetery are reserved for a limited set of official commemorative activities that have a connection to military service or have a historic and commemorative significance for the particular national cemetery.”
Viets added that federal regulations “prohibit the Battlefield from authorizing individuals or organizations to host a special event within National Cemeteries to protect the atmosphere of solemnity, quiet contemplation and tranquility within this space,” as if to suggest that the Holy Mass would disrupt the solemn and contemplative nature of the cemetery.
The Code of Federal Regulations regarding national cemeteries states, “the authorization of activities that take place in national cemeteries is limited to those that are consistent with applicable legislation and that are compatible with maintaining the solemn commemorative and historic character of these areas.”
Another Knights council also has plans to hold an annual Memorial Day Mass at the Andersonville National Cemetery in Andersonville, Georgia, as shared on the NPS website.
LifeSiteNews reached out to the Petersburg National Battlefield Administration Office for comment, but two staff members declined, citing ongoing litigation.