A federal judge on Monday temporarily halted the process to name a century-old Pittsburgh church as a historic structure.
City Council was set to vote on giving the designation to St. George Roman Catholic Church, in the city’s Allentown neighborhood, on Monday morning. But a temporary restraining order signed by U.S District Judge Robert J. Colville stopped the vote before it could be held. The order expires Dec. 7.
In a complaint filed in U.S District Court, Bishop David Zubik and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh argued that the designation was premature since the church is not entirely closed for worship.
Due to the need for structural repairs and a lack of money to pay for renovation, Bishop Zubik in 2017 ordered the church to close, according to the complaint. But parishioners appealed and are awaiting a decision from a Vatican tribunal.
Because a historic designation would preserve the church in its current state and would require that the city approve any alterations, the church argued the decision would revoke the diocese’s rights.
“The Ordinance, as applied here, not only infringes upon the religious liberties of Bishop Zubik, the Diocese, and the Parish, but is also in conflict with a law of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” the complaint says.
The diocese claims several violations of the U.S. and state constitutions and Pittsburgh ordinances, saying the the city and historic planner Sarah Quinn are “threatening to control and interfere with the religious exercise of Bishop Zubik, the Diocese, and the Parish.”
Among those alleged violation are depriving the church of the free exercise of religion protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and Article I of the Pennsylvania Constitution, violating the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment and denial of due process.
The city does not comment on legal matters, said mayoral spokesman Timothy McNulty.
On Wednesday, City Council gave preliminary approval of the historic designation, with council members Ricky Burgess, Daniel Lavelle and Theresa Kail-Smith, council president, abstaining.
The day before, Mr. Burgess had requested a legal opinion from the city’s Law Department, which called the historic nomination of the church “legally troubling.”
“Both the property owner and the nominator acknowledge that an internal church appeal process regarding the use of the church is ongoing,” according to the opinion by Assistant City Solicitor Jack Miller. “The City cannot therefore determine that the church is not currently a religious structure, under any interpretation of the ordinance, without first making a subjective determination regarding a purely internal church process.”
Five members of the city’s Historic Review Commission voted in September in favor of landmark status for the German Romanesque structure.
Councilman Bruce Kraus, who represents the Allentown neighborhood, and a group of lay Catholics and community members support the historic designation.
The church, which was dedicated in 1912 and merged in the early 1990s into the St. John Vianney Parish, was designed by Herman J. Lang with stained glass made in Munich, Germany.
In similar case in 2018, a Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court ruling vacated the historic status of the Albright United Methodist Church in Bloomfield after finding City Council never voted on the matter after it was nominated by someone from outside the church.
Christopher Ponticello, general counsel for the diocese, said there has been a “long history” of the city using the historic designation ordinance, but there aren’t many recent cases involving the diocese.
“We’ve always expressed concern of the potential conflict [that] an ordinance like this brings to bear between a religious entity” and the government, he said.
Mick Stinelli: mstinelli@post-gazette.com. Ashley Murray: amurray@post-gazette.com.
First Published: November 23, 2020, 5:03 p.m.
