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“The statues send a message that the Quincy government favors one faith above all others. This flagrantly violates our state constitution.”
A group of 15 Quincy residents, representing multiple religions, filed a lawsuit seeking to halt the installation of two 10-foot, bronze statues of patron saints at the city’s new police and fire building.
The plaintiffs, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, are claiming that the installation of the statues – St. Michael the Archangel and St. Florian, the patron saints of police and firefighters, respectively – violates the Massachusetts Constitution by promoting Catholicism.
The statues cost $850,000, which Quincy Mayor Thomas said doesn’t change the “bottom line” of the new public safety building’s budget. When asked if City Council knew about the commission, Koch previously said “plans evolve.”
“Mayor Koch has made the costly decision to proceed with the unlawful plan to install two larger-than-life statues of Catholic saints at the entrance to a public building in Quincy,” ACLU staff attorney Rachel Davidson said in a statement. “The statues send a message that the Quincy government favors one faith above all others. This flagrantly violates our state constitution.”
In Feburary, the ACLU asked Quincy to cancel the statues, which will adorn the facade of one of the most expensive buildings in Quincy’s history at $175 million, the Patriot Ledger reported.
The lawsuit is asking the court to stop Quincy from spending funds on the statues and to prohibit the city from displaying or installing the statues.
City Council, faith leaders initially raise concerns about statues
Dan Minton, a Ward 5 City Council member and a retired police lieutenant, was one of the first to publicly criticize the statues, saying they “may not translate to contemporary times,” particularly the “violent image” of St. Michael where he is stepping on the devil. He also noted that the City Council did not know about the statues when it approved the project.
The Quincy Interfaith Network also expressed “grave concerns” about the statues of Roman Catholic saints, including the depiction of “violent imagery.”
The ACLU claims that the statues promote Catholicism over other religions and religion over nonreligion. The residents allege that Koch solely decided to use taxpayer funds for the statues “without notice to the public or City Council as a whole,” according to the complaint filed in Norfolk Superior Court Tuesday, which names Koch and the City of Quincy as defendants.
“The decision to commission and install the Catholic saint statues was made by one person: Mayor Thomas P. Koch,” the complaint reads. “Affixing religious icons of one particular faith to a government facility – the City’s public safety building, no less – sends an alarming message that those who do not subscribe to the City’s preferred religious beliefs are second-class residents who should not feel safe, welcomed, or equally respected by their government.”
Koch, who the Ledger reported in 2018 is a devout Catholic, previously said he doesn’t view the statues “specifically as religious” during a radio interview on AM Quincy in February.
“It’s not like Tom Koch is imparting an image, trying to put on the fire, police. That image has been related to both of those services for decades across the world, not just here in Quincy,” Koch said. “I think people in the end will understand that it’s beautiful public art, and it connects with both the fire service and the police service.”
City has already paid $760,000
At a City Council meeting in February, a crowd of residents booed at officials for defending the art, while first responders cheered after the Ledger first reported the statues. There, Chris Walker, Koch’s chief of staff, said the decision had been made, and “this was ultimately and only the mayor’s decision.”
The statues are currently being constructed in Italy and will be brought to Boston sometime in August, according to the complaint. The City has already paid more than $760,000 to the artist, and the complaint claims that the total $850,000 charge doesn’t cover transportation, installation, or storage of the two statues.
“This is a clear breach of the constitutional wall of separation,” Freedom From Religion Foundation Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor said in a statement. “Quincy taxpayers should not have to foot the bill for an ostentatiously specific religious display.”
When asked for comment, Walker said the city hadn’t seen the lawsuit yet and deferred comment.
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