Epiphany of the Lord Parish, Sacred Heart Catholic Church campus / Facebook
CV NEWS FEED // The Diocese of Toledo, Ohio, is challenging a city moratorium that the Diocese claims unconstitutionally halted the demolition of a closed Catholic church.
The Diocese said in a July 30 statement that it made the “difficult” decision to raze the former Sacred Heart Church in Toledo after consulting at town hall meetings and engaging with parishioners, parish leaders, and other stakeholders.
The Diocese also said it carried out its due diligence process, which included engineering studies that found “severe structural damage” to the church.
However, the Toledo City Council passed an emergency moratorium on July 17 that puts demolitions of buildings at least 75 years old that were previously used as gathering places on hold for one year. The Diocese said the moratorium “implicitly targets” Sacred Heart, which it pointed out is “a building the City does not own and over which it does not have jurisdiction.”
According to the Toledo Blade, the purpose of the moratorium is to “provide the city with time to assess the historical value of these structures, explore preservation or alternative use strategies, if any, and engage with stakeholders.”
The Diocese stated that if the city does not rescind the moratorium, it will have “no choice but to pursue legal action” based on defense of its religious freedom rights.
“We would hope that reason will prevail, and that City Council will rescind the ban and concentrate on addressing the critical issues facing our City instead of interfering in matters which are within neither its purview nor authority,” the Diocese stated.
