Supreme Court will weigh attempt to block Catholic shrine construction in Kentucky
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case in which two neighbors are trying to stop a Catholic group in Kentucky from building a shrine to the Virgin Mary on its own land.
The justices agreed to take up the appeal in a Thursday orders list and will review a Kentucky Supreme Court ruling that went against the Missionaries of St. John the Baptist.
No date has been set for oral arguments. The outcome could set a nationwide precedent for how cities apply zoning rules that may burden religious practice.
The Missionaries of St. John the Baptist, a religious association of Catholics, operates the Our Lady of Lourdes Chapel in Park Hills, a northern Kentucky city just south of Cincinnati.
The dispute turns on the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), a federal law that bars zoning rules from placing a substantial burden on a church's religious exercise. The association argues that stopping the shrine would violate that law.
The case gives the justices a chance to clarify which standards apply under RLUIPA.
“Telling a church it can’t build a modest place for prayer and reflection on its own property is outrageous,” Kelly Shackelford, the CEO of First Liberty Institute, a legal organization representing Missionaries of St. John the Baptist, said in a statement. “Federal law provides clear protections for how faith-based organizations can use their property to support their mission. This is an important case for religious freedom.”
In March 2021, the association applied for a variance and a conditional use permit so it could build a small grotto behind its building. The Park Hills Board of Adjustment, the city body that rules on such requests, approved the request in April 2021.
The variance lifted a zoning restriction that would normally have barred building at that spot. The city council cited RLUIPA as its reason for allowing the exemption.
The chapel has stood on the site for nearly 100 years. Park Hills adopted its zoning ordinance in 1974, long after the chapel was built.
Joel and Elizabeth Frederic, who live next to the property, opposed the shrine and challenged the board’s decision in state court. The couple worried about parking and traffic if the shrine drew pilgrims.
The chapel responded that the project would consist of a grotto holding a statue of Mary, a second statue of St. Bernadette, a patio and a walkway.
A trial court rejected the Frederics’ objections. The Kentucky Court of Appeals reversed that decision, ruling that barring the grotto did not violate federal law.
In December 2025, the Kentucky Supreme Court upheld the appeals ruling. The state’s highest court found that the city board went beyond its authority when it granted the variance.
The planned shrine honors the appearances of the Virgin Mary that St. Bernadette reported witnessing in 1858 at Lourdes, France.
In Catholic practice, a grotto is a shrine built to resemble a cave, often man-made, and dedicated to Mary or to saints. Believers use these sites for prayer and devotion. They can be found inside churches, in gardens and along roads.
Two other law firms, Quinn Emanuel and Breidenstein Legal Services LLC, are working with the institute on the case.
John Bash, a Quinn Emanuel partner who co-chairs the firm’s national appellate practice, says that Congress acted to shield religious groups from unlawful burdens imposed through local zoning laws and from neighbors’ protests.
Bash said the legal team is grateful for the chance to argue before the justices.
Congress passed RLUIPA in 2000, and President Bill Clinton signed it into law that year. The law covers two areas: land use by religious groups and the religious exercise of people held in institutions such as prisons.
Under its land-use provisions, a government that imposes a substantial burden on religious exercise through a zoning decision must show that the burden serves a compelling interest and is the least restrictive way of achieving it.
