Judge throws out city’s request to dismiss church lawsuit in ongoing battle over Holy Cross Church preservation

Holy Cross Church

An Indianapolis church that owns a deteriorating historical property on the city’s near-east side received an incremental legal victory in an ongoing fight against the city of Indianapolis over whether a historical designation blocking demolition violates the church’s religious freedom.

St. Philip Neri Catholic Church owns the 105-year-old Holy Cross Church and surrounding campus at 125 N. Oriental St. Church leadership has been attempting to demolish the vacated structures and sell the property for more than two years. Those efforts have been blocked by Indianapolis city officials focused on historic preservation, so the church filed a complaint in December that asked a federal court to reverse the decision and rule them unconstitutional.

The complaint says the city’s actions violate the Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act and Indiana law.

Indianapolis had requested the lawsuit be dismissed, arguing that the church could not prove discrimination on religious grounds. But U.S. District Judge Matthew Brookman denied that request in an order signed May 1, in part citing instances in which members of the Indianapolis Historic Preservation Commission discussed religious doctrine during an October meeting.

“That is an awful lot of religion talk for a government commission, which must remain ‘secular in purpose’ when it ‘touch[es] on the religious sphere,’ and must allow the Church to ‘decide for [itself], free from state interference, matters of church government as well as those of faith and doctrine,’” Brookman wrote.

With the city’s motion to dismiss denied, St. Philip Neri’s suit will move forward. Along with the request that previous decisions be nullified, the church also demands to be paid unspecified damages. IBJ has requested comment from the city of Indianapolis.

In response to the decision, Father Jeffrey Dufresne, St. Philip Neri’s pastor, said in a written statement: “We are hopeful for a resolution that ends the city’s interference and will allow us to more fully devote our efforts to St. Philip Neri’s ministries and outreach on the near-east side.”

The Archdiocese of Indianapolis is a co-plaintiff in the case. Supportive amicus briefs have been submitted by  the Islamic and Religious Freedom Action Team of the Religious Freedom Institute and Rev. Patrick E. Reidy, C.S.C., an associate professor of law at Notre Dame Law School.

A long battle

The Holy Cross Church campus has been empty since 2019. Dufresne estimated in October that with the combined cost estimates for masonry, structural work and interior improvements, restoring the church would cost $7.5 million to $8.5 million, but would only boost the estimated sales price for the property by about $100,000, to about $1.1 million. Instead, Dufresne said the church aimed to sell the land without the church structure.

The campus includes four buildings: an Italian Renaissance church building known for its 136-foot-tall bell tower, an attached rectory, a gymnasium and a school building. The oldest building, the school, was constructed in 1902. The newest, the gymnasium, was built in 1948.

The church’s front portico, or archway, collapsed in 2015. The Archdiocese of Indianapolis in 2019 removed the stained glass windows that adorned the church, which the preservation’s report notes were crafted in Zurich. Artifacts from Holy Cross, including the windows, are now in other Catholic churches across the state.

Without the option of demolishing and selling the property, the church alleges in its complaint that the city panels’ actions require it to “either maintain [the property] at great expense, or find a buyer for the church building and accept the risk that in the future the building could be put to forbidden use in violation of Roman Catholic laws, rules, regulations and doctrine.”