FIRST ON FOX: The Supreme Court agreed Thursday to hear a Kentucky church’s fight to build a prayer grotto on its property, taking up a dispute over what constitutes a "substantial burden" on religious exercise under federal land-use law.Ryan Gardner, senior counsel at First Liberty Institute, which represents the Missionaries of St.John the Baptist, told Fox News Digital the implications stretch far beyond the proposed Catholic shrine in Park Hills, Kentucky."This is a massive case for religious liberty because it has the potential to impact every single zoning law in this country," Gardner told Fox News Digital.ORTHODOX JEW FIGHTS BACK, SAYS CALIFORNIA CITY FINED HIM FOR HOME PRAYER MEETINGSThe property near St.
John Church in Park Hills, Ky., where the Missionaries of St.John the Baptist have sought to build a prayer grotto.
(First Liberty Institute)At the center of the case is a proposed 16-by-39-foot grotto that court records say would include a shrine to the Virgin Mary, a plaza, walking path and retaining wall.Gardner compared its roughly 600-square-foot footprint to the size of a swimming pool.The church applied in March 2021 for a conditional-use permit and variance to build the grotto behind its building in honor of the Virgin Mary’s apparition to Saint Bernadette in Lourdes, France.
The church building itself has stood on the property for nearly a century, which predates Park Hills’ zoning ordinance adopted in 1974.The property history is a bit more complicated than the case’s shorthand description may suggest.The proposed grotto involved an adjacent parcel that was initially subject to a perpetual lease that would be transferred to the religious organization as a condition of the project’s approval.
But unlike many religious land-use disputes, Gardner said, the church’s initial fight in this case was not with the local government.The Park Hills Board of Adjustment approved the church’s permit in April 2021.Two neighboring property owne...