Park ban is no picnic for Fla. church

PENSACOLA, Fla. — Alliance Defense Fund attorneys filed a lawsuit Thursday on behalf of St. Faustina Old Catholic Church against the city of Pensacola after a police officer ordered the church’s pastor to cease holding picnics at a popular historic public park downtown.  Police declared Plaza Ferdinand VII a "non-event park," even though no city ordinances designate it as such, and public access and events occur there on a regular basis.

"Christian groups shouldn’t be kicked out of public parks for engaging in peaceful activities related to their faith," said ADF Litigation Counsel Daniel Blomberg.  "The police told the church it cannot hold picnics in this very public meeting place because it’s a 'non-event' park, but just one week earlier, more than 2,000 people showed up for an event at the exact same location.  There are some serious inconsistencies here."

Plaza Ferdinand VII has been designated as a public square since 1764, before the founding of the United States.  Nonetheless, Pensacola Police informed Rev. Nathan Monk of St. Faustina Old Catholic Church on Feb. 26 that his picnics were no longer allowed at the park.  One officer told Monk that the Thursday night fellowship--ranging from 20 to 30 church members and park visitors--attracted "undesirables" to the park, referring to the homeless people who often accepted the church’s offer to join the picnic.  The officer admitted that there were no issues with disruptive behavior at the picnics and even recognized that the church members routinely picked up not only their own trash, but also any other trash nearby.

The officer suggested that the picnics could be moved to two other public parks: one located in a high-crime area under a highway overpass and the other by a nearby sewage plant.

On March 20, ADF attorneys sent a letter to the city stating that its discriminatory closure of the park to the church was unconstitutional and urging the city to rescind its action in order to avoid litigation.  However, the city continued to deny the church access to the park, adding that the ban existed to protect the park’s grass.   This explanation made little sense to the church, as police never mentioned the grass when ordering the church to leave, and the church picnics only took place on a paved area accessed by paved walkways.

"Church groups have the same First Amendment rights as anyone else in America," said ADF Legal Counsel Dale Schowengerdt.  "Sadly, because of the city’s unconstitutional and unfounded refusal to allow the church access to the public park for its picnics, the fellowship and Bible study outreach to the community no longer take place at the park."

ADF-allied attorney Mark Welton of the Crestview law firm Welton & Williamson, LLC, is serving as local counsel in the case.

ADF is a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith.  Launched in 1994, ADF employs a unique combination of strategy, training, funding, and litigation to protect and preserve religious liberty, the sanctity of life, marriage, and the family.