The Archdiocese of Washington has sued the District of Columbia and Mayor Muriel Bowser over the city’s coronavirus restrictions that affect church gatherings.
In the lawsuit filed in US District Court for DC shortly before Christmas, the Archdiocese calls the current 50-person limitation on houses of worship, regardless of size, “arbitrary”, “unscientific”, “illegal” and “discriminatory.”
According to the complaint, the restrictions “single out religious worship as a disfavored activity, even though it has been proven safer than many other activities the District favors.”
“Indeed, if the Archdiocese were to fill its churches with library books, washing machines, exercise bikes, restaurant tables, or shopping stalls instead of pews, the District would allow many more people to enter and remain for an unlimited amount of time,” said the Archdiocese in the lawsuit.
“That is because for public libraries, laundromats, retail stores, restaurants, tattoo parlors, nail salons, fitness centers, and many other establishments, the District imposes capacity-based limits, rather than hard caps. For example, there is no hard cap on the number of people who can dine indoors in restaurants, where alcohol is commonly served and patrons do not wear masks during meals.”
The Archdiocese stated that half of DC’s Catholic parishes are able to accommodate 500 or more worshippers.
The lawsuit made reference to November’s Supreme Court ruling, where the Brooklyn Diocese and Orthodox Jewish synagogues were favored against New York’s coronavirus restrictions. The court concluded that hard caps on the number of worshippers “effectively bar [] many from attending religious services” and that less restrictive rules could be implemented.
The Washington Archdiocese brought the issue to the court ahead of Christmas to seek an injunction for less restrictive COVID-19 measures and percentage-based limits for churches so that they can organize and celebrate Mass, allowing more than 600,000 DC-area Catholics to attend.
“Christmas should be a time for reconciliation and joy, and the Archdiocese simply wants to welcome its flock home. It respectfully requests that it be allowed to do so,” says the Archdiocese.