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September 13, 2024CNA Staff, Sep 13, 2024
Photo: Deacon Bob Young, representing Knights of Columbus Council 694, accepts the First Liberty Institute's Philip B. Onderdonk Jr. Religious Liberty Award award at the American Legion’s National Convention in New Orleans on Aug. 28, 2024. | Credit: Jeric Wilhelmsen/The American Legion
A council of Knights of Columbus in Virginia has received a religious freedom award after it won a dispute earlier this year with the government over celebrating Mass at a federal cemetery.
The First Liberty Institute awarded the Knights of Columbus Council 694 its Philip B. Onderdonk Jr. Religious Liberty Award in recognition of the Petersburg council’s successful challenge to a federal rule prohibiting Mass at Poplar Grove National Cemetery. The religious freedom group assisted the knights in their challenge.
The Knights’ council has held an annual Memorial Day Mass at the Petersburg-area cemetery for decades, yet the National Park Service (NPS) had determined in 2023 that the observance was prohibited due to it being a religious service.
The Knights filed a challenge to the rule in May of this year, arguing that the prohibition violated the First Amendment as well as the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The federal government ultimately backed down and allowed the council to hold the Mass.
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