Supreme Court to hear Kentucky church's shrine dispute under federal religious land-use law

The US Supreme Court agreed on Thursday 1 October to hear a dispute over whether a religious institution may build a shrine to the Virgin Mary on residential property next to its Kentucky church. 1 2 The church's owner is the Missionaries of Saint John the Baptist, a nonprofit established by Roman Catholic priests. It argues the Kentucky Supreme Court misread a federal statute when it ruled against the plan. 1 The statute is the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), enacted in 2000, which the group says can, under certain conditions, bar local governments from enforcing land-use rules that place a "substantial burden" on religious exercise. 2 1

The church applied in March 2021 for a conditional-use permit and variance to build a 16-by-39-foot grotto, with a shrine, plaza, walking path and retaining wall, behind its building in Park Hills, a Cincinnati suburb. The Park Hills Board of Adjustment approved it in April 2021. 2 1 Neighbours Joel and Elizabeth Frederic challenged the approval in state court, worried about neighbourhood traffic. A trial court ruled for the church, but the Kentucky Court of Appeals reversed, finding the board exceeded its authority and that RLUIPA was not violated. 2 1 In December 2025 the Kentucky Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the zoning board lacked legal authority to grant the variance and affirming the RLUIPA ruling, which led the church to seek US Supreme Court review. 1 2

The church asked the justices to review two RLUIPA questions, but the court took only one: whether barring a religious institution from building a religious structure on its own property is a "substantial burden" on religious exercise. Oral argument is expected in the coming months. 2 1 The church says lower courts are in a "deeply entrenched" conflict over the standard. The Frederics say appellate courts generally weigh similar factors, that differing outcomes reflect differing facts, and that there is no reason for federal intervention in a local zoning matter. 1 2 Opponents also say the church knew zoning rules barred a shrine on the adjacent residential land when it acquired it, and has not shown why it cannot build on church land. 1 2

Ryan Gardner, senior counsel at First Liberty Institute, which represents the church, told Fox News Digital the case could affect "every single zoning law" in the country and that a narrow reading of RLUIPA could have "dire consequences". An attorney for the Frederics did not immediately respond to the outlet's request for comment. 2 The property history is more complicated than shorthand suggests: the church building has stood for nearly a century, predating Park Hills' 1974 zoning ordinance, while the grotto site is an adjacent parcel under a perpetual lease that would be transferred to the church as a condition of approval. 2