Father Kevin Robinson is suing New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy over his “inhuman and unchristian” stay-at-home order that he believes is infringing on his First and Fourteenth Amendment rights.St Anthony of Padua North Caldwell is an SSPX mission that describes itself on its website as "The Home of Traditional Catholics in North Jersey". That would explain why the priest is doing this independently. He is represented by the Thomas More Society, one of the public-interest law firms I've noted here. The Thomas More Society is representing both Robinson and a rabbi at a synagogue in Lakewood, NJ, both of whom had services shut down by police:An Orthodox rabbi who has joined on to the priest’s lawsuit was arrested for holding a service on Monday evening.
Fr. Robinson of the Catholic St. Anthony of Padua Church in North Caldwell wrote in an email to parishioners announcing the lawsuit that “my civil rights have been violated as a result of Gov. Murphy’s unconstitutional order to shut down religious services in the State.”
The email continued on to explain that “it is our hope that this lawsuit will force the State to treat religious institutions as an ‘essential service,’ with the same allowances that are already made for other essential services. If we prevail, we will once again begin holding Mass at St. Anthony’s, albeit under some limitations.”
It may sound like the opening moves of Kristallnacht, the 1938 Nazi pogrom against the Jewish people, but it is only COVID-19 under New Jersey’s Order 107 banning “Gatherings of Individuals,” as exercised by the police of Lakewood on April 13, 2020. On May 4, 2020, the Thomas More Society filed a lawsuit in federal court against New Jersey’s governor and chief law enforcement officer on behalf of Rabbi Yisrael Knopfler and Reverend Kevin Robinson.This is another instance of the arbitrary maximum numbers we've already seen, and these restraints so far have been proving unsustainable. The Thomas More Society has also sued the governor of California on behalf of a Pentecostal parish in Chula Vista, CA:A little over three weeks before Rabbi Knopfler’s congregants fled in fear, on March 20, 2020 – the day prior to Order 107 going in effect – parishioners at Saint Anthony of Padua Church in North Caldwell, New Jersey – 70 miles north of Lakewood on the Garden State Parkway – were preparing for Mass. A local police officer arrived and demanded that the Mass be cancelled. As Reverend Kevin Robinson was threatened with arrest, his congregation cowered anxiously in the basement, not unlike what their Orthodox counterparts in Lakewood would soon do.
After the North Caldwell police chief warned him that charges would be filed for violating Order 107, Pastor Robinson refrained from offering Mass. A related administrative order (Order 2020-4) issued by the Superintendent of the State Police, in his capacity as State Director of Emergency Management, “clarifies” that gatherings of 10 or fewer people are allowed but only under the vague proviso that such gatherings are “presumed” lawful unless there is “clear evidence to the contrary.”
This ten-person limit reduces the allowable Catholic congregation to 7 people or fewer, depending on the type of Mass and number of church personnel needed to execute it. For the rabbi and his congregation, the problem is even more acute: Jewish synagogue prayers require a minimum quorum of ten men. That means that there would be no additional people allowed. Under these constraints, a bride could not even attend her own wedding.
[The parish's attorney, Charles] LiMandri explained: “California is one of only eight states whose response to the COVID-19 pandemic has included no accommodation for —- hardly even a mention of —- the religious rights of its citizens. The churches and religious leaders of California are no less essential than its retail, schools, and offices, to the health and well-being of its residents. To place houses of worship alongside hair salons, nail boutiques, and tattoo parlors shows Governor Newsom’s lack of understanding or unwillingness to recognize the inherent rights of every American to religious liberty and free exercise of worship and other freedoms protected under the Constitution.”In another development, the Texas attorney general wrote a letter to the civil leadership of three counties“The governor’s Executive Orders criminalize worship, using language that explicitly threatens criminal enforcement,” LiMandri added. “At the same time, these state orders, adopted and expanded upon by the county, allowed citizens to gather at liquor stores, pot dispensaries, and Planned Parenthood, and also named the entirety of the ‘entertainment industries’ as essential.”
for local orders they recently issued, warning them the mandates are “unlawful” and could lead to confusion on what orders to follow.The letter says in part,Letters were sent to Bexar County along with the mayor of San Antonio, Dallas County and Travis County along with Austin Mayor Steve Adler and Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt.
Executive order GA-21 recognizes that "religious services conducted in churches, congregations, and houses of worship" are essential services. . . . nothing in the governor's order or the joint guidance mandates how religious services should be conducted. . .I'm happy to see such actions proliferating, based as they are on the need to eliminate maximum attendance quotas or specifying liturgical practices.
