October 2017 Church & State - October 2016

N.J. Town Removes Devotional Shrine From Public Land

  AU admin

Saying he was motivated to defend the separation of church and state, a New Jersey mayor ordered the removal of a religious shrine from state-owned land.

Newly-elected Passaic Mayor Hector Lora called for the 14-year-old shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe to be dismantled because it was a religious display on public property. Mayordomia Guadalupe, the group caring for the shrine, was stringing electrical lines for security cameras on the site and collecting money for its upkeep, reported the Bergen County Record.

“I can’t allow any religious group to occupy public land permanently and collect money,” Lora told the newspaper. “I’m standing for the law.”

The shrine grew after two boys were clearing brush in 2003 and one of them claimed to see the Virgin Mary’s image in a tree stump. Word of the vision, which some deemed a miracle, soon spread through Passaic’s large Mexican community.

Mayordomia Guadalupe is seeking a new home for the shrine, but local Catholic churches have been advised not to take it. The bishop of the Diocese of Paterson sent a letter to parishes advising them not to accept the icon because it is not recognized or sanctioned by church officials.

Passaic officials had given the shrine’s caretakers six months to find it a new home, but none had been found when the deadline arrived on Aug. 15. A member of Mayordomia Guadalupe told the newspaper they still hope to be able to place it on private property.

BREAKING NEWS

Americans United & the National Women’s Law Center file suit to challenge Missouri’s abortion bans.

Abortion bans violate the separation of church and state. Americans United and the National Women’s Law Center—the leading experts in religious freedom and gender justice—have joined forces with thirteen clergy from six faith traditions to challenge Missouri’s abortion bans as unconstitutionally imposing one narrow religious doctrine on everyone.


Join the Fight and Donate Today