A religious question: Quincy’s statues to go under SJC’s microscope

On May 4, Massachusetts REALTORS® unite as one powerful voice at the annual Margaret C. Carlson REALTOR® Day on Beacon Hill. This year, REALTORS® are fighting to increase housing access by advancing zoning reform, housing production, fair housing education, funding for crumbling concrete foundations, and pre-service board & commission training—and opposing real estate transfer taxes and rent control.

Quincy’s edifice complex is going before the Supreme Judicial Court.

The high court plans to hear arguments next week on whether Quincy Mayor Tom Koch’s push to install two statues of Catholic saints costing $850,000 on the outside of its new public safety building violates the separation of church and state under the Massachusetts constitution.

The case is drawing intense interest, with court filings from firefighters and police – the two 10-foot tall statues represent their patron saints – as well as various religious groups, including the Russian Orthodox Church, the Islam and Religious Freedom Action Team and the Jewish Coalition for Religious Liberty. 

The case, set for arguments on May 6, is sandwiched between Auditor Diana DiZoglio’s pursuit of a legislative audit and a battle over whether Attorney General Andrea Campbell properly certified the rent control ballot question.

Fourteen plaintiffs – all Quincy residents who are Catholic, Jewish, Unitarian Universalist as well as atheist and adherents of no particular religion – oppose the statue and received an assist in their case from ACLU Massachusetts. One plaintiff, according to legal filings, can see Quincy’s $175 million public safety palace from her apartment.

“The primary effect of permanently installing two new, oversized, overtly religious statues as the sole adornments on the City’s public safety building is to advance religion,” they said in their filing. “The City’s funding and installation of religious iconography on a government building constitutes excessive entanglement with religion.”

The statue of Saint Michael holds a sword while stepping on the head and neck of a demon, while the Saint Florian statue seeks to portray him extinguishing a burning building.

The statues first came up at a City Council meeting over a year ago, and the mayor’s chief of staff told councilors to essentially pound sand: They didn’t have a role in the procurement process, and the decision to commission the statues “was ultimately and only” Koch’s call.

Quincy City Hall is getting help from the Becket Fund, a nonprofit founded by a lawyer who once worked in President Reagan’s Justice Department. Statues of religious figures can be seen on public property in Massachusetts and across the country, and both saints are depicted at a California fire department and a Navy destroyer, they said in their filing.

In Massachusetts, there’s a memorial to Pope John Paul II on Boston Common, the Boston Public Library features the head of Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom, and the State House has on its grounds the statue of Mary Dyer, the Quaker executed by Puritan theocrats. 

But the plaintiffs called several of those “red herrings,” because statues “commemorating historical occasions in the Commonwealth do not inherently endorse religion simply because the people memorialized adhere to a particular faith.”

The Quincy firefighter and police unions, whose members would walk past the statues on their way to work, filed briefs in support of Koch. They were backed by the state and federal-level firefighter unions. They noted their union hall in Dorchester is named for Florian, with one labor leader saying the saint and “the fireman's prayer provide us with the emotional support to carry out our duty to protect lives and property while putting our own lives at risk.”

Eight professors hailing from law schools across the country weighed in with an amicus brief siding with ACLU and the plaintiffs and took aim at Quincy’s defense that “Archangel Michael, a literary figure” is associated with fighting evil. “Defendants’ attempt to desacralize the statues in this case minimizes their religious significance to the Church and to Catholics by reducing them to mere literary figures,” they wrote. “We are, after all, talking about a ten-foot-tall statue of an Angel.”

I was disappointed to see the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster didn’t file an amicus brief. Which side do you come down on in this case? Send me your take: [email protected].

Senators Michael J. Rodrigues, Chair of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means, and Paul R. Feeney, Assistant Vice Chair and Chair of the Joint Committee on Financial Services, join REALTORS® from across Massachusetts at the annual Margaret C. Carlson REALTOR® Day on Beacon Hill to advocate for policies that increase access to homeownership and protect private property rights.

9:00 | Labor Secretary Lauren Jones, Labor Undersecretary Josh Cutler, Kristin Driscoll of Mass General Brigham, Pam Eddinger of Bunker Hill Community College, and Nate Mackinnon of the Massachusetts Association of Community Colleges speak as Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce Foundation holds a celebration for the four-year anniversary of the Massachusetts Apprenticeship Network. | 265 Franklin St., Boston | Register

9:30 | The Massachusetts Marketing Partnership board of directors holds a hybrid public meeting. Agenda includes a welcome from Economic Development Secretary Eric Paley, a FIFA World Cup Boston 26 update, and updates from groups including the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, Massport, the Office of Travel and Tourism and MassEcon. | One Ashburton Place, 21st Floor, Room 2101, Conference Room A, Boston | Zoom Link | Agenda

10:00 | Boston Mayor Michelle Wu joins "Java with Jimmy." | Livestream

10:45 | Gov. Maura Healey with Youssef Amrani, ambassador of Morocco to the U.S. | Governor's Ceremonial Office, State House Boston

1:00 | The Massachusetts Caucus of Women Legislators holds its annual Denim Day that's meant to challenge and raise awareness about misconceptions surrounding sexual assault. Lawmakers are set to don denim and the event will include remarks from Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll. | State House Library, State House, Boston

1:00 | The Coalition for an Equitable Economy hosts a legislative lunch to discuss the findings from its 2025 small business survey, and present the information to lawmakers. Rep. Andy Vargas, MassINC Polling Group President Steve Koczela, Springfield City Council President Tracye Whitfield, and Holyoke Director of Planning & Economic Development Marcos Marrero plan to give presentations. | Room 428, State House, Boston | Register

1:00 | Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll meets with Stephen Doughty, United Kingdom minister of state for Europe, North America and overseas territories. | Governor's Ceremonial Office, State House, Boston

2:00 | The Suffolk Superior Court is slated to hear arguments related to the city of Boston's motion to dismiss a lawsuit that alleges the city imposed a hidden, illegal tax on commercial property owners who exercised their legal right to appeal their property assessments. | Suffolk Superior Court, 3 Pemberton Sq., Boston

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Boston Magazine’s power list of the 150 most influential Bostonians is out, and this year’s edition is heavier on the region’s business sector. After two members of the New England Patriots, Drake Maye and Mike Vrabel, Gov. Maura Healey came in at No. 2, and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu clocked in at No. 4, with Eastern Bank’s Bob Rivers in between. Senate President Karen Spilka cracked the top 30 at No. 22, while her House counterpart, Speaker Ron Mariano didn’t make the list at all. (Rep. Aaron Michlewitz, the House Ways and Means chairman, came in at No. 52.) Attorney General Andrea Campbell won the No. 15 slot, while her nemesis, Auditor Diana DiZoglio, was listed at two slots behind Boston Herald editor Joe Dwinnell at No. 124.

Marisol Garcia is the next child advocate for Massachusetts, after a joint appointment announced by Gov. Maura Healey, Attorney General Andrea Campbell and Auditor Diana DiZoglio. Picked by a 14-member nominating committee set up by Healey’s health and human services secretariat, Garcia starts her five-year term June 1, and succeeds Maria Mossaides, who is retiring at the end of May after spending more than a decade in the job. Garcia is the deputy director of Health Law Advocates, a nonprofit public interest law firm. The Office of the Child Advocate is an independent agency set up in 2008 to focus on vulnerable and at-risk children.

Mass General Brigham’s commitment to improving community health beyond hospital walls continues as we address food insecurity. Through our partnership with the Greater Boston Food Bank, we’re expanding access to nutritious food across the communities we serve.

HOUSE BUDGET, DAY TWO: House lawmakers tossed $25 million in new spending for public safety, health care and transportation accounts, while rejecting Republican proposals for more rural school aid and voter ID rules. – State House News Service (gift link)

HOMEBUYER ASSISTANCE: Gov. Maura Healey announced a government-assisted down payment program that could benefit nearly 1,000 new Bay State homebuyers. The program shifts Massachusetts Housing Authority funds towards more assistance to first-time homebuyers. – CBS Boston

AUDIT TALK: At the state Republican convention held in Worcester, the most popular topic may have been the legislative audit pushed by a Democrat, Diana DiZoglio. – Boston Globe

WU V. MINOGUE: Responding to GOP gubernatorial candidate Mike Minogue’s statement that the conversion of some Boston office buildings into housing will lead to the “next slum,” Mayor Michelle Wu touted ongoing improvements to downtown and suggested he is a scaredy-cat. – GBH News

FRANK BOOK: Former Rep. Barney Frank is entering hospice care at 86, and plans to release a book criticizing the Democratic Party’s left wing. “I face a literal deadline,” he said. – Politico

HAVE MERCY: Springfield-based Baystate Health plans to take over Mercy Medical Center, saving it and its Medicare and Medicaid-dependent patients from a shutdown. – MassLive

FEMA INITIATIVE: Boston’s top climate official expects the city to apply this year for a FEMA initiative that rewards municipalities that take steps to reduce flood risks. The initiative provides discounts on flood insurance premiums, and Boston’s delay in applying has cost residents and businesses hundreds of thousands of dollars over the last five years. – CommonWealth Beacon

NH TOLLS: New Hampshire is moving towards its first statewide toll hike in nearly 20 years. Massachusetts drivers heading would pay more as the tolls focus on out-of-staters who pay in cash or don’t have an EZPass. – Eagle-Tribune

WORLD CUP WOES: Expensive tickets for the return of the World Cup to America – the U.S. men’s national team will face off against Paraguay on June 12 in LA – are causing headaches for fans and possibly leading to empty seats. – Wall Street Journal

PROTEST SETTLEMENT: Four people who say they were beaten by Boston cops after a 2020 Black Lives Matter protest are set to receive $850,000 as part of a settlement with the city . – WBUR

Boston councilor pitches look at moratorium on data centers

Building close to TD Garden sells for third of 2021 sales price

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