Quincy residents sue over plans to put statues of Catholic saints outside public safety building

The American Civil Liberties Union and a group of Quincy residents have sued the mayor and city over plans to put up statues of two Catholic saints outside a new public safety building.

The 10-foot-tall statues will depict St. Michael the Archangel and St. Florian, the patron saints of police and firefighters. A combined $850,000 in city funds were budgeted for the pieces. They are set to adorn a new building that will house the police department headquarters and fire department's administrative offices. The building is set to open in October.

The lawsuit, filed in Norfolk Superior Court, aims to stop the city from installing the statues. The plaintiffs argue that the religious imagery violates the equal protection clause in Article 3 of the Massachusetts Constitution.

The residents suing the city practice a variety of religions, including Catholicism, Judaism and Unitarianism, while others are atheist or don't follow a specific faith. The organizations Americans United and Freedom From Religion Foundation are also representing plaintiffs in the suit.

“This isn’t about opposing anyone’s faith — it’s about keeping government neutral so that everyone, regardless of what they believe, feels equally welcome and protected,” plaintiff Gilly Rosenthol said in a statement. “No one should have to walk past giant religious monuments just to access a public safety building. That sends the wrong message about who our city serves — and who it doesn’t.”

The office of Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch did not respond to a request for comment.

The lawsuit claims that Koch set in motion the plans to commission the statues without notifying the city council or the public. News about the statues only became public after reporting by the Patriot Ledger in early February.

Multiple Quincy residents expressed disapproval of the project after the article was published, according to the ACLU. More than 200 residents attended a subsequent city council meeting to talk about the statues, with many citing opposition to the religious depictions and what they saw as a lack of transparency around the project, according to reporting from the Ledger. A Change.org petition opposing the statues garnered over 1,500 signatures.

Plans for the new public safety building have been in the works since 2017. The lawsuit says that the statues were not included in previous renderings of the building design.

A sculptor in Italy is tasked with constructing the statues, which will then be brought by ship to Boston, the suit states. As of April, the city has paid at least $761,378.75 in taxpayer funds for the pieces. The statues are set to begin their oversea journey in August.