Church Persecuted (October 4, 2026 St. Raymond’s Catholic Church, Springfield, VA, bulletin) by Bob Laird
The U.S. Supreme Court continues to take cases involving state and local governments infringing upon the rights of religious organizations contrary to the religious freedoms cherished in the Equal Protection Clause of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Several years ago, Colorado passed a law requiring state funding of pre-K education for students in public and private schools. The program offered families 15 hours of free pre-K school per week at the private or public schools of their choice. Families sending their kids to Catholic schools across Colorado were eager to participate.
That seemed simple enough to satisfy recent Supreme Court decisions indicating that to withhold funds from a religious school (when funding other private schools) just because it was religious is discriminatory and violates the Equal Protection Clause. But there was a catch. The legislation placed a caveat on the funds that the school must comply with the state’s non-discrimination laws to include those related to so-called same-sex marriage and gender transition.
The Archdiocese of Denver requires parents enrolling their children in its schools to support the teaching of the Catholic Church on issues such as human sexuality teaching that a marriage is between one male and one female and the sex of an individual is that which his established at birth. These are core to the mission of Catholic education. Colorado legislators knew this when they were drafting the bill since the archdiocese lobbied strongly asking for a religious exemption. None was provided in the legislation.
Thus, the pre-K program at St. Mary’s Catholic School in Littleton, Col. or any other Catholic school in the archdiocese could not receive the state funding. The parish and the archdiocese have been fighting this case in federal court for over two years. Now, the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear St. Mary’s Catholic Parish v. Roy, on Nov. 3, 2026.
