The Berkshire Eagle (Pittsfield, Massachusetts
by [no name provided]
Friday, June 21, 1991, page C8
Orleans, Mass. (AP)
The line drawn between church and state has become blurred in this town on Cape Cod Bay, where officials say building a 104-foot tall gothic-style church isn’t necessarily protected by freedom of religion.
The Community of Jesus, a non-denominational Christian group of about 325 members, wants to build the new 540-seat church at their compound on the shores of historic Rock Harbor.
But many of the town’s officials and residents don’t want that kind of church built in their decidedly Cape Cod-style community, where some of the traditional clapboard homes feature widow’s walks.
Three boards reject it
“What we’ve got here is a quaint seaside community, and the church would be at least 30 or 40 feet taller than anything else in town. It would overpower everything around it,” said Chris Minor, chairman of the Old Kings’ Highway Historic District Committee, which turned down the church plans.
Architectural drafts for the church, to be called the Chapel of the Holy Paraclete, were submitted to five separate town and regional boards. Three boards — the Old King’s Highway Committee, the Conservation Commission and the Historical Commission — have voted against the project.
The highest board considering the church plan is the Cape Cod Commission, a land-use and regulatory agency that reviews projects with possible regional impact.
Orleans attorney Richard Laraja, a member of the church who serves as its spokesman, said the town’s rejections of the plans are in violation of the U.S. Constitution.
Three freedoms cited
He said the Constitution guarantees three freedoms that protect the plans for the church — freedom of religion, freedom of association and freedom of speech.
“We feel that subjecting a church to a design review is an excessive entanglement of government and the church. It is in violation of the separation of church and state,” Laraja said.
He said the town is violating the community’s freedom of speech because the exterior of a church is often a statement. He cited the more ornate and symbolic architecture used in many Roman Catholic churches.
He said that the church’s height was designed to meet the members’ needs and beliefs.
“The height symbolizes the relationship between man and God, of lifting the heart to God in mind and prayer,” Laraja said.
The town’s Conservation Commission turned the project down — not because of its height — but because of its proximity to area wetlands, said Sandra MacFarlane, a conservation agent with the commission.
The commission also found conflicts with wildlife protection and the ground-water supply, MacFarlane said. “It was unclear to the commission if these things would be affected,” she said.
The Old Kings’ Highway committee turned the project down for purely aesthetic reasons, said Minor. He said under the committee’s guidelines, whether the building was a church or not made no difference.
“It was just really significantly larger and more massive than anything else in Rock Harbor,” Minor said.
The religious community appealed that committee’s ruling to the Old Kings’ Highway Historic District Commission, which also turned down the project.
The Cape Cod Commission is reviewing plans for the church, and was expected to hold several public hearings before issuing a decision, probably late this summer.
Sumner Kaufman, chairman of the commission subcommittee investigating the church’s impact on the region, said that the Cape Cod Commission Act does not exempt churches.
“The question for us is not really the fact that it’s a church . . . it’s the size of the building and its location,” said Kaufman. He said the commission could approve the project, approve it with conditions, or deny it.
The Community of Jesus must follow the Cape Cod Commission’s recommendations or appeal to the state legal system.
Community of Jesus members believe they have outgrown the current 240-seat church. Their 10-acre compound is home to 55 religious sisters and 25 brothers. Most of the other members live in homes in walking distance of the church.
The proposed church would be 65 feet tall to its ridge, with a tower rising an additional 97 feet. Plans call for it to be made of granite with limestone trim and a slate roof.
Current town zoning laws prohibit buildings over 30 feet tall without special permission.
Letters of protest
The town of about 6,500 residents has been decidedly negative to the proposal. The Cape Cod Times has been flooded with protesting letters to the editor, as have several other smaller papers in the region.
Laraja said if the Cape Cod Commission turns down the proposal, the Community of Jesus likely will take the issue to the courts on constitutional grounds.
He said the restrictions that already have been placed on the church set a dangerous precedent.
“If the state can choose the design,” he said, “maybe they’d like to write the prayer book or choose the hymnal.”
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