New York village threatens church for Christmas tree fundraiser

A New York town told a Catholic church that its annual Christmas tree fundraiser violated its zoning laws. St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in the Village of The Branch in Long Island, New York, urged village officials in a letter Thursday to allow the ministry to freely sell the fir trees, a tradition of the church for more than 25 years. The church has continued to sell trees, wreaths, and other holiday plants despite the threat of hundreds of dollars in fines for each week they violate the ordinance, Ryan Gardner, an attorney for First Liberty, told WORLD Tuesday. First Liberty wrote to the village on behalf of the church.

The village mayor is using what Gardner described as petty governmental tools to halt the church’s fundraiser. The village said its code prohibits the church from holding a fundraiser within 90 days of a previous one. The church previously held a fall festival fundraiser in October. WORLD reached out to the mayor’s office for comment but did not immediately hear back.

“We are dealing with, frankly, a wild holiday situation with a mayor whose holiday spirit rivals that of the Grinch,” Gardner said. “They’ve been ticketed for the great crime of selling Christmas trees during Christmastime.”

What rights does the church have to sell trees? In November, village officials said the church needed a special use permit to hold its tree fundraiser. The town never required the church to have this additional permission for any of its past tree sales, Gardner said.

Village officials then denied St. Patrick’s the permit, but the church went ahead with its fundraiser, leading to its recent citation. Gardner said the village’s actions religiously discriminate and interfere with church autonomy, which protects the rights of churches to manage their own internal affairs. He added that under the village’s current view of its laws, even passing around the offering plate could be considered a fundraising event that is subject to strict governance.

This isn’t the first time the town has clashed with St. Patrick’s. It tried to halt the church’s fall festival this year, again citing zoning ordinances. Gardner said the church was only able to hold the festival after it filed a lawsuit against the town.

How does the fundraiser support the church? The fundraiser supports St. Patrick’s various ministries, from its Sunday service to its school and its grief support groups. The money the church raises from the Vermont-grown balsam firs goes to blessing the community around it, Gardner said. St. Patrick’s has operated in the Village of The Branch since 1966.

If the letter doesn’t resolve the situation, First Liberty is prepared to do whatever is necessary to secure the church’s rights, Gardner said, but he hopes the matter can be resolved through dialogue.

Dig deeper: Read my report on a home-based New Hampshire church’s legal battle with city zoning laws.