The Supreme Court agreed Thursday to hear a Kentucky church's challenge to a local zoning decision that blocked it from building a prayer grotto on its property, setting up a ruling that could redefine how federal law protects religious institutions from land-use restrictions across the country.
The case centers on the Missionaries of St. John the Baptist, a Catholic church in Park Hills, Kentucky, and its effort to build a roughly 600-square-foot grotto behind its building. Court records describe the proposed structure as a 16-by-39-foot shrine to the Virgin Mary that would include a plaza, walking path and retaining wall. The church applied in March 2021 for a conditional-use permit and variance to build the grotto in honor of the Virgin Mary's apparition to Saint Bernadette in Lourdes, France.
Ryan Gardner, senior counsel at First Liberty Institute, which represents the church, said the implications extend far beyond the proposed shrine. «This is a massive case for religious liberty because it has the potential to impact every single zoning law in this country,» Gardner said.
The dispute began when the Park Hills Board of Adjustment approved the church's permit in April 2021. Two neighboring property owners, Joel and Elizabeth Frederic, objected and challenged the board's decision in Kentucky state court. A trial court ruled in the church's favor, but the Kentucky Court of Appeals reversed, finding the board had exceeded its authority and that federal religious land-use law had not been violated. The Kentucky Supreme Court affirmed that ruling in December 2025, prompting the church to seek Supreme Court review.
At issue is the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, known as RLUIPA, a federal law enacted in 2000 to protect religious institutions from certain burdens on the use of their property. The church asked the justices to review two questions under the law, but the Supreme Court agreed to hear only one: whether prohibiting a religious institution from building a religious structure on its own property constitutes a «substantial burden» on religious exercise under RLUIPA.
Gardner said lower courts have developed different approaches to the law since its enactment, leaving religious organizations with varying levels of protection depending on where a dispute arises. He argues the Supreme Court now has an opportunity to establish a clearer standard nationwide. The missionaries similarly argued in their petition that federal and state courts are divided over how to determine whether a land-use restriction creates a substantial burden under the law.
The Frederics disputed that characterization in their opposition brief, arguing that appellate courts generally consider similar factors and that differing outcomes can reflect differing facts. They also argued the Missionaries failed to show that alternative locations for the grotto were unavailable. An attorney for the Frederics did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The case places two constitutionally significant areas of law alongside one another: religious exercise and the authority of local governments to regulate property use. While Gardner acknowledged that zoning serves a legitimate role in how local governments organize, he argued those regulations remain subject to federal protections for religious exercise.
According to Gardner, the eventual ruling could affect disputes involving churches, synagogues, ministries and other religious organizations seeking to use their properties for worship or religious activities. He warned that an overly narrow interpretation of the federal law could have «dire consequences» for religious land use around the country.
The church building itself has stood on the property for nearly a century, predating Park Hills' zoning ordinance adopted in 1974. The proposed grotto involved an adjacent parcel initially subject to a perpetual lease that would be transferred to the religious organization as a condition of the project's approval. Unlike many religious land-use disputes, the church's initial fight was not with the local government, which approved the permit, but with the neighboring property owners who challenged that approval.
For the Missionaries of St. John the Baptist, the case that could shape religious land-use law across the country began with something much smaller: a roughly 600-square-foot place of prayer.