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St. Timothy's Episcopal Church v. City of Brookings (D. Or.)

Church Serving Food

The Notre Dame Law School Religious Liberty Clinic filed an amicus brief in the District of Oregon in support of St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church, urging the court to protect the church’s freedom to feed the hungry.

Consistent with its Christian faith, St. Timothy’s has long served those in need by providing meals to the hungry in Brookings, Oregon. The City previously approved and even encouraged the church’s charitable offerings. But now, after neighbors complained to the City Council, the government claims that the church’s meal service violates the local zoning code and adopted a new ordinance that permits meal services no more than twice a week. St. Timothy’s thus faces a choice: comply with the ordinance by limiting its religious exercise of providing meals to those in need, or risk facing an enforcement action by continuing this critical ministry. The Clinic’s brief demonstrates that the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) prohibits local governments from putting religious organizations to such a choice by offering sweeping protection for their religious exercise against discrimination in the land-use context. The brief explains that Congress enacted RLUIPA in direct response to evidence of repeated discrimination — often prompted by the complaints of other neighborhood residents — against religious ministries exactly like St. Timothy’s.

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Meet the Team

  1. Church Serving Food

    Meredith Holland Kessler

    Staff Attorney, Religious Liberty Clinic

  2. Bernadette Shaughnessy

    Bernadette Shaughnessy

    Student Fellow

  3. Luray Buckner

    Luray Buckner

    2021-22 Student Fellow
    2022-23 Student Fellow

  4. Tim Borgerson

    Tim Borgerson

    2021-22 Student Fellow