An Indianapolis Catholic parish has taken its fight over a crumbling, vacant church building to federal court.

St. Philip Neri Catholic Church has filed suit challenging the city’s last-minute decision to declare the shuttered Holy Cross Church a historic landmark, arguing the move unlawfully blocks demolition and infringes on religious liberty, as CNA reports.

Once active in the city’s east side, the Holy Cross parish was officially merged into St. Philip Neri back in 2014, and its building has since been deemed structurally deteriorated and empty.

Church Says Closure Was Long Planned

In 2019, according to the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, Archbishop Charles Thompson relegated the former Holy Cross Church—meaning it was no longer a devotee-occupied sacred space, nor used for religious purposes—and cleared it for potential secular use.

But in 2024, years after the building was closed and unused, the Indianapolis Historic Preservation Commission stepped in with an emergency measure to landmark the structure and stop the wrecking ball.

In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, parish leaders said this designation halted their ability to deal with what they called an “unused and unusable” building. Their message is simple: It's not the government's job to second-guess religious decisions.

Historic Designation Sparks Legal Pushback

The city’s sudden intervention followed lobbying from a local neighborhood association, which petitioned the preservation commission to step in. That preservation committee’s recommendation was swiftly endorsed by Indianapolis’s Metropolitan Development Commission.

The church now says this entire process was a backdoor attack on its religious freedom, one that rides roughshod over church governance. The legal filing characterizes the city’s designation as “unlawful landmarking.”

Let’s be honest—when the same government overseeing crumbling roads finds time to babysit faith-based demolition plans, priorities have clearly wandered.

Parish Cites First Amendment Violation

The lawsuit claims the preservation commission’s move constitutes unconstitutional interference in religious choices and crosses a line protected by the First Amendment.

“By intruding on the religious decision-making” of the parish, the lawsuit states, the city “substituted the religious judgments of government actors for those of religious officials.” That’s not landmarking—that’s overstepping.

There’s a word for this kind of bureaucratic interference: mission creep—the kind that tramples on long-established lines between church and state in the name of “preservation.”

City And Archdiocese Stay Silent—For Now

Notably, neither city authorities nor the Archdiocese of Indianapolis has offered public comments on the lawsuit, even as the showdown raises high-stakes constitutional questions for churches nationwide.

The parish’s legal team wants the court to toss out the historic designation entirely and authorize the demolition as originally planned. Their claim is rooted not in politics, but in property rights and religious autonomy.

The city may have crowned the old church with a historic label, but it’s St. Philip Neri’s parishioners who are left shouldering the cross of maintaining it, whether they want it or not.

Faith, Freedom, And Property Rights Collide

This isn't just a story about bricks and broken rafters. It’s a reminder of what happens when today’s bureaucratic class feels more comfortable regulating faith than respecting it.

“Unconstitutional interference” isn’t a phrase tossed around lightly. But in this case, the writing is literally on the wall—of a building they’re not even allowed to tear down.

As churches across America struggle to adapt in changing times, the last thing they need is self-appointed city gatekeepers chaining the doors shut from the outside. Let ministers minister, and let rubble fall where it may.