Indianapolis church files federal lawsuit to knock down parish after historic designation

Dec 31, 2025 / 14:00 pm

Leaders overseeing an empty parish in downtown Indianapolis are demanding to be allowed to destroy the building, arguing that the parish is “unused and unusable” even after the local government declared it a protected landmark.

St. Philip Neri Catholic Church filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, alleging that the city had engaged in an “unlawful landmarking” of the Parish of the Holy Cross.

The Holy Cross parish was formally merged with St. Philip Neri in 2014; it has stood unused for years due to structural deterioration.

Indianapolis Archbishop Charles Thompson had relegated the building in 2019. Relegation is the process by which the Church “desacralizes” a Church building, allowing it to be turned over for secular usage, though not for “sordid” activities. Thompson issued the relegation for St. Philip Neri that year due to the building’s significant structural instability.

In the lawsuit, St. Philip Neri says the Indianapolis Historic Preservation Commission engaged in “unconstitutional interference” when it issued an emergency historic designation for Holy Cross in 2024, removing the ability of the parish to demolish the building.

A local neighborhood association had brought the issue before the commission, looking to preserve the building before its intended demolition.

The preservation group, along with the city Metropolitan Development Commission — which accepted the preservation committee’s recommendation to preserve the church — violated the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution by “intrud[ing] on the religious decision making” of the parish and “substitut[ing] the religious judgments of government actors for those of religious officials,” the lawsuit claims.

The suit asks the federal court to declare the historical designation “unconstitutional and illegal.” It further asks the court to allow the parish to tear down the unused building.

The city government did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the lawsuit. The Indianapolis Archdiocese also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.