Jesuits to Challenge Decision

A Boston Jesuit order says it may challenge the constitutionality of a city panel's vote to declare a 126-year-old church a landmark, a move which blocked the religious order from renovating the building.

"We feel we may reluctantly have to go that route," the Rev. Daniel Lewis, pastoral assistant to the New England Province of the Society of Jesus, said Wednesday. "We do want to preserve the church but in a way that is useful to us."

The unanimous decision Tuesday by the Boston Landmarks Commission violates the Jesuits' First, Fourth and Eighth Amendment rights to freedom of religion, protection from unreasonable search and seizure and excessive punishment, according to the Jesuits' attorney, John Bok.

The Landmarks Commission, after a six-month campaign by historians and a preservation group, granted landmark status to the interior of the Church of the Immaculate Conception, blocking the Jesuits' plans to convert the church to offices and sleeping quarters as part of a consolidation of the order's headquarters.

The church, part of the original Boston College campus in the city's South End, has a Baroque-inspired interior described as a "historic rarity" by John Coolidge '35, professor emeritus of fine arts at Harvard Univerity and a leader of the preservation drive.

The Jesuits argued the little used church needs $1 million worth of structural repairs they cannot afford. The Jesuits want to move into the church offices and quarters now in other buildings the order wants to sell to residential developers.

The City Council and Mayor Raymond Flynn must approve the commission's vote, a process expected to take about 30 days. Flynn and at least six members of the 13-member council are in favor of the landmark designation.

Lewis said the Jesuits likely would submit revised renovation plans to the Landmark Commission before mounting a court challenge. The revisons, however, were not welcomed by preservation supporters who were members of a mediation committee the Landmarks Commission appointed to explore a compromise.

Appeals of the Landmarks Commission's dealings routinely are heard in state Superior Court, although Bok and Lewis said the challenge could be filed in federal court because of the constitutional issues.

"I think the important point is really that we see any action by a government agency dictating the way in which you configure your worship space...as interference and perhaps serious entanglement of our religious freedom," Lewis said.

The Jesuits began renovations to the church in October without the necessary permit The Landmarks Commission then ordered the work halted pending further study of the plans.

Historians and preservation groups argued before the commission that Immaculate Conception, designed by noted 19th century architect Patrick Charles Keely, was second only to Boston's Trinity Church in terms of religious landmarks in the city.

"We are thrilled by the vote. It's another important step in preserving this magnificent part of Boston's history," Susan Park, chairwoman of the Boston Preservation Alliance, said after the Tuesday vote.

The church exterior already is protected. It was included in the South End Landmark District designated in 1983 and also listed in 1973 as part of the South End National Register District.