Graduation service can’t be in a church, judge says

BLOOMFIELD, Conn. — A federal judge ruled May 31 that a Connecticut school district’s plan to hold graduation ceremonies in a megachurch violates the constitutionally mandated separation of church and state and ordered school officials to find a secular alternative site.

U.S. District Judge Janet Hall handed down a preliminary injunction blocking Enfield Public Schools from holding graduations for two high schools scheduled June 23–24 at The First Cathedral, a 120,000-square-foot facility that is home to an 11,000-member Christian church.

The judge said two seniors at Enfield High School and three parents proved “a likelihood of irreparable harm” if the court did not intervene and “a substantial likelihood of success” in their lawsuit alleging that holding the graduation at the church instead of a neutral site violates the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.