Court Case Seeks To Stop Destruction Of 160-Year-Old Cemetery

More than 150 family members of people buried in St. Johannes Cemetery, located next to Chicago O'Hare Airport, have filed a petition to stop the City of Chicago from removing those graves to make way for new runways and terminals at O'Hare.

The cemetery has been at the center of the O'Hare extension controversy since 2005, with opponents deeming the 160-year-old burial ground sacrosanct. Religious experts and lawyers have also weighed in on the matter, saying the ruling could have widespread implications for religious rights and religious freedom across the United States.

"St. Johannes is an active cemetery, and destroying it not only desecrates holy ground but also affronts the religious beliefs of the people buried there and their living family members," says Rev. Michael M. Kirchhoff, Sr. "Should it come to pass, this act would be nothing more than state-approved and state-sponsored religious desecration by Chicago."

The petition, filed last week in DuPage County Circuit Court, asserts the destruction of St. Johannes constitutes a violation of the Illinois Religious and Restoration Act and notes that "petitioners have a central religious belief that the graves of those departed and buried in the consecrated ground of St. Johannes must remain inviolate and undisturbed." At issue is the assertion made in an earlier Seventh Circuit Court decision that Chicago could seize St. Johannes because the city's motive is "secular."

"In other words, if Chicago prevails in this case, municipal, state and even the federal government anywhere in this country can seize and destroy any church, synagogue, mosque or other religious structure to pursue a government project, as long as the motive has nothing to do with religion," says Joe Karaganis, attorney for St John's Church of Christ. "This is like saying the government of the District of Columbia could pave over the Washington National Cathedral to make way for a public parking lot."

The petitioners also accuse Chicago of abusing its power and "seeking to unlawfully take more land than is necessary by concocting a second fictional development which Chicago has no realistic or reasonable likelihood of every constructing."

The City of Chicago seeks to seize St. Johannes through eminent domain for the O'Hare Modernization Program, a $20 billion expansion project. Members of the group Stop-OMP maintain the plan is ill-advised... a contention backed up by several airlines serving O'Hare, which have also questioned the wisdom of proceeding with the ambitious project.

As ANN reported, opponents note Chicago has yet to secure funding for the project... and the airlines have said they will not pay for it.

"I am horrified to think that my relatives and forbearers cannot rest in peace, even though everyone knows that the O'Hare expansion cannot possibly go forward," says John Geils, president of the Village of Bensenville, IL. "Given that Chicago will never build the overall project, Chicago's claims that it must destroy this sacred religious cemetery are a cruel hoax. The city's actions are deplorable and show us a side of Chicago political greed that's even uglier than what we imagined."

St. Johannes Cemetery holds the bodies of more than 1,300 members of St. John's United Church of Christ and their relatives. Multiple generations of families are buried at St. Johannes, and many living members of the St. John's congregation plan to be buried there as well.

FMI: www.stop-omp.org, www.ohare.com