Professor Barry McDonald Quoted in "Holy Toledo! City Tries Novel Legal Move to Stop Historic Church's Demo" -- National Catholic Register

Professor Barry P. McDonald is quoted in the National Catholic Register article, "Holy Toledo! City Tries Novel Legal Move to Stop Historic Church's Demo." The article examines the Diocese of Toledo's decision to demolish a closed church building and the City of Toledo's recent ordinance creating a one-year moratorium on demolishing buildings of historical community importance.

Excerpt from  "Holy Toledo! City Tries Novel Legal Move to Stop Historic Church's Demo"

Barry McDonald, a professor at Pepperdine University’s Caruso School of Law, said the diocese “could assert a number of strong religious-freedom-related legal claims,” including the doctrine of church autonomy under the First Amendment against what he called “secular interference with church decisions”; a free-exercise-of-religion claim under the First Amendment if the diocese can show the city’s demolition moratorium is directed against the diocese’s property; a state claim under an Ohio law that protects religious freedom; and, possibly, a federal claim under the federal statute that prevents zoning restrictions on churches, if a court finds that a moratorium on demolition amounts to a zoning restriction.

The complete article may be found at National Catholic Register