newjerseynewsroom.com

N.J. town included Christian practice since mid 1990s

Point Pleasant Beach's practice of starting council meetings by reciting the Lord's Prayer has prompted a suit on behalf of a Jewish resident and former borough employee who said she was "distressed" by the apparent religious favoritism.

"The constitution forbids a government entity from showing preference to a particular religion," said Jeanne LoCicero, deputy legal director in New Jersey for the American Civil Liberties Union.

The ACLU-NJ filed suit in Superior Court on behalf of Sharon Cadalzo, a former coordinator of the borough's neighborhood preservation program.

"People of all faiths and beliefs should feel welcome at public meetings," said Cadalzo, who has been honored for her volunteer work by the local chamber of commerce and the Ocean County freeholders.

But she also is a member of the board of her synagogue, and said the issue is one of religious "fairness." She noted that in addition to reciting the Christian payer, the council has invited a Roman Catholic priest to give an invocation during its annual reorganization meeting.

"No member of the community should feel that their beliefs exclude them from public life," Cadalzo said in a statement released by the ACLU-NJ. She said she received funny looks when she did not remain standing for the prayer.

"The prayer recited at Point Pleasant Beach council meetings is one of the most extreme examples we have seen of an explicit preference for Christianity," said LoCicero, who asked Assignment Judge Vincent J. Grasso to issue an injunction against the prayer while the case is pending.

Before she filed the suit, Cadalzo said she raised her concerns a number of times in recent years. In 2007, then Mayor Thomas Vogel told her the borough's attorney was Jewish but did not object to the prayer, Cadalzo told the Asbury Park Press.

Cadalzo said she also spoke without success to council and current Mayor Vincent Barrella, who said he was unwilling to tackle the issue. Barrella told the newspaper that the council has recited the prayer since the mid-1990s, but declined further comment in a story that can be read here.

An audio recording of the prayer, and a copy of the complaint and brief are available on the ACLU-NJ website here.

— JOE TYRRELL, NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM