CNA Staff, Sep 30, 2025 / 12:56 pm

A West Virginia circuit court judge has tossed out a lawsuit aiming to block a state government agency from providing a $5 million grant to an Ohio Catholic trade school.

Judge Richard Lindsay said in the Sept. 25 ruling that the seven-figure grant from the West Virginia Water Development Authority was constitutional, nixing the effort by the American Humanist Association to block the funds for the College of St. Joseph the Worker in Steubenville, which is looking to expand into West Virginia.

Lindsay had blocked the grant in July after the secular humanist group argued in its lawsuit that the state government’s grant would violate Article III of the West Virginia Constitution.

That section forbids the government from using tax funds “for the erection or repair of any house for public worship or for the support of any church or ministry.”

In his Sept. 25 ruling, however, Lindsay said the court had received documentation that the entirety of the grant is “being used for the purpose of economic development only” and “therefore is constitutional.”

The West Virginia water authority is empowered to issue grants to “encourage economic growth,” Lindsay noted in his ruling. The government agency told the court that the grant to the Steubenville school would be used only for “real estate acquisition, site development, construction, infrastructure improvement,” and other nonreligious endeavors.

School president Michael Sullivan, meanwhile, agreed that none of the grant would be spent on “religious advocacy of any kind.” Grant money would also not go toward teacher salaries, Sullivan said.

Lindsay said in his ruling that the humanist group had “rightly” challenged the grant under the impression that it would fund religious advocacy.

But since the school and the West Virginia government agreed that the funds would only go toward secular concerns, there is “no genuine issue of material fact” in the case, Lindsay said, and there is “no question of constitutional law” remaining.

The Ohio school did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the decision on Sept. 30. The humanist group, meanwhile, said on Sept. 26 that it was “satisfied” with the ruling.

The group alleged that the original grant was an “affront to West Virginia taxpayers” and a “blatant violation of church-state separation.”

St. Joseph the Worker teaches construction-related trades such as carpentry, HVAC, electrical, and plumbing. It also offers a bachelor’s degree in Catholic studies along with the trade lessons.

The school says on its website that its Catholic studies program is “designed to prepare [students] for the lay vocation: sanctifying your family, your workplace, and your community.”