The Mayor’s Youth Commission has ended its mini-grant program after outcry from the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

Earlier this year, the commission voted to give $500 to St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church for an Easter retreat for two of the church’s youth groups, God First and J-Walkers.

The advocacy organization soon became aware of the grant and told the city it believed the grant was unconstitutional and asked the commission to refrain from awarding such grants in the future.

The Mayor's Youth Commission is a city entity.

“The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment prohibits the government from financially supporting religious activities,” the nonprofit’s legal fellow Ryan Jayne wrote to City Administrator Frank Pacetti in May, according to emails sent to the Kenosha News. “The city of Kenosha may not fund a church’s religious activities, including Easter youth retreats.”

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a Wisconsin-based organization dedicated to the separation of state and church, with nearly 24,000 members, including more than 1,300 in Wisconsin.

According to the organization, Pacetti replied after almost a six-month delay, arguing that because the funds were private donations raised from sales of memorial bricks at a local park, and not from tax proceeds, it was not engaging in a constitutional violation.

However, the foundation said the source of the funding does not matter.

“The Establishment Clause prohibits the city from funding religion, regardless of how the city acquired the funds,” Jayne wrote. “No matter how the government categorizes a grant, the city must abide by the First Amendment when it awards funds.”

Pacetti said Kenosha’s mini-grant program has been terminated because the city “wouldn’t feel proper” placing limits on the program which relies on private donations and fundraising.

“We stand by the fact that we don’t believe we did anything wrong, but out of a preponderance of caution, we’re just not going to do it anymore.”

He said any delay in email correspondence was not intentional.

“When we get emails like that, we refer them to legal. Whether or not it was up to their speed, I don’t know,” Pacetti said.

On Wednesday, Mayor John Antaramian said he was not familiar with the controversy, partly because he was not mayor at the time the grant was awarded.

“From my perspective, we are going to follow the law,” he said. “We are not going to violate it. Like it or not, we will abide by the law.”

A representative from St. Mark was not immediately available for comment.