A blessing of the animals event at the Bergen County Animal Shelter has prompted a lawsuit in federal court by an atheist group that calls the ritual unconstitutional.

The suit says events in 2016 and 2017, in which a Roman Catholic bishop said prayers for animals in the shelter, violated the establishment clause of the First Amendment and the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Filed by American Atheists Inc. of Cranford and shelter patron Candice Yaacobi of North Arlington, the suit seeks a declaration that the blessing of the animals event was unconstitutional, as well as an injunction against participation by the county and its employees. The plaintiffs also seek legal costs and fees and other, unspecified relief. The suit names the county, the animal shelter and shelter director Deborah Yankow as defendants.

The suit says the event was first proposed to Yankow in 2016 by Kenneth Reihl, a bishop affiliated with the Franciscan Order of the Divine Mercy. Yankow sought and obtained approval for the event from an aide to Bergen Executive James Tedesco, who encouraged the shelter staff to promote it in hopes of getting media coverage, according to the complaint.

The shelter put 22 photos of the 2016 event on its Facebook page, along with a statement calling the event a “very moving and memorable moment that touched us all.”

The shelter's promotion of the event, posting of photos and expressions of thanks to Reihl “sent the unmistakable message that the government endorsed the religious views espoused by Reihl, the suit claims.

The shelter, in Teterboro, is provided to residents by Bergen County's Department of Health Services, and it receives funds from the state, according to the suit.

Members of the Franciscan order perform blessings over animals every October to honor St. Francis of Assisi, the suit said. This year the event was promoted in advance on the shelter's Facebook page.

Reihl, wearing a brown, hooded cassock, a white stole over his shoulders and a large cross on a chain around his neck,  provided the blessings. In October 2017, 16 photos of Reihl saying blessings over animals and over a shelter staff member were posed on the shelter's Facebook page along with a statement thanking Reihl and emojis showing dogs, cats, rabbits and mice as well as praying hands.

American Atheists sent a letter to the shelter before the 2017 event, asserting that it would be unconstitutional and requesting its cancellation.

Plaintiff Yaacobi says she went to the shelter on Oct. 4, seeking to adopt a Chihuahua, only to find Reihl greeting visitors in religious vestments.

“As a humanist atheist, being forced into an encounter with a member of clergy in order to avail herself of government services sent Candice the message that [Bergen County Animal Shelter] and Bergen County regarded her as inferior to those citizens who happened to adhere to the favored religious view,” the suit said.

The suit was filed by Geoffrey Blackwell, a staff attorney for American Atheists.

The office of Bergen County Counsel Julien Neals referred a reporter's question about the suit to the county's communications office, which did not return a call.