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	Parishioners Remain after Archdiocese Asks Them to Vacate Two Occupied Uptown Churches By Cindy Chang Times-Picayune January 3, 2009 http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2009/01/archdiocese_asks_parishioners.html Officials from the Archdiocese of New Orleans visited two Uptown Catholic churches in the pre-dawn hours Saturday to urge parishioners to abandon their around-the-clock occupation of the buildings. Although one of the churches was briefly closed, parishioners later managed to re-enter the building, and protesters continued to camp out at both churches Saturday evening in defiance of archdiocese orders to close them. Archbishop Alfred Hughes expressed hope at midday that the parishioners can still be talked into leaving, but representatives from the Our Lady of Good Counsel and St. Henry congregations said they are determined to stick it out. "Our vigil is strong, and we will not be intimidated," said novelist Poppy Z. Brite, a parishioner of Our Lady of Good Counsel, before announcing that a rosary will be said at the church today at 11 a.m. Until this weekend, the archbishop did nothing to stop the occupation of the two churches, which he ordered closed in late October as part of a massive post-Katrina restructuring of local parishes. But Hughes said safety concerns about the vigils, which have been under way for more than two months, prompted him to take action. He said he had received reports that people were doing physical exercises in at least one of the churches, that power outlets were being overloaded and that children and the elderly were participating in the vigils. "I wanted to go the extra mile and provide the opportunity to see if pastorally people could be brought to accept the decision that has been made," Hughes said. "That does not seem to be in the offing, and rather than continue the risk indefinitely, and prolong what I think is a very difficult situation that is impacting the newly merged parish, I thought it was important, and my counselors advised me that it was important, to try to bring the vigils to closure." Alden Hagardorn said he and his fellow St. Henry parishioners want to negotiate with the archbishop and will continue to occupy the church if they are not granted an audience. The group is not opposed to joining the new Good Shepherd parish, which worships at St. Stephen Church, but its members would like to see the St. Henry location used in some form, if only for a once-a-week Mass and occasional christenings, Hagardorn said. "We just don't want to totally lose the identity of St. Henry," he said. The Good Counsel group also called on the archbishop to meet with them to "formulate a pragmatic solution to put a peaceful end to the vigils." At about 2 a.m. -- an hour chosen to minimize "fanfare," as Hughes put it -- archdiocese officials entered the two churches and woke the sleeping protesters. Two people spending the night at St. Henry rebuffed pleas to leave the property. The one person occupying Good Counsel initially left, and the officials changed the locks and nailed the windows closed. But protesters later got back into the building. "We did not know how people gained access after the fact," Bishop Roger Morin said. "Father (Michael) Jacques felt he had completely scoured the entire building before leaving." Archdiocese leaders have said the closings of seven parishes were necessary because of storm damage, a diminished post-Katrina population and a nationwide shortage of priests. Similar round-the-clock vigils at several Boston-area Catholic churches are now in their fourth year. Cindy Chang can be reached at cchang@timespicayune.com or 985.898.4816.
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