By Maya Rodriguez
WWL-TV
January 3, 2009
http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/wwl010309mlchurch.3516593d.html
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| Parishioners from St. Henry's and Good Counsel vow to stay in the churches for as long as it takes to get them reopened. |
NEW ORLEANS - It began with a morning announcement from New Orleans Archbishop Alfred Hughes.
"The archdiocese if putting an end to the occupations," he said.
It was a statement that came on the heels of an earlier morning incident at the closed Our Lady of Good Counsel Catholic Church in Uptown. That is when a group -- including a priest and members of the Archdiocese Property Management Office -- entered the church at around 2 a.m. They asked a man holding vigil there to leave and he did. Then, they began a thorough search of the church.
"We checked every nook and cranny," said Father Michael Jacques with the Archdiocese of New Orleans. "We climbed up into the steeple and secured the doors in the steeple. We checked in all of the confessionals, all of the cupboards, all of the closets, all the entries above the sanctuary."
The archdiocese says it then began securing all of the windows and doors by screwing them shut.
"As far as we know, no one's there," said Archbishop Hughes.
However, early Saturday afternoon, Eyewitness News saw several people inside Our Lady of Good Counsel, as others continued making their way in through a back door. Parishioners later came out, took no questions, but gave a brief statement.
"Our vigil is strong," said Poppy Brite, one of the Good Counsel Parishioners inside the church. "We will not be intimidated."
One parishioner said they never left the church, contradicting what the archdiocese said that morning -- and leaving open the question of just how any parishioners were able to elude the members of archdiocese during their search of the church.
"We did not know how people gained, if they have, how they the people gained access after the fact," said Bishop Roger Morin with the Archdiocese of New Orleans.
"If there is a break in, we have every right to call upon the police for assistance," Archbishop Hughes said.
Meanwhile, the archdiocese had also paid an early morning visit to two people holding vigil at another closed church: St. Henry’s Catholic Church, also in Uptown.
"I think it's pretty rotten," said Alden Hagardorn, a parishioner at St. Henry’s. "I mean, people are here all day long. But you pull a sneak attack at two o'clock in the morning?"
Again, the archdiocese asked the parishioners to leave, but they refused and the representatives from the Archdiocese left shortly after that.
"We're hoping that they will bring to closure the vigil," Archbishop Hughes said. "That's my genuine hope. I hope it can happen very expeditiously and pastorally."
"We all have one thing in common," Hagardorn said. "We'd like it to end right now."
In the meantime, parishioners still inside Our Lady of Good Counsel plan to hold a prayer vigil Sunday at 11 a.m.
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