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	Bolivar Church Planning Mass Minus Priest By T.J. Aulds Daily News June 14, 2009 http://galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=af4d4a2087b69c01 BOLIVAR PENINSULA — Catholics who call the Bolivar Peninsula home were to have their first Mass since before Hurricane Ike struck nine months ago at a nearby Methodist church. The Mass was abruptly canceled Saturday afternoon and parishioners accused the Galveston-Houston Catholic Archdiocese of ordering the Bolivar parish priest to stay away. Parishioners vow to have the service if only to send a message of their displeasure to the archdiocese. Members of the Our Mother of Mercy Catholic Church in Port Bolivar have been locked in a fight with the archdiocese to keep the parish going after the hurricane severely damaged the church sanctuary and other church buildings. Last week, the archdiocese ordered the church be torn down, but a group of parishioners got a judge to issue a temporary restraining order to halt the demolition. A special service was to be held at 5 p.m. today with Father Joseph Nguyen, the parish's former priest, conducting the Mass. Church members said Father Nguyen, who is now the priest of a church in Hempstead, called and said he had been told by the archdiocese not to attend. "I am disappointed that they would not let our priest come on his own free time and perform Mass," lifelong Mother of Mercy parishioner Rhea Senseney-Hemmings said. She said that other members of the church spoke with Father Nguyen and then relayed the news to parishioners. Archdiocese spokeswoman Claudia Deschamps said she couldn't confirm whether Nguyen had been ordered to not attend the Mass. "I have no reason to doubt it, but I'm unable to get anyone to confirm it," she said. Attempts to reach Father Nguyen also were unsuccessful. If the archdiocese did instruct Father Nguyen to not attend, Senseney-Hemmings called it a "vindictive act," in retribution for the parishioners' attempts to stop the efforts to demolish the church. "We've requested more than once to speak to the Cardinal," she said. "No one at the archdiocese will talk to us." There will still be a service, officiated by the preacher from the Bolivar Church of Christ at the nearby Methodist church today, and Senseney-Hemmings said she was hoping to get ministers from other churches to join in hoping to send a message. "What would that say to them that all these preachers are here except our own priest?" she said.
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