New Orleans police clear out two Uptown Catholic churches
Two arrested as archdiocese regains Archdiocese of New Orleans worship sites

By Bruce Nolan and Susan Finch
The Times-Picayune
January 7, 2009

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[Note from BishopAccountability.org: Captions of the first two photographs were transcribed from a PDF of the Times-Picayune front page. See also a statement by the archdiocese. The Friends of Our Lady of Good Counsel may be contacted at ourladygoodcounsel@gmail.com.]

New Orleans police evicted parishioners from two Uptown Catholic churches Tuesday and delivered the buildings back into the hands of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, apparently ending a 72-day standoff that began when parishioners moved into the churches and occupied them around the clock to save them from closure.

Accompanied by lawyers from the city attorney's office, police arrived almost simultaneously at Our Lady of Good Counsel on Louisiana Avenue and at St. Henry Church, about a mile away on Gen. Pershing Street, around 10:30 a.m.

People at St. Henry said police knocked at the locked door, were allowed entry and told three protesting parishioners to leave or face a civil summons or arrest. Among the three was Madeline Morris, the widow of former Police Superintendent Henry Morris, said Alden Hagardorn, a St. Henry leader.

Protester Harold Baquet chants a prayer as he is removed by New Orleans police from Our Lady of Good Counsel Church on Louisiana Avenue. Baquet, who was issued a civil summons, carries a bucket with tools used to secure the church against police and burglars. Photos by Eliot Kamenitz / The Times-Picayune.

However, police and church officials had to force their way into Good Counsel, either battering down or sawing an opening in a side door, parishioners said.

A St. Henry parishioner, Cynthia Robidoux, rushed to her church in tears and pleaded for entry to swap places with those inside, who she said had not anticipated arrest.

She, however, welcomed it.

"I want everyone to see what they're doing. I want them to be ashamed," she said through tears, referring to Archbishop Alfred Hughes and other church officials.

Assistant City Attorney Nolan Lambert and Robidoux negotiated a deal on the sidewalk: Robidoux could go inside if she agreed to accept a civil summons for criminal trespass and forgo the spectacle of arrest and handcuffs before gathering media.

Robidoux agreed, entered the church and accepted the summons. The others were not cited, and after a brief joint prayer before a statue of Mary that included Lambert and the protesters, all five left peacefully.

Seeking refuge on roof

Meantime, at Good Counsel, novelist Poppy Z. Brite and Hunter Harris Sr. were arrested and led out of the church in handcuffs and placed in a police car, police spokesman Garry Flot said.

Another Good Counsel parishioner, Harold Baquet, who had talked of having a hard-to-locate hiding spot in the building, was removed in handcuffs and placed in a squad car.

Baquet, a cancer patient undergoing chemotherapy, said he climbed onto the church's roof to escape notice, but police found him there. In an interview later, Baquet indicated someone might still be in the church undetected, but did not elaborate.

Church member Cyndi Robidoux, left, cries on the shoulder of fellow church member Jean Schneider outside the church after protesters were removed. "I want everyone to see what they're doing. I want them to be ashamed," Robidoux said through tears, referring to Archbishop Alfred Hughes and other church officials.

Baquet, who was issued a civil summons, short of arrest, reappeared at the church 10 minutes after he had been taken away. He said police drove him home and dropped him off.

At both churches, police were accompanied by members of the archdiocese's property management office. They supervised the changing of locks and made sure the buildings were secured.

Archdiocesan spokeswoman Sarah Comiskey attended the operation at Good Counsel, with the Rev. Michael Jacques, one of the principal architects of the reorganization plan that closed the two parishes, among many others.

"They broke in a door . . . a 100-year-old door to get in," said parishioner Mary Alice Sirkis. "This is a very poor example of religion. Not only is it not Catholic, it isn't even Christian."

Trading blame

For 10 weeks, the archdiocese had taken a hands-off approach to the occupations. Hagardorn, at St. Henry's, said that as late as Monday, Comiskey had promised that police would not be used to break up the impasse.

"Twenty-four hours later, they're here. That goes with all their other lies," he said.

But the archdiocese blamed the protesters for forcing the eviction by resisting Hughes' pleas to desist -- most recently during an unusual but unsuccessful 2 a.m. visitation that awakened occupiers at the two churches on Saturday.

At that time, church officials believed they had recovered Good Counsel because one of its occupiers left. But some parishioners either remained behind in hiding, or soon re-entered the locked building, thwarting the archdiocese's plan.

Comiskey said protesters at both places forced the archdiocese's hand by deciding to lock themselves in, leaving the archdiocese in the dark about conditions in the churches.

However, Good Counsel parishioners have always locked themselves in for the entire 10 weeks of the occupation, citing security concerns. St. Henry, by contrast, remained open to visitors each day.

And parishioners in both places said they treated the buildings they loved with respect and care -- in St. Henry's case giving it a thorough cleaning as the long hours of occupation dragged by.

The archdiocese also expressed concerns about parishioners inappropriately exercising and bringing children into the closed churches.

Protesters were dismissive of both concerns. The exercising, they said, was merely walking around the indoor perimeter of the church. And Barbara Fortier, a leader of the Good Counsel rescue effort, said she surmised that the children were young teens who sometimes accompanied a sleeping parent overnight at Good Counsel.

An unhappy chapter

The evictions appear to end one of the most unhappy chapters in the archdiocese's recent history.

Hughes in April ordered 142 parishes reduced to 108, partly to consolidate parishes thinned out by Hurricane Katrina, and partly because he said the church can no longer staff so many pulpits with priests.

Parishioners at 152-year-old St. Henry, 121-year-old Good Counsel and several other small parishes rejected those arguments. They survived the storm intact and in reasonably good financial health. They contend the archdiocese wants to sell their properties to bolster its treasury. The archdiocese denies it.

In any event, parishioners at both locations say they have asked Hughes to negotiate with them to reach some sort of clustering configuration in which their churches, with nearby St. Stephen, would share a single pastor. That arrangement would preserve some continuation of the sacraments at the two churches, they said.

But Hughes has held fast to the original closure plan, under which the buildings would remain shuttered and members of the two parishes would worship at St. Stephen, just a few blocks away.

"Is my faith still strong? Yes," said Robidoux at St. Henry. "But is my faith in the hierarchy, in men of the cloth intact? Absolutely not." She said she could not soon bring herself to contribute and grow to love a new parish, lest it be closed like St. Henry.

Tipped off about action

Alerted by their telephone networks, dozens of angry or teary parishioners gathered at the churches to witness the evictions, denounce church leadership and console one another.

Fortier said her group had received a nonspecific alert from archdiocesan sources that some action was imminent Tuesday. As a result, their networks assembled quickly -- many, like Fortier, with video cameras to record the event.

Lambert, the attorney, said the archdiocese asked the Police Department to clear the buildings. He said the church provided a corporate resolution signed by Hughes and Bishop Roger Morin as proof of ownership of the property.

Good Counsel parishioners several weeks ago formally contended that Hughes' assertion of ownership is flawed. They asked Civil District Court Judge Kern Reese to declare that Hughes had no right to close the parish unilaterally. But Reese dismissed the case, saying the parishioners were not members of the legal corporation that constitutes the church parish and thus had no standing to sue.

In addition to seizing the churches, parishioners in both communities mounted canonical appeals inside the Catholic Church.

St. Henry's received an unfavorable decision and dropped it, believing the Vatican-centered process is stacked in favor of the archdiocese, Hagardorn said.

Good Counsel's appeal continues, but parishioners say such entreaties rarely succeed.

Bruce Nolan can be reached at bnolan@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3344. Susan Finch can be reached at sfinch@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3340.

Other Photos from nola.com gallery

Church member Cyndi Robidoux is prevented gaining entry to the building by NOPD Detective William Charbonnet. Photos by Eliot Kamenitz / The Times-Picayune.

NOPD Detective William Charbonnet helps protester Madelyn Morris to her car after she was removed from the church. The church member is the widow of former NOPD Superintendent Henry Morris. Photos by Eliot Kamenitz / The Times-Picayune.

Lee Madere tries to stop an NOPD car from leaving with arrested protester Harold Baquet inside. Photos by Eliot Kamenitz / The Times-Picayune.