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Six parishioners arrested in parish protest

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

(East Harlem-WABC, February 12, 2007) (WABC) -- There were confrontations on Monday night in East Harlem between Catholic Church parishioners and representatives from the Archdiocese of New York.

The standoff happened at Our Lady Queen of Angels Church on East 113th Street -- a parish slated for closure by the archdiocese.

Click here for more on the Archdiocese of New York reorganization plan

Eyewitness News reporter Jeff Rossen is at the church with late breaking news.

Police moved into the church around 11 p.m. and made arrests -- six people in total, all women parishioners -- for trespassing.

Earlier in the day, several parishioners held a vigil inside the church refusing to leave.

"If you experience going to your home, and that your locks have been changed, you feel that you have been evicted from your home," parishioner Carmen Villegas said. "So when I saw the changing of those locks, I feel evicted from my home."

Except this building isn't Viellegas' home. It's Our Lady Queen of Angels in East Harlem, one of 10 Catholic Churches the Archdiocese plans to close.

"This is the only church that had a ramp for people handicapped to come in," parishioner Catalina Fascio said. "If they close it, I don't go no more to church."

But Joe Zwilling, spokesperson for the New York Archdiocese, says there are no plans to change the decision, because the churches they are closing had a dwindling number of parishioners.

"I understand people can be very attached to their particular church buildings, and that is understandable," he said. "But that's not really the essence of our faith, is not contained in a particular building."

But it's that faith that keeps these people here at Our Lady Queen of Angels. Earlier Monday, they set up a vigil, and plan to stay inside the church. They say they're not moving until Cardinal Egan changes his mind. And they say, if he doesn't, they'll have to be pulled out.

"I am not a criminal," Villegas said. "I love my church, and I will resist, and resist, and resist."

Officials say the church is slated to close March 1.

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