NEW ORLEANS, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- New Orleans police said they evicted parishioners from two Catholic churches, occupied around the clock in an effort to prevent their closure.
Police, along with lawyers from the city attorney's office, arrived simultaneously at Our Lady of Good Counsel and at St. Henry Church, about a mile away, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reported.
Witnesses at St. Henry said police knocked at the locked door, were allowed to enter and told three protesting parishioners to leave or face a civil summons or arrest.
Police and church officials had to force their way into Good Counsel, either battering down or sawing through a side door, parishioners told the newspaper.
The churches were returned to the Archdiocese of New Orleans, which had closed the two parishes 10 weeks ago. At both churches, police were accompanied by members of the archdiocese's property management office, which supervised the changing of the locks and made sure the buildings were secured.
Archbishop Alfred Hughes in April ordered 142 parishes reduced to 108, partly to consolidate parishes that lost parishioners to Hurricane Katrina, and partly because the churches had trouble filling the parishes with priests.
Parishioners at 152-year-old St. Henry, 121-year-old Good Counsel and several other small parishes rejected those arguments, saying they survived the storm and were reasonably good financial health.
