New Orleans, La., Jan 7, 2009 / 17:00 pm
Several Catholic parishioners in the Archdiocese of New Orleans who occupied two former churches to protest their closure were removed by police on Tuesday, with two being arrested.
The archdiocese had closed the churches as part of a parish consolidation and restructuring plan.
Protests centered upon the 152-year old St. Henry Church and the nearby Our Lady of Good Counsel Church. Following the uptown churches’ final Masses in late October, some parishioners occupied the churches in round-the-clock shifts, holding Sunday prayer services without a priest and claiming to be building steady support for their cause, the Times-Picayune reports.
Police evicted the parishioners on Tuesday. Accompanied by members of the archdiocese's property management office and lawyers from the city attorney’s office, they arrived at the churches at about 10:30 a.m.