An uptown church is expected to close Sunday but its priest said he will not leave.Monsignor Henry Engelbrecht of St. Henry's Catholic Church is fighting the archdiocese's decision to close his church by refusing to leave the building on Sunday.
Many parishioners like Jean Schneider, who have worshiped at the church their whole lives, vow to stand with him.
"He is a man in a wheelchair and for him to stand up and say that he's going to stay here and fight with us, I think is wonderful," she said. "We had a meeting (Monday) night and I think if they close us, we're going to have a sit-in.""We'll fight with him. Whatever we are physically able to do, we're 81 years of age.
"We did receive a letter from him saying that he wasn't ready to leave the rectory," Archdiocese of New Orleans spokeswoman Sarah Comiskey said.
"The archbishop wrote back to him that with the closure of the parish he was no longer the pastor."
St. Henry's has a congregation of about 375 people and is one of the last churches to be closed under the archdiocese's new pastoral plan.
The site of the new parish is at St. Stephen's and is called the Good Shepperd Catholic Church. It will be a merger of St. Henry's, St. Stephen's and Our Lady of Good Counsel.
While Engelbrecht refuses to leave the church, many parishioners said they refuse to go to St. Stephens, and like Our Lady of Good Counsel, they have lawyers in place to battle it out in court.
"Just like Adolph Hitler, take the Jews' money, take the property and dispose of them -- that's one thing this guy can't do is dispose of us," said Gerald Schneider, a parishioner.
The new church parish for St. Henry's is scheduled to open on Nov. 1.
The other three church buildings closing on Sunday include Our Lady of Good Counsel, St. Francis de Sales and Epiphany.
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(Source: WDSU)