Hours after a state judge ordered Tuesday that the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston negotiate with Port Bolivar parishioners trying to save their church from demolition, the archdiocese moved the legal dispute to federal court and asked that it be dismissed. The legal maneuvering comes after parishioners obtained a temporary restraining order last week that halted workers who were dismantling the 50-year-old Our Mother of Mercy church building.
Galveston County state Judge John Ellisor ordered early Tuesday that the archdiocese and the parishioners mediate their dispute. The archdiocese notified the attorney for the parishioners, Chris Bertini, late Tuesday that it was moving the case to federal court in Houston and asking that it be dismissed.
The archdiocese argues that parishioners are violating the First Amendment separation of church and state by asking the courts to decide a church matter.
The diocese is asking a federal judge to dismiss the state court filing that sought a restraining order and access to church documents.
“They are asking a court to order that a church be kept open,” said Robert Schick, a diocese attorney.
Bertini said he had not read the legal documents transferring the dispute to federal court.
“Ellisor was asking us to sit down and negotiate, but the archdiocese would rather go into a venue that they think is more favorable to them,” he said.
Ellisor last week ordered the archdiocese to produce all documents pertaining to the Port Bolivar church after parishioners argued that the documents might show that they had a say in whether the church is torn down.
Parishioners say that the community built the church without financial help from the diocese and that they are willing to maintain the church at their own expense.
Parishioner Rhea Senseney-Hemmings, who had threatened to chain herself to the church when crews arrived to tear it down June 8, asked, “Why won’t they meet with us in person?”
“I do think it’s a power play,” Senseney-Hemmings said. “(They are saying) we’re bigger and stronger and richer and we won’t give up.”
Our Mother of Mercy was the only Catholic church building on the Bolivar Peninsula to survive Hurricane Ike when it struck Sept. 13. The archdiocese has refused to allow services in the church since the hurricane as parishioners fought to save it.
The archdiocese plans to build a new church and community center at nearby Crystal Beach. Archdiocese officials say the decision to demolish the Port Bolivar church was part of a long-range plan for the parish, which was recently consolidated with Galveston Island.
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