Parishioners in the only Catholic church left standing on the Bolivar Peninsula after Hurricane Ike obtained a restraining order today preventing the Galveston-Houston Archdiocese from proceeding with the demolition of the Port Bolivar church building. State district Judge John Ellisor granted an application for a temporary restraining order this morning that halts demolition of the Our Mother of Mercy church that began Monday, Galveston attorney Chris Bertini said.
Workers have already removed the church’s stained-glass windows and razed a community center, maintenance shed and barbecue shack.
Ellisor scheduled a hearing on the building’s future for June 22.
Archdiocese spokeswoman Claudia Deschamps could not immediately be reached for comment.
The judge granted the restraining order so that parishioners would be able to examine documents held by the church that they believe gives them a say in whether the building can be demolished, Bertini said.
“That’s the question,” Bertini said. “Do they have a right to do it?”
The construction of Our Mother of Mercy was financed entirely by parishioners with no help from the archdiocese when it was built 50 years ago, parishioners say.
Parishioners have tussled with archdiocese officials over the fate of the church building since the storm, which left the Our Mother of Mercy building intact, with only water and mold damage.
The church in Crystal Beach — the only other Catholic Church on the peninsula — was damaged beyond repair.
The archdiocese consolidated the parishes on Galveston Island and the Bolivar Peninsula recently and decided last week to tear down the Port Bolivar church and build a new church and community center.
Preliminary plans call for building the new church in Crystal Beach.
Deschamps said the decision to tear down the building was based on what the community’s needs will be far into the future.
The exact number of parishioners remaining after the storm is unknown, although parishioners say that an ample number would attend services at the church, which has been closed since the storm.
The archdiocese also has a shortage of priests and needed to move some in the 2,600 member Galveston-Bolivar parish to Houston, where a single priest in some cases is serving congregations of 2,000 to 3,000, Deschamps said.
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