Armed ushers
BRIDGEPORT — For months, parishioners of Holy Trinity Church prayed they were beating the odds. They held potluck suppers. They hosted bazaars and tag sales.
In short, they raised lots of money — enough, they hoped, to keep their struggling Black Rock parish alive.
But worshipers at what is believed to be the oldest Hungarian Byzantine parish on the East Coast said they were devastated by the announcement last Sunday that the church was closing. But what happened next, they said, was unconscionable.
Moments after the announcement was made, armed guards emerged from the sacristies to escort worshipers from their spiritual home.
When she saw the guards, "I felt like I was in a Communist country," said JoAnn Manzo, one of the startled parishioners. [Source]
How in the world can you think that this would be a good idea?
Known as 
"How in the world can you think that this would be a good idea?"
If you'd lived through the Boston parish closings, you might think it wasn't that bad an idea. Yeah, it's a horrible situation, but at least there won't be heretical priests and laity abusing the Blessed Sacrament through illict "communion services." No sit-ins to feed the typical CINO anti-Church rants. No platform within a *closed church* for the VOTF.
I can't believe that I'm living in a historical time period where I think this action is advisable. On the other hand, at least I'm not living during Diocletian's persecution....
I'd not heard of that Steve -- positively ghastly! But (maybe I'm wrong) I'm thinking the Hungarian Byzantine church in this article was probably not of that hippie-lib variety. It sounded to me like it was a struggling Eastern Orthodox church who sadly ran out of funds to maintain their church. Armed guards though? I'm doubting a group of 55-60 year olds* would've put up very much of a fight... even IF they staged a sit-in. It would've spiced things up a bit though if the Knights of Columbus were there.
*I mean no disrespect here, I'm closing in on this category very quickly!!
Armed gaurds? That's way too much. I know the 50 and 60 year old set can get rowdy when they have those Summer of Love flashbacks but gaurds appearing on cue from the sacristy is a lousy way to handle things.
How sad! The way this was handled was just ghastly! And it will drive some people away from the Faith (though I still believe that people ought to know that the Faith is not the same as the bishops - no matter who is running things on earth, we all know Who is in charge ultimately).
Hopefully, these folks will remain in the Faith and will remember that you don't go to a parish because it is convenient or because you like your pastor; you go because the Catholic Church is the Truth!!! I think if more people really understood that fact, you'd see a lot fewer Catholics cavalierly throwing away the gift of our Church and Faith and Traditions.
Christine is quite right. I'm sorry for people whose parish has been closed, because it's sad to lose familiar places, but the Church can't afford to maintain every old building it owns. But armed guards . . . that's incredible. Who exactly did they think was going to open fire on them and have to be taken down? I know how to use a gun, but I don't go to Mass tooled up just in case I have to occupy the building and defend it against the wrecker's ball. I can't imagine who does.
Maybe the Pope will lend us a few of his Guard to guard us against the armed guards for the future.
Or we could get the Christian Karate people out.
http://www.splendoroftruth.com/curtjester/archives/005961.php