MORRISANIA — A months-long rent dispute between a South Bronx church and its landlord came to a head on Good Friday, when the building owner tried to break down the church's door using a sledgehammer in order to evict the members of the church inside.
The Word of Life church — located at 813 Westchester Ave. and well-known in the neighborhood for its massive food giveaways — was preparing for Good Friday mass when members of the church heard the sledgehammer hacking into their front door, said Rev. John Udo-Okon, who called the experience "traumatic."
"Friday was really rough," he said. "Most people didn't want to come back to the church because they didn't know if [he] was coming back to attack. They had no right to go and break down the door."
The church had been ordered to vacate the premises following a Feb. 20 Bronx Civil Court decision ruling in favor of its landlord, the Osborne Association, over thousands of dollars the church allegedly owed in late or missing rent payments.
New York City marshals arrived at the church April 1 to execute the warrant and escort members out, prompting church members to seek an emergency court order allowing them to stay put through the holidays. A Bronx judge ruled in their favor on April 2, letting them stay through April 7, according to court documents.
However, Osborne Association officials said they had not yet been served with the emergency stay order. When Jeff Henley saw the church back in the building on Good Friday, he called the police, and when their knocks on the door went unanswered, the police told him he could force his way in, according to Jonathan Stenger, a spokesman for Osborne.
"Our attorney nor Osborne had received those papers, so we didn't know that they had the right to be back in the building," Stenger said.
Udo-Okon said after the judge ruled in the church's favor, they returned to the building and discovered the locks on the doors had already been changed.
"They had removed all our locks and put in all of their locks," he said, adding that they summoned a locksmith. "So we cut the locks."
Members of the church said they were offended at the timing of the eviction process.
"It's about Good Friday," said Roan Benjamin, a volunteer at the church. "And that's the holy Friday."
