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Revolt Simmers at Church
Our Lady has 1,500 members, Gibbs said, with attendance at Sunday services about 500.
The last straw for the disgruntled parishioners came when Tyree began implementing changes that Fest ordered for the Panorama Room -- changes that the archdiocese said has resulted in a healthier bottom line.
  The Rev. Donald Fest greets parishioners after a Mass at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church in Anacostia. (Photos By Bill O'leary -- The Washington Post) |
People who used to have keys and unfettered access now must seek permission to use the room, and only for church purposes. Events sponsored by partisan groups were banned, and Fest, in concert with archdiocese policy, required all groups to acquire their own liability insurance before renting the room.
Ronald Saunders, a member of the church finance committee, said the changes were necessary, although some didn't like them.
"Their parents and forefathers built the church, but you can't live by those regulations anymore," Saunders said. "They don't want to live by the laws that govern us now. This is an archdiocese church. This is not their church."
Parishioners See Racism
Don't tell that to Alston and the men who meet Monday nights in his Hillcrest basement, the mutiny's nerve center.
Alston, 60, a chauffeur, sits at a table where a Bible rests. A dozen others take seats on bar stools, benches and sofas. Sometimes, Alston's wife, Carolyn, comes. She's also suspended.
Ailing hearts, creaky joints and gray hair are common topics of discussion, as well as razzings and disagreements over how to make their case to the public. Letters have been sent to bishops and even to Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, archbishop of Washington -- irking church leaders who said it was rude of parishioners to take problems straight to the top.
They've debated their complaints with the council that helps run the church, though some describe the debates as more like shouting matches.
What got them all suspended was passing out fliers, with their names attached, making the allegations about Tyree and gathering 100 names on petitions seeking his removal. The suspensions infuriated the men.
"If that's not racism, I don't know what is," Alston said at a recent caucus. After several people made similar accusations, Paul Kearney, a former federal investigator and community activist, piped up: "I don't agree with you calling [Fest] a racist."
But the men made a pact to speak with one voice in public, and in public there have been plenty of references to race.