By Jon Brown
A Catholic church in Los Angeles County is alleging that the local government dispatched two health department officials to harass them in retaliation for their priest suing Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom and other state officials.
On Oct. 15, two health officials showed up at Our Lady of the Angels Church in Arcadia, California, a congregation affiliated with the dissident Society of St. Pius X. The officials watched approximately 11 parishioners leave the building from the sidewalk and then cited them for holding indoor worship services in violation of COVID-19 restrictions, according to a copy of the citation forwarded to The Daily Wire. The citation carried with it a $1,000 fine.
Father Trevor Burfitt, who oversees Our Lady of the Angels Church as well as several other mission churches, had earlier filed a lawsuit against Newsom and 19 other state officials on Sept. 29, claiming that his rights under the California Constitution were being violated eight different ways by the state’s continually extended lockdown orders.
Paul Jonna, an attorney with the Thomas More Society who is representing the church, characterized the fines to The Daily Wire as “a clear case of retaliation” for Burfitt’s lawsuit.
Referencing another incident that took place Oct. 20, Jonna said, “They sent county inspectors over to the church a few times and attempted to eject two women praying in a 500-capacity church, basically alone in the church—just praying, worshiping God and [they] were threatened with citations for being inside the church.”
“We think these orders have been unconstitutional from the beginning,” Jonna continued. Speaking more broadly, he said, “It’s clear that the executive branches of these Democrat-run states, they’re using this as a massive power grab. And the tyranny is just shocking to most Americans who understand how our country was founded and designed to have three separate branches of government. We’re seeing these states being controlled and governed by one branch. The legislatures are not really providing input and the courts are just sitting by.”