A conflict between a church and its neighborhood are a microcosm of the divisions in American life today.
It started as an issue with parking on a Logan Heights block.
Now tensions between a largely Latino neighborhood and a long-standing, Latin-only Catholic Church have spilled over into social media conflicts, threats and calls for police intervention, evidence of a disconnect between a church and its neighbors.
Logan Heights is a predominantly residential single-family home neighborhood where Latino residents make up more than half the population. It’s bordered by the Barrio Logan community and Interstate-15. About 74 percent of households there earn less than $60,000 a year, according to the San Diego Association of Governments, or SANDAG.
St. Anne Catholic Church holds Mass in Latin there seven days a week and has a large following of parishioners, mostly from outside the neighborhood. The church belongs to the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter and, before pandemic restrictions stopped indoor Masses earlier this month, its attendance averaged more than 200 people, the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego said. Now the church celebrates Mass in its courtyard.
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