MALAGA, N.J., Jan. 5 (UPI) -- Some Roman Catholic parishioners in New Jersey say they won't leave their church until a decision to close the 88-year-old house of worship is reversed.
"If it takes six years, we'll stay six years," Leah Vassallo of St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church in Malaga told The Philadelphia Inquirer.
"I believe this is our church, unrightly taken from us," said parishioner Jennifer Cipollone. "I plan to stay here".
The Bishop of Camden ordered the closing of St. Mary's as part of a major restructuring in 2011, the Inquirer reported Wednesday.
Parishioners appealed the decision all the way to Pope Benedict XVI who turned down their down their request to reverse it, a spokesman for the archdiocese announced Tuesday.
St. Mary's was shuttered Nov. 9 after diocesan authorities discovered it would cost thousands of dollars to repair the church's boiler.
Monday, a group of parishioners said they found an unlocked door and began their vigil.
A spokesman for the diocese said officials anticipated some members might occupy the church.
There was no word on what authorities would do about it. UPI
