Landlord Breaks Down Churchs Door On Good Friday Over Rent Dispute

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) Good Friday was anything but good for a Bronx church involved in an ongoing rent dispute with its landlord.

The Osborne Association, a nonprofit group that helps men and women coming out of jail to reform their lives, owns the building located at 813 Westchester Ave. in the Morrisania section of the borough.

They lease a portion of the bottom floor to the Word of Life Church, which operates a food pantry that feeds hundreds in the community every week.

The organization claims the church is behind on its rent and started the eviction process last week.

We worked for more than a year to resolve ongoing issues of non-payment with our tenant, but ultimately began eviction proceedings, the group said in a statement.

Marshals went to execute the warrant last Wednesday, but the church got an emergency stay order until April 7.

Osobrne said it hadnt received the papers when they noticed the church back in the building on Good Friday, which is when a representative from the group along with the NYPD came to see what was going on.

Rev. John Udo-Okon told 1010 WINS he was conducting Good Friday service when the property manager tried to break down the door with a sledgehammer.

We were having service and we heard this heavy banging on the door and people began running, Udo-Okon said. Children were running and my wife and I ran from the pulpit.

Udo-Okon said the two police officers had their guns drawn.

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Landlord Breaks Down Churchs Door On Good Friday Over Rent Dispute