BISHOP BARS MASS FOR LOCKED-IN WORKERS

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 14, 1993                   TAG: 9304140283
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium
BISHOP BARS MASS FOR LOCKED-IN WORKERS
Bishop Walter F. Sullivan said Tuesday he refused to allow a Catholic priest inside the Allied Signal Inc. plant to celebrate Easter Mass for nonstriking workers who have been living in the plant for three weeks.
"In my judgment, we would be taking the position of management," by conducting a service for nonstriking workers in the facility, Sullivan told the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
During Lent, the Rev. William Condon, pastor of St. Ann's Catholic Church in Colonial Heights, said Mass for the salaried workers who have lived in the plant since 1,800 hourly workers went on strike last month.
The bishop said the Rev. Michael Maruca, parochial vicar at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Richmond, approached him before Easter to say that he had been asked by workers to say Easter Mass there.
"He called me to ask permission and I denied it," the bishop said.
Allied spokesmen, citing a media blackout they said was agreed to last weekend by both sides in the dispute, declined to comment Tuesday on Sullivan's ban.
Sullivan said one person was angry with him because a family member has been in the plant for three weeks.
"They ought to be angry at Allied, not angry at the church," he said.
"I can't believe Allied is locking people in and preventing them from leaving so they can practice their religious freedom," Sullivan said.
However, Allied confirmed Tuesday that a group of employees left the plant to attend Easter Mass at a Catholic church and later returned. An ecumenical service was held later Sunday in the plant.
Sullivan accused Allied of ordering its salaried workers and management to stay inside the plant, and said they did so "I think, out of fear of losing their jobs."

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB