BOSTON – The Massachusetts Appeals Court has heard arguments in a bid to evict parishioners from a shuttered church they've occupied in protest for nearly 11 years.
A three-judge panel heard brief arguments Wednesday and questioned lawyers from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston and the group that's been holding a round-the-clock vigil at the church in Scituate since 2004.
The Friends of St. Frances X. Cabrini group says a lower court judge wrongly prevented them from presenting arguments and evidence referencing church law when he ruled in May that the protesters had to vacate.
The archdiocese says the case is a simple property law dispute that shouldn't consider ecclesiastical issues.
The appeals court did not immediately rule.
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