Salvadorans’ Eviction From Church Stirs Debate : Religion: More than 200 were removed from La Placita after a security guard was assaulted. Some parishioners question the merits of a longstanding policy offering sanctuary to refugees.

A weekend fracas at Los Angeles’ oldest church that resulted in the eviction of more than 200 Salvadorans and the torching of a church member’s car has invigorated debate over whether the church should serve as a sanctuary for refugees.

The Salvadorans were evicted from Our Lady Queen of Angels Church, known as La Placita, Saturday night after two of them assaulted an armed security guard. A car belonging to a church choir member was set afire in the ensuing squabbling.

La Placita officials said it was the first time they could recall that the church turned away refugees. Fewer than 30 spent the night in a church basement.

The evictions and vandalism have stirred debate among parishioners over the church’s future. Some church members believe that the political activism espoused at La Placita is being taken advantage of by criminals who prey on fellow Salvadoran homeless seeking refuge at the church.

Father Luis Olivares declared the church a sanctuary from U.S. immigration authorities. The former pastor used La Placita as a platform to espouse liberal causes, including opposition to U.S. involvement in El Salvador.

The controversy, according to some at the church, has set parishioner against parishioner.

“The church no longer wants to help Salvadorans,” charged parishioner Camilo Castillo, a Salvadoran refugee. “They don’t understand what’s really going on. We believe the church should be with the people, the poor--not with the rich.”

A U.S.-born parishioner, a longtime worshiper at La Placita who asked that his name not be used, retorted:

“We don’t need the violence that has occurred here recently. Salvadorans come to Los Angeles and they try to get as much (money) as they can for their families over there. But their efforts do not help La Placita. My heart says that La Placita has always and will always help everybody, not just the refugees.”

Some accuse the church’s new pastor, Father Albert Vazquez, of wanting to rescind the church’s sanctuary declaration to appease some longtime parishioners.

“That’s absolutely not true,” Vazquez said Tuesday. “We cannot close our eyes to the homeless and others.”

The incident Saturday night prompted rumors that some Salvadoran activists would take over a Mass the next day to make a political statement about La Placita.

The takeover did not occur, but the rumor has forced the public discussion of La Placita’s future.

Some parishioners believe that the continuing problem of violence at the church--two homicides reported near La Placita in the last three years and the continual confiscation of weapons from some refugees--is linked to the church’s declaration of sanctuary.

“I think Olivares’ intentions were good and honorable,” one Latino parishioner said. “However, somebody took advantage of it. A bad element.”

Salvadoran refugee Castillo said the refugees are being used as scapegoats for the violence. “Most of the men are good, honest,” he said. “They are trying to escape violence, not create it.”

“I am between a rock and a hard place,” said Vazquez, who became pastor in July. “I admire him (Olivares). He is a visionary. But the Salvadorans do not feel they have the voice that they had before. I am not Luis. I am my own man and Luis isn’t me.”

Olivares, who is awaiting reassignment after being diagnosed as having AIDS, could not be reached for comment late Tuesday.