Soon-To-Be Bishop Ryan

 DALLAS, Texas, March 31, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — After the local parish priest called the cops, a pregnant mother was threatened with a trespassing charge for attending Mass without wearing a mask.

In a recent interview, Deirdre Hairston told Catholic commentator Dr. Taylor Marshall that she had been at Sunday Mass at Holy Trinity Catholic church in Dallas with her husband and one-year-old baby when she was approached by the pastor, Fr. Milton Ryan. She said Ryan told her that if she didn’t put on a mask, he would call the police and have her arrested.

The pastor made good with his threat. After returning from Holy Communion with her baby in her arms, Hairston saw three police officers at the back of the church, where she and her husband had been socially distanced from the rest of the congregation. Having not yet consumed the Host, Hairston knelt down upon returning to her seat, only to be told at once to get up.

Hairston’s husband recorded a woman police officer saying to the young mother, “Ma’am, I’m going to put you in handcuffs if you don’t stand up.”

“Our own government is more lenient [about masks] at this point than our church,” Hairston told Taylor Marshall, “and that’s a problem.”

“You’re more likely to be treated with Christian charity and grace at a Taco Bell than you are at church, unfortunately.”

The young mother also said that Catholics need to “wake up” about the situation in their churches.

She said, “People need to wake up to realize that this is … the state of our church right here, right now, and we need to stand up. The church belongs to us; we are the laity. That priest — the church does not belong to him. We can’t allow these things to happen.”