On Sunday, dozens of religious groups across the city that rent auditorium and cafeteria space in public schools held their (possibly) last services there, as a city policy banning worship in schools went into effect Feb. 12. Breaking Bronx reached out to a few local pastors to see what the plan was for their congregations after getting evicted, and we’re hearing from several sources that the groups could possibly be getting a reprieve.

Pastor Jack Roberts of Bronx Household of Faith, the University Heights church that led a years-long legal fight against the DOE’s policy, said that a Manhattan judge could decide this week to order a temporary injunction against the city’s ban, granting the religious groups more time to try and get the policy reversed by state law, or, at least, to find new sites to hold services.

The injunction was filed by the Alliance Defense Fund, which has legally backed Bronx Household’s efforts to use school space since it first challenged the DOE’s policy in 1994.

“Churches and other religious groups should be able to meet in public buildings on the same terms as other community groups,” said ADF lawyer Jordan Lorence in a statement. “A government can’t solve the supposed problem of appearing as though it is endorsing religion by treating churches worse than everybody else. The city’s policy prohibits activity for religious reasons, and that is both unconstitutional and at odds with a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in a different case.”

The court is expected to rule by noon today. If the injunction doesn’t work, Roberts said, Bronx Household of Faith will hold its service next Sunday at the Hope Christian Center, a group home on University Avenue where it used to operate before moving to the auditorium of PS 15 in 2002.

“It’s too small for us, we’ll have to be standing room only, probably, but it’s the plan that we’ll have to follow through on for now,” Roberts said.

Other church leaders said they may protest the city’s policy by holding services outside of the school buildings they have been using for services.

Many are still holding out hope that the state legislature will repeal the policy. A bill that would do just that passed through the Republican-led state senate, but is languishing in the Democrat-controlled assembly.

Bronx Councilman Fernando Cabrera, who represents University Heights and is a pastor at a church in the area, said injunction or no injunction, he will continue to push the assembly and its legislative gatekeeper, Speaker Sheldon Silver, to act on the repeal bill.

“I continue to urge our State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver to follow the bi-partisan leadership demonstrated by the State Senate,” Cabrera said in a statement. “Bill A8800-A can continue to move, and should be brought for a vote, especially given that it has 70 co-sponsors.”

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.