An ongoing tug of war over a city policy banning worship in public school buildings during non-school hours caused confusion this past weekend, sending many churches that rent space from local schools scrambling to find sites to hold their Sunday services.

The ban, which went into effect Sunday, Feb. 12, following a federal court’s decision last spring that the Department of Education could legally evict the religious groups on the grounds of separation of church and state, was put on hold last week after a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order.

But last Friday afternoon, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the order would apply only to Bronx Household of Faith, the University Heights parish that has been waging a lawsuit against the city for 17 years for the right to keep holding services at PS/MS 15 on Andrews Avenue.

So while Bronx Household of Faith is allowed to remain — at least until Feb. 27, when federal Judge Loretta Preska is due to issue another decision in the case — other parishes had to find last minute alternatives.

Heavenly Vision Christian Center, which has been renting the auditorium at the Walton High School Campus, was forced to split its service into three separate sessions on Sunday in order to fit everyone into the small chapel space they own on Jerome Avenue.

“It was chaos here,” said Pastor Salvador Sabino. “We have grown so much, we have over a thousand people in the Bronx alone, which is why we had to start renting from schools in the first place.”

The parish also holds services at IS 52 in northern Manhattan, and congregants there were locked out of the school on Sunday. So the church held its service on the sidewalk outside, Sabino said.

“It was out there in the winter, but God blessed us with 42 degree [weather],” he said. “We have become a semi-nomad church.”

Another parish, Cross Way Church and Christian Center, which has held services in the auditorium of MS 101 on Lafayette Avenue for the last year and a half, found out late Friday that they would not be able to get into the school on Sunday.

“We didn’t have a place to go,” said Pastor Mark Gregori. So the 100 or so of the church’s congregants got creative, he said, and instead visited one another’s homes or called each other over the phone to pray.

“We had a very meaningful time realizing we’re still who we are, whether we have a building or don’t have a building,” he said. “The church is the people.”

If the city’s ban is not overturned, Gregori said, they plan to start holding services at Saint Catherine’s Academy, a Catholic school a few miles away.

The city’s religious leaders and a number of local politicians are looking to have the issue resolved legislatively, campaigning in support of a state bill that would reverse the DOE’s ban. The legislation was passed by the State Senate earlier this month, but has not been approved by the Assembly, where it was introduced by Bronx Assemblyman Nelson Castro.

Speaker Sheldon Silver, who decides what bills come up on the Assembly floor for a vote, is looking for a narrower version of the bill than the one that’s been proposed, according to a spokeswoman.

“He feels that the Senate bill is very broad, and would allow any organization to come into the school,” said Sheldon staffer Kerri Biche. “He’s glad it’s being addressed in the court since it’s a constitutional issue. He looks forward to the court’s decision as a guide for any legislation.”

The Assembly is on legislative break until Feb. 28.

Earlier this month, the City Council held a public hearing to discuss whether to pass a resolution in support of the bill. Opponents argued that allowing religious groups to operate in schools breaches the required separation of church and state, and gave preferential treatment to Christian groups.

“They are overwhelmingly Christian churches as the vast majority of schools are only regularly available on Sundays, they pay below market rents (as little as $2 an hour to use a classroom), they tend to dominate the schools on the day they use them, and some use the school address on their letterhead and website, while others blanket the neighborhood with postcards listing the school as the church’s address,” said Donna Lieberman, executive director at the New York Civil Liberties Union.

But opponents of the ban argue that the religious services are only taking place during non-school hours, and that the city’s policy is unfairly discriminating against religious groups, since other community organizations are permitted to rent school space.

“When we’re there on a Sunday, no one’s around and we don’t have access to classrooms,” Gregori said. If the city’s concerned about the overlap between churches and schools, he added, then public schools would have to also stop renting space from buildings affiliated with religious organizations — like the Bronx New School (PS 51), which this fall moved to a building in Crotona owned by St. Martin of Tours Parish.

“It’s unfortunate that the churches that don’t have a building in their communities to go to are the poor communities,” Gregori said. “I never thought I would see the day where I would see ministers being arrested, and people being displaced from a meaningful facility where they’re being ministered to, and cared for, and where their needs are being met.”

Ed. note: A version of this story appears in the Feb. 23-March 7 edition of the Norwood News.