A pregnant Catholic woman in Texas says that she was escorted by officers from a Dallas church for not wearing a mask.
“I mean, you’re going to arrest a 28-year-old nursing mom who’s already socially distanced? I mean it proves that it’s not really about the health. It’s just about control,” Deirdre Hairston said following the incident.
Hairston said during a recent podcast that she was escorted from Holy Trinity Catholic Church earlier this month after receiving Holy Communion while holding her young child.
“Am I getting arrested?” Hairston asked officers in a cellphone video that was shown during the podcast.
GOV. GREG ABBOTT ALLOWS TEXAS BUSINESSES TO REOPEN ‘100%’ AND ENDS MASK MANDATES
“No, not right now. But if you don’t listen, you will be,” the officer replied, adding that she was “trespassing on a business.”
Harriston claimed that her parish priest was the one who alerted police.
The Diocese of Dallas responded to the incident on Monday, saying Hairston wasn’t arrested or ticketed, but given a warning about trespassing.
“The young woman involved in this incident that occurred two weeks ago was not arrested or ticketed. She was issued a trespass warning. The pastor of the parish has required masks at Mass out of concern for the health and welfare of his entire congregation,” the statement reads.
“Canon law grants pastors jurisdiction over their parishes, and while the bishop has not mandated masks for every parish, he has left these specific details to the pastors of the diocese, adding that he expects the faithful to wear masks out of charity and concern for others. We recognize that not everyone can wear masks, but that those who can, should,” it added.
Harriston said that the incident occurred after Gov. Greg Abbott ended Texas’s statewide mask mandate earlier this month.
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“It is now time to open Texas 100%,” Abbott said on March 2, stating that “people and businesses don’t need the state telling them how to operate” any longer.
The parish priest allegedly involved with the incident did not immediately respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.
