Nuns File Suit Against Strip Club Claiming Music Prevents Them From Praying in Peace; Seeking God's Help in Shutting Place Down
A 70-year-old convent of Catholic nuns in Stone Park, Illinois, has filed a lawsuit against a strip club that became their neighbor a year ago, claiming that throbbing music from the club is preventing them from praying in peace.
And that's not all the Sisters of St. Charles Borromeo are claiming against the plush looking Club Allure, which claims to bring the future of adult entertainment to Chicago on its website.
According to the lawsuit noted in Inquisitr, the club violates Illinois' zoning laws which stipulate that places of worship and adult entertainment establishments must have at least 1,000 feet between them; and the holy sisters say they have also had to put up with a lot of immoral behavior.
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"Public violence, drunkenness and litter, including … empty whiskey and beer bottles, discarded contraceptive packages and products and even used condoms evidencing illicit sexual misbehavior either in the club or about its environs," notes the lawsuit.
Last Monday, according to an NBC 5 report, the Village Board of Melrose Park elected to join the nuns in their lawsuit against Club Allure, and the Village of Stone Park, for granting the license for the club to start operating last year. They are also seeking God's help in shutting the place down.
"This goes against our whole fiber, our well-being," Sister Maria Noemia Silva, who lives in the convent bordering Allure's property, told NBC 5. "We've been here more than 70 years. We're fighting for a safe, healthy environment here. And for the club to close."
The Thomas More Society, a Chicago-based "public interest law firm," is representing the nuns in the case.
"The bottom-line is you can't put one of these [adult-use establishments] within 1,000 feet of a place of worship, this is what the law says, and ... Stone Park allowed the strip joint to open and gave them permits," said Thomas More attorney Peter Breen. "Stone Park is not protecting its residents, and shame on the strip joint owners for putting it next to a convent."
Stone Park Mayor Ben Mazola called the lawsuit "an old story, no comment."
Robert Itzkow, the club's lawyer, said there was nothing illegal about the club.
"The business is legally constituted. It presents no real problems to anyone," he said. "It probably has less police calls than any liquor establishment in Stone Park. Everyone's welcome to file whatever lawsuits they want to file," he added.
Sean O'Brien, managing partner of Allure, said he understands the moral objection of the nuns to his business but argued that his club does business in a nicer way than traditional strip clubs and maintains that the display of topless women is the most explicit offering at the club.
"And that's as far as we're going to go," he said. "We could run this as a traditional gentleman's club, and we choose not to do that."
"I'm not here to hurt them in any way," O'Brien added, pointing out that his club also offers good food, and shows featuring semi-nude women, male dance acts, comedians, musicians and trapeze-type acts.
"I can't imagine why they would dislike us, except for the morality of it," he said. "We are the most, cleanest version of what we are."
