The parish priest of Los Cristianos, José Estévez, on Tuesday, opposed the Arona City Council workers placing Christmas lighting on the façade of the Our Lady of Carmen church -as has happened in other years-, and he also opposed the erection of a five-meter-high snowman in the square, which according to him belongs to the Bishopric and according to the City Council is municipally owned, as it is in the inventory of goods.
A dispute that comes from afar, after in 1924 the largest landowner in the area, Amalia Frías Domínguez (in 1917 she inherited the lands where Los Cristianos and El Mojón are located today), donated the land to the Church to build a small hermitage which in 1963 became a parish and in 1987 it was demolished to become the current temple in 1990.
Despite the opposition of the parish priest, the workers placed the lights in the square, where the mayor, José Julián Mena, will inaugurate tomorrow, at 6.30 p.m., the christmas lit.
This newspaper could not locate the priest José Estévez yesterday, but he made his position clear in a statement posted on the parish’s website: “Once again the Arona City Council abuses its position and invades our Los Cristianos square without permission. After flagrant outrage, our parish priest reported the case to the National Police, which made an appearance, as well as the Local Police. The case is being handled by the legal services of the Bishopric to take the appropriate measures ”.
This is not the first dispute between the Bishopric and city councils with the property unregistered by the Church, as a result of the change of Law in 2015, as happened with the Plaza de la Ermita de El Socorro (Güímar) in which, after a judicial process, the TSJC agreed with the Church.
Lit by different neighborhoods
The mayor, José Julián Mena, will inaugurate at the Christmas lighting in Los Cristianos, for half an hour later, at 7:00 p.m., to do it in El Fraile, at 7:30 p.m. in Las Galletas and the last act will be at 8:30 p.m. in Valle San Lorenzo. “There are 1,638 Christmas decorations with LED technology, more sustainable and lower consumption, which are distributed along the roads of Arona,” says the councilor for Citizen Participation Ruth Lorenzo, as well as representations of births or the Three Wise Men in the roundabouts
