SAN ANTONIO – Neighbors in a West Side neighborhood have complained about the sound of church bells coming from the speakers of the Infant Jesus of Prague Church.
“It was pretty loud. Waking everybody up and rattling the windows,” said a neighbor who asked to remain anonymous.
Residents have complained about the noise since at least April 2023. Last month, San Antonio Code Compliance took the church’s priest, John Gabriel Olivarez, to municipal court after multiple noise ordinance violations.
“It started affecting some of the neighbors over here because we couldn’t live in peace,” resident Alexander Baldit, who lives near the church, said.
Code Compliance said the municipal court put the church on probation. Due to continued violations, the city confiscated the church’s speakers.
Olivarez told KSAT that the church received six noise violations from the city.
“I respect the church. I respect anyone’s religion, but the thing is, you’re going over the noise meter,” Baldit said.
“All we wanted was the volume lowered,” the anonymous neighbor said. “There are homes all around him.”
Olivarez said he isn’t backing down from a previous statement when he said if people didn’t like the noise, “Buy us out. Otherwise, shut the hell up.”
“That’s it. Every word,” Olivarez told KSAT. “This has not ended by a long shot. Trust me. It has not.”