Newington Church Warns Pokemon Go Players to Stay Away

NEWINGTON, CT - With the Pokemon Go Smartphone game running wild, players are visiting places they ordinarily would never see. However, a Newington church has taken to social media to let funseekers know their place of worship is forbidden ground, with potential criminal ramifications.

Saint Mary Parish, which has served the community since 1920, posted a terse warning to Pokemon fanatics on its Facebook page:

"We understand the Pokemon Smartphone game has become wildly popular. Unfortunately, people have gotten caught up in the fun of this Smartphone scavenger hunt and have obviously not thought about the unintended consequences this game is causing on Saint Mary private property.

People randomly roaming onto the Saint Mary Church and School property pose a clear safety hazard for our summertime campers at Saint Mary School, not to mention people we’ve observed driving quickly in and out of our parking lots. This also poses a safety hazard to parish staff who work here, the camp staff who volunteer here, and the Sisters of Saint Joseph whose offices are located on our campus; in addition, it is a clearly a distraction to our resident pastor, who had people roaming around his residence at 11 PM last evening.

This behavior, though not intended to be malicious, is not safe and can lead to someone getting hurt, which we don’t want. We spoke to the Newington Police Department today and they promised to step up patrols of our property.

The Saint Mary Staff will call the police immediately if anyone is caught playing the Pokemon game on our property and we will ask the police to press trespassing charges against anyone- youths or adults- caught doing so.

Please feel free to come to our church to worship at Mass, to pray, or conduct church business, but do not put the welfare of innocent people at risk while pursuing summer fun. May God bless you, grant you wise discernment, and always and keep you safe."

Saint Mary Parish is located at 626 Willard Avenue.

Photo credit: Google Maps