CNS PHOTO | KAREN CALLAWAY Nuns and hundreds of other residents pray and march to protest the opening of a new strip club near a convent in a Chicago suburb March 22.

The Missionary Sisters of St. Charles Calabrini hosted about 500 of their neighbours March 22 in a prayer vigil in hopes of stopping the planned opening of a new strip club on a street adjacent to their property in suburban Chicago.

The club, to be named Get It, would feature alcohol and partially nude dancers.

The club is expected to open on or near April 1, Palm Sunday.

The sisters, also known as Scalabrinians, say the club will degrade the community, depress property values and create dangerous situations for children who sometimes play in the alley that runs along the property.

The club "goes against the Christian values of the neighbourhood," said Sister Noemia Silva.