For decades after the Cataclysm, Baltimore was known to house a small population of humans by the D-Bees in the surrounding area. However, until the end of the Great Sealing, they had been ignored as an oddity, two groups of survivors only interested in preserving a ruined city. It was generally not considered worth the effort to destroy two groups of humans over a city full of ruins. However, that all changed when word got out that the city had gone from holding a few hundred humans to more than 100,000 humans. Suddenly, the city represented a bonanza to any group willing to attack it. At first the city experienced small raids, but they quickly expanded into full-bourne invasions by the surrounding D-Bee tribes. City rebuilding was put on hold, as the need for defense became more and more apparent. It was about this time that it was discovered that churches have a unique property that would eventually save the people of the city from the supernatural creatures.

Effect of Consecrated Land: The Church Effect:  It was discovered that the land around a church had the ability to turn what would normally be a supernatural, MDC creature into a regular SDC creature (As Spell: Universal Balance). That property made it possible for people with just common shotguns and handguns to be able to take down the most horrifying of demons.
Initial Area of Effect: The Sanctuary:  100-foot radius, or the area from the altar to the doors of the sanctuary, whichever is larger. This initial area must be enclosed within the walls of the principal worship area of the church, synagogue, or mosque.
Additional Area of Effect:  The effect extends to the boundary of the original, Pre-Rifts, consecrated church grounds. The "Church Effect" can be extended past the original church grounds by the burial of the priest/pastor/imam on church grounds upon their death. By giving the priest a proper burial, the "Church Effect" will grow 5 feet for every year they served their church. The total area of effect is maintained by the number of active full members in the congregation on a 1 foot per member basis. A congregation of 300 full members can maintain a "church effect" radius of 300 feet from the altar. A congregation of 6000 can maintain a "church effect" radius of 6000 feet from the altar, or a little bit more than one mile in radius. While a church can lose ground from its area of effect due to the death of its members, as long as there are active full members of the congregation and a priest, it can never lose the initial area inside the Sanctuary.

Notes:
1.   The Great Sealing and the subsequent discovery of the "Church Effect" was a worldwide phenomenom. The only places that weren't immune were those locations where the geography of the land was physically changed, either by earthquake, flooding, or pure physical destruction. Those locations, and anyone caught inside during the Great Sealing, simply ceased to exist, never returning to Rifts Earth.
2.   In many locations, congregations returned to Rifts Earth only to be run off or killed by marauding D-Bees and humans before they could learn of the "Church Effect". Those abandoned churches have subsequently lost their "Church Effect". Supernatural beings entering the sanctuary of an abandoned church may feel queasy, and suffer the effects of a HF: 10 if they get too close to the altar, but otherwise feel no other effects.
3.   An abandoned Pre-Rifts church may be restored to its previous glory, and "Church Effect", if it is reconsecrated in and attended by members of its original constructing faith. A Pre-Rifts synagogue that was purchased and reconsecrated as a Christian church, then abandoned following the Cataclysm, can only be restored as a synagogue, not a church of the Christian faith that bought it before the coming of the rifts.
4.   For whatever reason, the "Church Effect" is only present in those places of worship built before the coming of the Rifts. Modern churches do not have the "Church Effect". The only exception are those modern churches built directly on the existing foundations of a Pre-Rifts church, that has active full members. The sanctuary area of the new building must follow exactly the walls and layout of the original sanctuary area. Any deviation destroys the confines of the Sanctuary, and subsequently, the entire area of the "Church Effect".