Priests and vicars have been subjected to hundreds of attacks over the past five years as they face assaults in their own churches and harassment from stalkers, research has shown.
Records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act reveal that in the past five years more than 200 incidents of violence against religious leaders have been recorded by 25 police forces across the UK. Low-level assault was the most common form of violence reported, but a number of clergy have been beaten, stalked by violent individuals or bitten by dogs and even humans.
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I recall that, some time back, Fr. Chad Lawrence was robbed at gunpoint outside St. Helena’s, and tied up. I don’t know if the robber was ever caught.
I know of more than one priest who would have had the means and ability to have shot the guy.
I am an RC priest and one of the UK statistics. One day the parish secretary came rushing into the dining room to say that she could see on the CCTV screen that the church (which we kept open) was full of smoke. An arsonist had torched the credence table and high altar cloth. Damage was probably only $2500 or so in theory but in fact there was damage to beautiful stonework (neo-Gothic church) which we could never completely remove even with expert help. The pyromaniac was also ecumenical and went on to attack a local Anglican church after ours. Yes, he was caught by the cameras in both church entrances. It saddens me when churches have to be kept locked.
I was also harrassed by a homeless alcoholic who spent several weeks sleeping in the rectory porch and would ring the doorbell for up to half an hour at a time in the early hours of the morning to demand coffee etc. I installed an off-switch for the bell but could still hear him. I called the police who were of little use until he began making false alarm calls (999 – the UK equivalent of 911) when surprise surprise they sprang into decisive action.
All this was in a wonderfully mixed area very near central London, with both very affluent and very poor people, and an incredible ethnic mix. The problems sadly came from mentally ill people, including those with addictions. I found that the general public often had a sentimental idea of what a Christian response should be. Being on what felt like the front line made clergy considerably tougher minded. But not along the lines of blowing them away. We do things differently over here.
It’s quieter out here in the suburbs. Makes me think of the (alleged) ancient Chinese curse: ‘May you have an interesting life.’
Periodically, the Santaria come and put the hex on our inner city church. Usually it’s just chicken and animal parts in the yard, but once or twice someone has gone into the Sanctuary and put ashes around the priest’s chair, cursing him for some reason.
We used to pass out sandwiches, but found that we were just enabling the same people over and over, so now we partner with one of the homeless missions in town. We do have a food pantry, but it’s not a general distribution; we have plenty of poor folks in the parish.