Violence prompts Brooklyn bishop to order security assessment

Published: 2004-08-12

BROOKLYN, N.Y. (CNS) -- Bishop Nicholas A. DiMarzio of Brooklyn said in an interview Aug. 11 that violence against church personnel and churches in his diocese convinced him he must give increased attention to security. Although some violence occurs almost everywhere, he said, the extraordinary concentration of millions of people in the New York boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens -- the area covered by his diocese -- makes the situation especially serious. Bishop DiMarzio said he felt compelled to react after several incidents occurred recently in a relatively short period of time. In one, a pastor was assaulted and robbed in his rectory by a man who got in through a bathroom window very early one morning. Another disturbing case cited by the bishop was the mugging of a nun while she was on her way to a job at a hospital. He also said a recent break-in at St. Pius X Church was more troubling than ordinary property crimes because the tabernacle was taken outside and the consecrated hosts scattered around. "If this goes unchecked, it almost gives the message that we are free and easy targets," Bishop DiMarzio said. In his column in the July 31 issue of the diocesan weekly, The Tablet, he announced the establishment of a task force to develop a response to the violence. Msgr. Otto L. Garcia, vicar general, and Msgr. John J. Bracken, vicar for temporalities, were named co-chairmen, and given authority to enlist others who could be helpful on the task force.

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