Cardinal mourns for first-grader fatally stabbed at Catholic school

Published: 2005-01-28

NEW YORK (CNS) -- Cardinal Edward M. Egan of New York was upset and "terribly saddened" by the news that a first-grade girl was found murdered at a Catholic school in the archdiocese Jan. 27, his spokesman said. Joseph Zwilling said news that the body of Jerica Rhodes, 7, was found in a bathroom at Sacred Heart of Jesus School in Highland Falls reached the cardinal as he was going to the funeral of a firefighter. The cardinal immediately called the pastor of Sacred Heart of Jesus Church, Father Jack Arlotta, and expressed his sympathy, Zwilling told Catholic News Service Jan. 28. He said Cardinal Egan also directed that the counseling services of the archdiocese be made available to those at the school, and that officials of the archdiocesan education department go to the school to offer their help, Zwilling said. Police questioned the girl's father and released him, but later took him into custody again. The girl was reportedly living with her father's parents, but the father, Christopher A. Rhodes, 27, sometimes took the girl to school. The mother was said to be estranged from the family.

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