By Jessica Easthope
Father Jacob Thumma, the pastor at St. Ann’s Church on Staten Island says he never expected someone to come in, damage the church, terrify parishioners and injure police officers.
That’s what happened at the church Jan. 9.
But what was even more unexpected is that in the days since, Mass attendance is up.
“I would say from bad to good, God works in mysterious ways,” Father Thumma told Currents News.
He says instead of living in fear — his Staten Island parish community is rallying. But what happened Friday was scary. Vito Amato opened the church for the 7 a.m. Mass like he does every day when he noticed a person he said was suspicious.
“So I called the priest upstairs and said come down, there’s one guy I don’t like,” Vito said.
The man threw a crucifix and the missal on the floor and as Fr. Fathimareddy Thumma began Mass — he got up.
“A couple of times he was touching his jacket and it really felt in my mind, like whether he has got a weapon,” Father Fathimareddy Thumma said.
9-1-1 was called and when police arrived he became violent, running away from them onto the altar, hitting the officers, knocking over a Christmas display and a solid marble angel statue that broke and damaged the marble steps on the altar.
Officers had to deploy their tasers several times in order to subdue the man.
“It was, really, a scary thing to be at that time,” Father Thumma said.
After the incident parishioners were swift to clean up.
“Dirt was everywhere, plants were everywhere. So there was a tremendous mess to clean up,” parishioner Lisa Randazzo said.
On Jan. 12 someone from the Archdiocese of New York’s Office of Church Patrimony was there to survey the tens of thousands of dollars worth of damage.
But in all of this, a positive was found:
“I’ve noticed in the past three days that morning, attendance has increased,” Randazzo said.
“What happened has brought people back to church, quite a few of them,” Father Thumma said.
The two officers did sustain minor injuries. They were taken to the hospital and are now okay.
The man has been identified as 28-year-old Matthew Caffrey.
According to police he’s been charged with assaulting a police officer, resisting arrest and obstruction.
The parishioners at St. Ann’s are praying for him.