FIRE, which police believe was the work of arsonists, early yesterday damaged the altar at Sts Peter and Paul Catholic Church in St Andrew, resulting congregants to have morning services in the church hall.
According to the constabulary’s Corporate Communications Unit (CCU), around 1:20 yesterday morning a clergyman who lives on the property was awoken by the security guard on duty who reported that the altar, linens, vestments, and items close by were on fire.
The blaze was put out by firefighters from the Half-Way-Tree station. Damage has been estimated at $100,000.
The church’s pastor, Rev Father Donald Chambers, said he did not wish to speak directly to the matter as it was under investigation, but said that he and members of his congregation were saddened by the incident.
“We feel violated and abused, but we realise that this is part of life; we have to ride the tide and get to the root of it. I told the congregation, ‘listen, we are people of faith, we walk by faith and not by sight, so whatever happens the church exists not because of a building, it exists because of the faith of the community’,” Father Chambers said.
Several members of his congregation expressed similar thoughts, drawing on Rev Chambers’ words of encouragement as well as commending his efforts to ensure that the hall was ready in time for the first service of the morning at 7:00.
“We are not pleased with what happened because this is a sacred environment. People are not supposed to be messing with God’s place, but then when we got in here, knowing that church is not a building per say, the church is with us, easily we all got together…,” congregant Elsie Laurence-Chounoune told the Observer.
She noted that the situation is one that hurts the entire church community, but that her pastor’s efforts spoke volumes as chairs, piano and multimedia screens were all in place, “as if nothing happened”.
“Father was able to do everything; the fact that father said we are a church wherever we are, that really brought us back home. It’s not just because the church is burnt we can’t have church, I guess spiritually speaking, I would say it brought us back together in a sense,” Laurence-Chounoune stated.
Another congregant, Rheana Mills, said that she was hurt to know that the place she calls home was dealt such a blow. She added that she came expecting to have mass at church and was heartbroken to find out what had happened. but she was thankful that Father Chambers was able to put everything in place. Mills said it was also a good feeling to know that all the affected members were able to come together as a church to get over the situation.
For fellow congregant, Gabrielle-Alexis Francis, it was a shock to know that the church was attacked in such a way, saying that the Catholic Church is always giving to the surrounding community.
This was echoed by yet another member, Heather Watt, who explained that the church really cares for the neighbourhood, especially through its soup kitchen feeding programme.
“I’m just coming from our soup kitchen where my daughter does her confirmation classes, and we were just discussing how many people are fed there on a daily basis, and it’s like 50 people or so; it’s really kind of sad, and we have these things happening from time to time,” Watt told the Observer.
She explained that the soup kitchen, which is located a few metres away from the main church building, has been broken into at least three times, the most recent being last week.
“They had to put on a heavy-duty lock on the door as they had stolen the stove, they have stolen the food. It’s really kind of sad when this happens, because it prevents us for caring for the neighbourhood…so it’s really kind of sad because people from the street come and line up to get a meal, and most times it’s their only hot meal for the day,” Watt said.
Rev Chambers said that as more progress is made to repair the church, members will be appropriately notified and the church’s website updated.
