Bishop of Muenster Attacked During Mass

[Dwyer]

A man attacked the Bishop of Münster with a broomstick during Easter Mass on Sunday.

Eyewitnesses say the man stormed to the altar just after the service started, threw the Easter candles to the floor and lashed out at the 60-year-old Roman Catholic bishop with the broomstick handle. Bishop Felix Genn defended himself with an incense bowl.

(Note: The attack took place in Muenster Germany, not Munster, Ireland).

I wonder if our American national News Media will feature this story prominently on their online news websites.

From Radio Netherlands:

rnw.nl/english/article/bishop-m%C3%BCnster-attacked-during-mass

FOX 31:

kdvr.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-eu-germany-easter-attack,0,2427613.story

 

[ljubim]

How awful! The devil is everywhere these days. God help us

 

[LoyalViews]

Honestly, the attacker must have something better to do than attack the wonderful, orthodox, bishop. What did he ever do to him? We must pray for the bishop in Germany, and the Church in Germany. :byzsoc:

 

[Teelynn]

The recent publicity about the priest scandal and the Pope has put more gasoline on the fire. Of course the Media is beating their drums to ramp it up to a fever pitch. This is an example of what may be more to come. Not only are the accusations and insults against Catholics vile and vicious, it is beginning to spill over into physical attacks. (which is what I feared would happen) The persecution of the Catholic Church is being ramped up a few levels. We need to pray. People are also protesting and interrupting Masses in Ireland, and Satan is gloating and strutting around like a peacock…but, we all know who will win in the end!

 

[OriginalJS]

Where was the KofC honor guard? I recently attended a Mass of Chrism held by the local bishop and there was a KofC honor guard of at least 50 in full regalia and armed with swords who stood at the ready to protect the bishop. I don’t think a knucklehead with a broomstick could have got by them.

 

[rlg94086]

Where was the KofC honor guard? I recently attended a Mass of Chrism held by the local bishop and there was a KofC honor guard of at least 50 in full regalia and armed with swords who stood at the ready to protect the bishop. I don’t think a knucklehead with a broomstick could have got by them.

KofC is a New World…um…Order Other than a recent expansion into Poland, the councils are located in the US, Canada, Philippines, Mexico, Panama and some Caribbean countries.

Just to clarify for people that may be concerned - the swords are non-sharpened, ceremonial swords. It would still be nice to have some guys around to protect the Bishop though…

 

[torch621]

I’m sure a great many people secretly enjoyed reading this.

 

[anode]

Is there any information on who the attacker was or why he attacked the bishop?

 

[presidentjlh]

If anything, yes, we must pray for Bishop Felix Genn, but let us also remember to pray for the attacker. He needs the strength and love of Christ most of all.

 

[presidentjlh]

Is there any information on who the attacker was or why he attacked the bishop?

I remember hearing about this, and I believe it has to do with the attacker’s rage over the current sex abuse scandal. While I too am displeased that some priests have abused children, there is no reason for this sort of attack, especially since Bishop Genn didn’t even abuse any children.

I cannot remember where I saw this, so if I am wrong, I humbly retract this statement.

 

[silentstar]

I remember hearing about this, and I believe it has to do with the attacker’s rage over the current sex abuse scandal. While I too am displeased that some priests have abused children, there is no reason for this sort of attack, especially since Bishop Genn didn’t even abuse any children.

I cannot remember where I saw this, so if I am wrong, I humbly retract this statement.

from Radio Netherlands:

The man has been taken to a psychiatric clinic for evaluation.

He’s almost certainly (I’m stating w/out knowing the results of the evaluation) got some serious mental health issues. I have bipolar disorder myself so I know that most people with mental illness are not violent. However, risk for violence goes up when someone has mental illness, they do not comply with treatment, they have a substance abuse disorder and they have a past history of violence. I don’t know that this man had any of these factors, but I believe that doctors look for all of this. Also most offenders tend to be male.

I can’t say for certain that he’s mentally ill but to cause a disturbance like that in a church and attack a Bishop, it sure sounds like it unfortunately.

 

[silentstar]

yes, he has a psychiatric history:

from CNN:

news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/04/04/broomstick-wielding-attacker-disrupts-german-easter-mass/

Police said the suspect had attempted suicide in April 2009 and “allegedly has been a patient in psychiatric clinics.”

I have been in psychiatric hospitals myself for being suicidal, although I have never harmed anyone. I went through an unusually bad period w/bipolar where even though I was in therapy and had been taking medication for years, things fell apart and I had a manic and then a depressive episode.

However in the hospital I met plenty of people who had substance-abuse problems and for one reason or other had stopped their medication. We were told, quite a few times, that stopping medication is the #1 reason for needing to be rehospitalized. In fact even changing the dose of one’s medication w/doctor’s permission can sometimes set off manic episodes, if not done carefully, and lead to another hospitalization.

He unfortunately sounds like he’s got a long history of serious problems and while he may be angry about the abuse scandal, my guess is that was a pretext for his acting out and if it had not been that, it would have been something else that he got angry about, b/c his mental health seems to be in bad shape.

I will pray that he gets good treatment and is able to follow through with it.

 

[jamesdunnaway]

KofC is a New World…um…Order Other than a recent expansion into Poland, the councils are located in the US, Canada, Philippines, Mexico, Panama and some Caribbean countries.

Just to clarify for people that may be concerned - the swords are non-sharpened, ceremonial swords. It would still be nice to have some guys around to protect the Bishop though…

I do not know about a new world-order you speak of but it is still our job to protect the church and her clergy. I doubt there was a member of the KofC present to protect him or there would be a lot more to read about in the headlines.

 

[Dale_M]

KofC is a New World…um…Order

LOL

Is there any information on who the attacker was or why he attacked the bishop?

As Silentstar has mentioned, the man has a history of mental health problems. Apparently he attacked the Easter candle before going after the bishop. This might be a good thing, since it gave parishioners and others time to react.

I do not know about a new world-order you speak of but it is still our job to protect the church and her clergy. I doubt there was a member of the KofC present to protect him or there would be a lot more to read about in the headlines.

You’re probably right. Germany might want to think about hosting some Knights of Columbus chapters, or something similar. Poland seems to be the only European country with the KofC.
kofc.org/un/eb/en/about/index.html

 

[Non_Serviam]

This is terrible to hear-hopefully the bishop recovers quickly from the attack. And hopefully the individual involved will get help and any justice due to him based on his state of mind at the time.

Physical violence might be appropriate if one came upon an act of abuse while in progress. It isn’t an appropriate form of protest and hopefully no legitimate protester will think of adopting it.

 

[rlg94086]

I do not know about a new world-order you speak of but it is still our job to protect the church and her clergy. I doubt there was a member of the KofC present to protect him or there would be a lot more to read about in the headlines.

Just being funny…it is a fraternal order, and, with the exception of Poland, it exists in the “New World.” Fr. McGivney and the rest of the original founders chose Columbus because it was a Catholic tie-in in the, otherwise non-Catholic, American culture.

I agree it is our job to protect the Church and her clergy (I’m a 4th degree knight), but I was pointing out that it would be really doubtful for the KofC to be present in Germany, since there are no councils there.