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chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-cops-priest-beaten-robbed-inside-south-side-church-20111206,0,6715909.story
By William Lee and Rosemary Sobol
Tribune reporters
9:30 a.m. CST, December 6, 2011
A longtime Chicago priest who has battled violence and poverty from his South Side Catholic church became a victim of violence himself this morning when two masked men broke into the church rectory and beat and robbed him, authorities said.
The robbers, dressed in black like “ninjas,” entered 80-year-old Daniel Mallette’s upstairs bedroom at the rectory of St. Margaret of Scotland Church at about 12:30 a.m. and woke him up, police said. They dragged him out of bed and forced him to his knees and demanded to know “where the money was,” according to the police report.
Mallette said there was no money, and the robbers started hitting him in the face and body with a blunt instrument, police said. He fell to the ground and they began kicking him a “couple of times,” according to the report.
The priest finally told them there was a safe in the basement. The robbers forced him to the basement, but Mallette couldn’t get into the safe because the keys didn’t work, police said. He then told the robber there was another safe in his bedroom closet with a combination that he knew.
The robbers took $600 from it and fled the rectory, in the 9800 block of South Throop Street, police said.
Mallette, pastor emeritus at the 83-year-old Longwood Manor church, suffered broken ribs and a swollen face, according to Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, a close friend of the priest.
“It was a very vicious attack” said Dart, a 30-year parishioner who went to the emergency room when he heard about the attack. … ."
By William Lee and Rosemary Sobol
Tribune reporters
9:30 a.m. CST, December 6, 2011
A longtime Chicago priest who has battled violence and poverty from his South Side Catholic church became a victim of violence himself this morning when two masked men broke into the church rectory and beat and robbed him, authorities said.
The robbers, dressed in black like “ninjas,” entered 80-year-old Daniel Mallette’s upstairs bedroom at the rectory of St. Margaret of Scotland Church at about 12:30 a.m. and woke him up, police said. They dragged him out of bed and forced him to his knees and demanded to know “where the money was,” according to the police report.
Mallette said there was no money, and the robbers started hitting him in the face and body with a blunt instrument, police said. He fell to the ground and they began kicking him a “couple of times,” according to the report.
The priest finally told them there was a safe in the basement. The robbers forced him to the basement, but Mallette couldn’t get into the safe because the keys didn’t work, police said. He then told the robber there was another safe in his bedroom closet with a combination that he knew.
The robbers took $600 from it and fled the rectory, in the 9800 block of South Throop Street, police said.
Mallette, pastor emeritus at the 83-year-old Longwood Manor church, suffered broken ribs and a swollen face, according to Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, a close friend of the priest.
“It was a very vicious attack” said Dart, a 30-year parishioner who went to the emergency room when he heard about the attack. … ."
er the individuals who perpetrated these violent sadistic criminal acts . . . may Thy Sweet Spirit O God work in every aspect of their lives to bring them to Thee for forgiveness and the salvation of their souls . . . don’t let them out from under conviction of these grievous sins for one second until they seek **Thee **and Thy good purpose for their lives with all their hearts desire . . .
, to bring good news to the poor and healing to the broken-hearted.