A peaceful Catholic mass was chaotically disrupted during the weekend after church members had to remove a man who was asked to leave by a priest for trespassing.
Footage shared on the web shows a fight breaking out as churchgoers at the St Frances Cabrini Church in Lakewood, Washington, tried to throw out a maskless man who seemed to try and accost the priest while he was in the midst of his speech.
The intruder, who has not been identified, can be seen kneeling maskless at the front of the church while the priest was delivering mass. After being asked to leave, he walked towards the priest, leading him to call for security.
“Can somebody please call 911?” the priest said, as around 20 people made their way toward the stage to try and deal with the man by themselves.
Although the man resisted, the crowd was able to remove him from the stage and he was later arrested for trespassing.
Local officials say this isn’t the first time this man has caused trouble at the church. A couple of days before the incident he’d also been served with a notice for trespassing and breaking mask regulations after “acting irrationally and creating disturbances” during a service.
According to KIRO 7, in a letter, Father Paul Brunet explained that “the events leading up to this unfortunate incident began last month,” with the intruder also reportedly targeting the catholic school his son belongs to.
“His behaviour has worsened and become less predictable. He has engaged in a course of abusive and threatening conduct, directed not just at me but towards the parish and school staff,” Father Brunet wrote. “Under the circumstances, the parish and school had no other choice but to obtain a “No Trespass” order from the Lakewood Police Department against [him]. He chose to disregard this order when he appeared at Mass yesterday.”
Father declined to forgive those who trespassed against him pic.twitter.com/Bj55SpHU8v
— 𝘽𝙧𝙮𝙖𝙣 𝙋𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙛𝙞𝙪𝙢𝙚 (@BryanPassifiume) October 25, 2021
The reasons behind the man’s behavior remain a mystery but he has since been released on bail.
What are your thoughts on this story? Let us know by joining the conversation in the comments and please share this article if you’ve enjoyed the read.
