By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
A deranged man is being charged with committing a hate crime after he walked to the front of All Saints Catholic Church in Lakeville, Minnesota during Mass on Saturday evening and dumped a jar of what appeared to be urine on the altar.
TwinCities.com is reporting that Steven Richard Fay, 34, who has a history of mental illness, was charged in Dakota County District Court with felony second-degree property damage. Although the estimated damages of $550 usually earns a gross misdemeanor charge, Fay was charged with a felony because he targeted a religious institution.
According to the pastor, Father Thomas Wilson, Fay approached the altar, turned to face the parishioners, then opened a jar “which contained a yellow-colored liquid believed to be urine,” the complaint said. He then poured the contents onto the altar and the Book of the Gospels.
There were several off-duty police officers in the congregation and one of them attempted to stop Fay from leaving the church. Fay reportedly took at swing at the officer and got away by shedding the coat he was wearing. A parishioner then helped to restrain Fay, who began shouting, “I hate Christians.”
The congregation was shocked, and “probably a bit frightened,” the pastor said. “But they were also calm and there was a prayerful presence at the same time.”
The altar had to be reconsecrated after the incident, a task usually reserved for bishops, but Fr. Wilson was permitted to do so early Sunday morning before the regularly scheduled Masses.
Fay has a record of mental illness and faced three civil commitment cases between 1999 and 2008. At least one of those cases resulted in Fay being committed to a psychiatric facility.
He is currently being held at the Dakota County Jail in Hastings, Minnesota. A judge set bail at $40,000 without conditions, and ordered him to undergo a mental health evaluation. A court hearing is scheduled for May 9.
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