USA: Priest gets wounded in his attempt to prevent theft at Monstrance

On Monday, August 31, a priest in New Bedford, Massachusetts, was attacked and punched in the face when he intervened to foil an attempt to steal the monstrance from the main altar.

The event occurred on Monday evening around 5 pm, when a man entered Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church on Bonney Street in New Bedford, while the eucharistic adoration was going on and attempted to take away the monstrance which contained the exposed Holy Eucharist.

Rising to the occasion, Reverend Christopher Peschel, KCHS, the Parish Priest of the church, tried to prevent the theft, but was punched in the face by the assailant, who then hit on the priest’s face with a beer can. Despite his injuries, Father Peschel managed to pin down the perpetrator with the aid of a parishioner.

The assailant, a 59-year-old New Bedford man named Jose Nascimento, was handed over to the police, who arrested him.

Father Peschel, wounded in the tussle, was later taken to Saint Luke’s Hospital, where he received treatment for minor injuries.

Responding to the priest’s heroic response, The Catholic Action League called his conduct “courageous, dutiful and selfless.”