A man with a knife broke into an Oakland cathedral Sunday morning, disrupting a morning Mass while parishioners called 911 and were placed on hold, according to members of the diocese.
Father Brandon Macadaeg said the Cathedral of Christ the Light near Lake Merritt was full and he was just starting the eucharistic prayer when a “very disturbed man” drove into the Cathedral plaza at 40 miles per hour and screeched to a halt, leaving a 30-foot skid mark outside.
After security guards locked the doors, the man tried to break a side door with his knife and then attempted to enter the loading dock through an exit ramp, where he assaulted one of the guards, Macadaeg wrote in a detailed account of the incident that he sent to parishioners.
Finding that the loading dock entrances required key cards, the man ran up to the healing garden and forced his way into a side door as a parishioner was leaving. He approached the altar, brandishing the knife, and sat in the bishop’s chair.
“Seeing him approaching the altar with a knife certainly caused me to be a bit skittish, as I was unsure if he was coming to me,” Macadaeg wrote.
The man, who has not been named, derailed the service for seven minutes before asking the deacon to show him a ladder that allows church workers to change light bulbs. The deacon escorted him out and he drove away. Police arrived at 12:27 p.m., half an hour after the man drove into the lot.
“The Mass continued as usual,” Macadaeg wrote.
Full story at MSN.com.
The bishop was robbed at gunpoint on a walk and now this. Get out of big cities. Leave anyplace that is defunding the police. Leave anyplace that is controlled by Democrats. Leave anyplace with large immigrant or minority populations. Leave anyplace with high rates of homelessness and drug use. Leave California, is what it’s coming to.
Don’t follow the goats. They are heading to the lake of fire.
While I understand your concern, places like Oakland are precisely where Christian witness is most needed. Jesus told us to be wise as serpents but harmless as doves. The bishop needs to be wiser while living amidst such danger and take steps to protect himself and the flock. That said, I would be most fearful to be a priest in downtown Portland, Seattle, Los Angeles etc. And yes, that makes me a coward.
“Be wise as serpents, and harmless as doves,” said by Our Lord, refers to a different type of situation. St. Joseph was warned by an Angel in a dream, to take Our Blessed Mother and the holy Christ-Child down to Egypt for three years, for protection from evil, dangerous King Herod. When King Herod died, they returned to their homeland. At my church, some elderly people, as well as younger married couples with children (some are paid Church employees) have decided to sell good family homes in good, safe areas, and relocate out of state. A scary thing, hopefully for a better life! Due to age, I am almost the last surviving member of my own clan– and I, too, have considered doing this. My elderly younger sister lost her beloved husband almost a decade ago, due to Alzheimer’s– she, too, has considered relocating. But it can be scary and difficult to do, for us older ladies, all alone! They now have the threat of wildfires and other serious problems, in all the areas I have been interested in, in other states! With daily prayer and good discernment, God can help us with all of our problems and concerns. Health, safety, and quality of life are important for everyone! God wants us and our families and loved ones, to always be safe and well! He does not want us to ever be in danger.
About California crime, the following may appear to be a highly-charged political comment, but it truly isn’t.
I was listening to Rush Limbaugh about twenty years ago, and I remember him making one of his sly, sarcastic statements that criminals are part of the Democrat base. I laughed along knowing that there was a certain truth in this although most of the statement was false.
Well, here we are and California Democrats have decriminalized petty theft, the Democrat governor has released much of the prison population, and the national Democrat party wants to give all criminals the right to vote.
It seems that Limbaugh was much closer to the truth than I originally suspected – Yes, it’s time to get out of California.
Steve Seitz– Rush Limbaugh was correct! Democrats today, have a strong base of anarchic, immoral, lawless “hippies,” “extreme feminists,” and various types of “mindless, lawless, criminal sickos”– extremely immature, immoral, selfish, “anti-Christian,” “anti-society” outlaws! That has almost become their whole mission to exist! I, too, once had a scary experience in church, in this extremely immature, immoral, anarchic, lawless liberal city, SF. About 30 years ago, I attended an early morning Mass at Notre Dame des Victoires church in SF, before work, with some Catholic co-workers. An elderly, frail French priest, with little English fluency, had barely started the Mass, when a young Black juvenile delinquent wielding a large knife, strode right up the center aisle to the priest at the altar, and demanded money. We were all angry and scared to death– and greatly worried about the frail, elderly priest! Suddenly, a strong, brave, manly Sacristan ran to the rescue, and grabbed the kid from behind, and held him strongly pinned down, until police arrived. Made me sick! No respect for God, nor for His priest, in a church! Fortunately, everyone, including the priest– was safe.
Is the cathedral still sinking? Don’t want what happened in Miami Beach to happen there.
Put on hold…a direct and realistic assessment of how the Catholic Church rates with the Democratic Party in California.
We hope the Church never has to face a violent assault – by the time the police arrive, the criminals will be long gone.
That cathedral looks like a giant filter.
Aside from the hideous cathedral, California like every Red state and city such as Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver, Chicago, New York, Atlanta, Detroit, Baltimore, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Newark, Albuquerque, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Milwaukee, all run by Democrats are in complete and total collapse, defund the police, looting, burning, shootings, murders, gangs, filth, tent cities along I5 in Seattle, the Hollywood freeway in Los Angeles, Venice Beach in California homeless tents and needles, feces, urine all along the boardwalk, Hollywood Blvd, is just disgusting to see and walk along, ALL have the same thing in common Leftwing Democrats running them! Growing up in the San Fernando Valley during the 70’s was such a nice place and now it looks like a third world cesspool, sad but it is the truth. Everything and I mean everything the Leftwing Democrats touch or control is utterly destroyed, Now everything is called RASICST, under every rock is a KKK member or a White Supremist, wealthy African Americans such as the Obamas’ who own two three homes one in Martha’s Vineyard worth over $13,000.00 another in Georgetown both over 90% white cities and they Michelle claims they are oppressed! Oprah Winfrey lives in a 95% white town in Montecito in a $100,000,000 mansion she is also OPPRESED. Now let me get this straight both of the people I mentioned here are suffering from WHITE supremacy whatever that is and yet the are both worth a fortune and Miss Winfrey is a BILLIONAIRE. The Democrats are pushing for a race war in the United States, they are the true bigots and racist’s bent on dividing and destroying by race and gender!!
Romulus, people of color do not all hate us “white” people. Many of them are just as exasperated and confused as we are, and many see through a whole lot of this. Back when the Rodney King riots were taking place, and even light skinned Mexicans were afraid — as was one of my friends — another “white” friend told me, “Turn off the television and think of all the good things some black people have done for you. It worked.
Don’t help fulfil Charles Manson’s helter skelter dream. Love, but in the right way. Whenever there is a disaster share with neighbors as we did in the 1989 earthquake.
Anne, I never said that they hate white people just the opposite I totally agree with you, many many African-Americans, Latinos, Asians, and yes even LGBT Americans voted for Trump because they finally have woken up to the fact that its the “Democrats” who are the real racist’s and are tearing this nation apart by pitting us all by race. The race card is all they have and it is not working anymore, watch Candace Owens a brilliant woman who happens to be Black and might be our future President of the United States. The Republican Party has changed for the better under President Trump, he stated he wants all Americans in the Republican Party regardless of race, creed, gender or religion.
My apologies. The last paragraph of my post was not worded very well. I should have said that we need to pray that Charles Manson’s helter skelter dream does not come true and do what we can to avoid it.
And don’t forget the BLM woman who bought in Topanga Canyon, where she is just about the only black living there. When blacks do not move into black areas, are they racist?
Romulus A.– Regarding your June 25th post at 8:32am– “like every Red state and city?” You mean– “like every Democrat BLUE state and city,” don’t you??
Placed on hold on a 911 call? Police take 30 minutes to respond to a man wielding a knife in a place with hundreds of people? Who do I blame? Not the police, but the Democrats who are defunding the police departments.
As with 911, with no time to wait, when are you coming back to the Church, prodigal daughter Peggy?
Peggy you are 100% correct.
Every call to 911 has to be answered. Calls are put on hold because there are so many calls coming in at once.
The 30 minute response time, they will need to investigate that problem.
My TLM has multiple parishioners who are carrying guns. This nutter would not have been able to disrupt our Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
You can carry at novus ordo masses too
Which Latin Mass church do you go to, Fred? Is it in a highly dangerous area, like Oakland?
So sorry for that poor, ugly Oakland Cathedral– deliberately “un-Catholic” in design– many of the lay board members which decided on the original plans, rejected all traditional, beautiful Catholic design ideas submitted, saying that they were “recovering from a wounded childhood of Catholic abuse.” I thought they were ridiculous! You need mature, sincere, dedicated Catholics, for a Cathedral lay board, to make good decisions!
Too bad the Oakland Cathedral could not even have a beautiful, traditional Catholic statue of Christ or Our Blessed Mother, with votive candles, for offering prayers and religious devotions! There is a beautiful, huge, 90+-years-old, devotion-inspiring statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, with loving arms outstretched, above the main altar at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, in El Paso, TX. (I have some Texas relatives.) Last year, a mindless criminal destroyed this beautiful statue– made ne cry, it hurt so much, to see pictures of it broken and in ruins! But a big group of parishioners raised the money, and were blessed to have it completely restored, at the statue’s original design studios, in Chicago! The beloved statue was re-installed in April, along with a special security system.
Are there any Jesuit parishes in Oakland?
Oakland just voted to withdraw $17 million in funding for the police department. Good luck to anyone who chooses to stay in that city. Crime will increase, and police response will be to show up hours later to put chalk outlines around the victims’ dead bodies.
There is a church in Oakland called St. Margaret Mary’s, where both the Traditional Latin Mass and the Novus Ordo are beautifully celebrated in Latin and popular with families with young children. Parishioners and guests from the neighboring cities are quite accepting of both forms of the Mass in Latin, so there’s no divisiveness.
Confessions are heard, just like in pre-Vatican II times, i.e., before (and even during) the Sunday TLM. As a 78-year-old tottering widow, I find it convenient to go there for the sacrament, sparing me the extra trip to any of the neighboring parishes that offer confessions only on Saturday afternoons.
St. Margaret Mary’s is the Oakland diocese’s designated Oratory for the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest that offers the TLM. It has an excellent scola cantorum that chants a magnificent Magnificat during communion of the faithful. It’s also Cardinal Burke’s favorite church to visit in Northern California.
I love going to the traditional Mass at St. Margaret-Mary’s, but I avoid it on hot days when it’s not advisable to leave the dog inside the car for fear that any do-gooder woke Karen would break the car window to let the dog out, which I was told had happened once or twice before.
On last feast of the Epiphany, the ICKSP canon blessed not only water and chalk, but also salt for parishioners to take home. Being that Oakland is also Kamala Harris’ home base (she who sponsors destructive BLM and Antifa cancel-cultural activities), it’s a good idea for parishioners to use the blessed salt to salt Oakland.