CV NEWS FEED // An assailant stabbed a Nebraska priest to death on Sunday in the 100th attack on a Catholic church this year.
Fr. Stephen Gutgsell “was assaulted during an invasion at the rectory of St. John the Baptist parish in Fort Calhoun early Sunday morning,” the Archdiocese of Omaha said in a statement:
Father Gutgsell was transported to Nebraska Medicine in Omaha, where he died of his injuries. The Washington County Sheriff’s Office is investigating, and there are no further details at this time. Please join Archbishop George Lucas in prayer for the repose of Father Gutgsell, for his family and for the St. John the Baptist parish community in this tragic time.
Authorities identified Kierre Williams, 43, of Sioux City, Iowa, as a suspect in the attack and fatal stabbing. There is no indication at this time that the killer was motivated by anti-Catholic sentiments, and notably he is known to police as a repeat offender against seemingly random targets. In addition, the victim in this case has been the subject of local controversies and once admitted to a large-scale financial theft.
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As KETV reported, according to Sheriff Mike Robinson of Washington County, Nebraska, Williams “has been arrested on homicide and use of a weapon to commit a felony.” KETV is an Omaha-based affiliate of ABC News.
“The Sheriff said the attack happened around 5 a.m. Deputies received a 911 call about an attempted break-in at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church,” KETV continued.
“Within minutes, deputies arrived and found William inside the church’s rectory along with the priest,” added the report. “Father Gutgsell had been stabbed, according to the sheriff.”
“Father Gutgsell has been here 11 years, and I thought he was a very holy man,” said St. John the Baptist parishioner Mike Fitzgerald.
“He did a lot of things for the community. He always made sure that the bulletin had everything in it that we needed to know about things going on at the church,” Fitzgerald noted.
>> TRACKER: ATTACKS ON CATHOLIC CHURCHES <<
CatholicVote’s Catholic Accountability Project (CAP) has been documenting attacks on Catholic churches and properties since 2020. The nation saw a dramatic rise in such crimes after pro-abortion groups called for violence against Catholics and Catholic churches in response to the first reports that the Supreme Court would overturn Roe v. Wade last year.
“Since civil unrest began on May 28, 2020” following the death of George Floyd, “there have been at least 384 attacks against Catholic churches in the United States,” wrote CAP Director Tommy Valentine.
“At least 219 attacks have been perpetrated against Catholic churches since the draft Supreme Court opinion proposing to reverse Roe v. Wade was leaked in early May 2022, with many including graffiti with pro-abortion messages,” Valentine continued.
“Crucially, while a handful of the attacks have included thefts, the vast majority have only involved property destruction, indicating that the primary motive is not material gain,” he noted.
Valentine explained that in the vast majority of these cases, the perpetrators are never prosecuted. “CatholicVote has found evidence of an arrest in connection with an attack against a church in only about 25% of cases,” he indicated.
“The DOJ is recommending zero jail time to a transgender person who cost $30,000 in damage, smashing church windows [and] even spray-painting [a church] employee’s face in Washington State,” noted FOX News’ Rachel Campos-Duffy before a June interview with Valentine.
“And a [Washington,] DC man won’t see time behind bars after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor for destroying three saint statues at a Catholic school,” she added.
“We live in an era where we see condemnation of bigotry in most forms,” Valentine told Campos-Duffy. “But what we’re seeing is over 300 instances of attacks of violence and vandalism against Catholic churches in the United States in the last three years.”
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“What’s really troubling to a lot of the Americans in the pews is that they feel like their places of worship are not safe,” Valentine stressed in the FOX interview. “And when the federal government does get involved, it’s to advocate for reducing or dropping charges against these criminals.”
This is in contrast to the Biden administration’s recent prosecutions of pro-life activists over alleged violations at abortion facilities – such as Mark Houck and Lauren Handy and her co-defendants.
During a House Judiciary Committee hearing, Republican congressmen pressed Biden administration Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Kristen Clarke over the federal government’s apparently unequal application of the 1994 Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act.
“The numbers I have are that out of 130 uses of the FACE Act since 1994, 126 were … in defense of abortion providers, and four have been for pro-life Americans and-or churches,” Rep. Chip Roy, R-TX, pointed out.
“The concern of many of us here involves the unequal application of the laws based on the political or ethnic identity of those involved,” Rep. Tom McClintock, R-CA, agreed.
Clarke told both lawmakers that the administration is “committed to even-handed enforcement of the law.”
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