
Video Screengrab / WPXI Channel 11 Pittsburgh
CV NEWS FEED // Police in a western Pennsylvania township have arrested a man in connection with a series of disturbances of several Masses. The man was acting as a potential threat, according to law enforcement officials.
Local outlet Channel 11 News reported that a man named Joseph Gorencic reportedly entered 10 Masses in churches throughout Allegheny, Armstrong, and Westmoreland counties between February and April, screaming at priests during communion and saying that he was filled with demons.
The Diocese of Pittsburgh, which encompasses Allegheny County, became concerned and began to track down Gorencic. According to Channel 11 News, one of Gorencic’s family members reached out to the police and informed them that he has a mental health condition and always carries a knife.
Wendell Hissrich, the Diocese’s director of safety and security, told Channel 11 News that the Diocese of Pittsburgh worked with the neighboring Diocese of Greensburg and several police departments to locate and arrest Gorencic.
“It was actually a parishioner who helped us to identify the individual by obtaining a license plate number and we were able to track him using technology with one of the municipalities to identify him,” Hissrich said, according to Channel 11 News.
“Towards the end, we were a little bit concerned because he was becoming a little bit more aggressive, so there was some urgency to identify him and find out what his intentions were,” he added.
Channel 11 News reported that Gorencic was finally arrested in Chambersburg in southern central Pennsylvania. He will eventually be brought back to Allegheny County to face his criminal charges. Police also gave him a trespass notice, which he received for following a priest to services.
He faces additional pending charges in Armstrong County, which is in the Diocese of Greensburg.
Hissrich said that the chances of violence in churches around the Diocese of Pittsburgh are low, but he urged parishioners to remain alert to potential threats.
Gorencic’s arrest comes just after several incidents that posed threats to churches, including an attempted shooting on May 5 at a church in North Braddock, Pennsylvania. As CatholicVote previously reported, parishioners in Louisiana recently stopped an armed teen from entering the church as a First Communion Mass was in progress.
