CNS PHOTO/J. D. LONG-GARCIA
Praying about immigration Rosa Maria Soto, a parishioner from St. Augustin Church in Phoenix, addresses a crowd outside the Arizona Capitol July 28 in Phoenix. Soto was one of the leaders of an interfaith vigil praying for the defeat of Arizona’s controversial immigration law. page 8
THE EAST TENNESSEE
Volume 19 • Number 23 • August 8, 2010
The
N E W S PA P E R
of the D I O C E S E of K N O X V I L L E w w w. d i o k n o x . o r g
Casey sentenced after pleading guilty in N.C.
‘Crime of ignorance’ in Oak Ridge A vandal damages several objects at St. Mary, but parishioners and a donor help with the cleanup. By Dan McWilliams
BY DA N M CW I L L I AMS
Casey continued on page 2
arishioners and staffers from St. Mary in Oak Ridge have cleaned up much of the damage caused by a vandal on the afternoon of July 16, and an anonymous donor has underwritten the cost of repairs. The vandal wrote vulgarities on the large statue of the parish patron facing Oak Ridge Turnpike, urinated in a holywater font, spilled four large containers of grease in the church cafeteria, and wrote on or damaged other statues in secluded areas outside the church. As of press time, no suspect or suspects had been arrested in the case. St. Mary pastor Father Bill McKenzie and director of religious education Karen Wilkins-Butz suspected a single person was behind the damage. “My immediate reaction is how sad it is that anyone could respond that way to faith,” said Father McKenzie, “whether it’s the acting out of a child, an adolescent, or an adult with a lack of understanding. “It’s not a crime of hate so much as a crime of ignorance.
DAN MCWILLIAMS
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Ryan Butz cleans up marker scrawls on the Rachel statue at St. Mary Church in Oak Ridge on July 26. The Rachel Garden sustained much of the damage caused by a vandal, who broke an Our Lady of Guadalupe statue and pulled up flowers and statues of cherubs in and around the enclosed space. RACHEL MOURNING
It’s not understanding the importance and value in the life of our community of those symbols and the important role they play in our faith life.” Ms. Wilkins-Butz’s reaction to the vandalism was likely the same as that of other parishioners’. “I was dumbfounded, but we all worked as a team to clean up what we
could, and we’re keeping the person or people who did this in prayer because obviously they’ve got issues and are upset by something.” Bishop Richard F. Stika celebrated Mass at St. Mary on July 25, the first Sunday after the vandalism came to light. “He came out on Sunday and rededicated our building
because of the violation,” said Father McKenzie two days later. “It wasn’t really a reconsecration but more of a rededication for the people to deal with the fact. He rededicated the whole place to the goodness of God.” The damage was done within a twohour window. “People had been in that area before 2 p.m. and after 4,” said the
St. Mary pastor. A parishioner found the first sign— two inches of grease across the kitchen floor—before the additional damage was discovered. That included a vulgar drawing on a side door of the cafeteria and X’s and other scrawls written across the kneeling statue of Rachel in the Rachel Garden. Oak Ridge continued on page 6
Peace Corps allows UT grad to continue helping needy Brittany Neace is training as a volunteer this summer in Mongolia and will serve two years there, teaching life skills to local residents. B Y D A N MCW I L L I A MS
er lifetime of volunteering to assist the needy led Brittany Neace to join the Peace Corps, and the recent University of Tennessee graduate is now training in Mongolia for two years of service there. “What attracted me to the Peace Corps was the idea that someone could spend two years solely helping those in need,” she said. “Not a lot of people have that opportunity in life, so for me the Peace Corps is giving me the means to be able to devote myself completely to helping others. How awesome is that? The fact that I get to do this while experiencing a whole new culture is just an added bonus.” Ms. Neace was a parishioner of Blessed John XXIII on the UT campus throughout college and of Our Lady of Fatima in Alcoa as a high-schooler. “All of my life I have been involved in volunteering,” she said. “Whether it has been in school, church, or on my own, I have always been one to want to help those in need.”
H
COURTESY OF BRITTANY NEACE
etired priest Bill Casey, removed from ministry April 14 after admitting to the credibility of an Indiana man’s sexualabuse charges against him, pled guilty to a felony crime against nature July 28 in Marion, N.C. He was sentenced to three years in prison, suspended to two years of supervised probation. Judge Laura Powell accepted the plea in McDowell County District Court and also ordered Mr. Casey, 76, to pay a $500 fine, court costs, and an additional $150 for his transfer to Tennessee, where he must serve his probation, reported The McDowell News. The judge said Mr. Casey, who lives in Greeneville and had long served at Notre Dame Parish there, is to refrain from using drugs or controlled substances or viewing pornography. He must take part in a sex-offender program and cannot contact anyone under 18 without supervision, leave the United States during his sentence, or contact the victim or his family. Warren Tucker, 44, of Jeffersonville, Ind., came forward April 14 with his charges that the priest in the late 1970s had “sexually abused me in every way imaginable.” Mr. Casey at that time was pastor of St. Dominic in Kingsport, and Mr. Tucker was a student at the parish school. After the charges went public, Mr. Casey made his admission the same evening to Bishop Richard F. Stika regarding them, and the bishop immediately suspended Mr. Casey from ministry. He can no longer serve as a priest anywhere in the world. Following the guilty plea, Bishop Stika issued a statement, saying that the diocese has “observed and fully cooperated with the judicial process.” “When Mr. Tucker came to us this spring, I assured him of my prayers and those of the clergy and faithful of the Diocese of Knoxville,” the bishop said in the statement.
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Brittany Neace, a parishioner of Blessed John XXIII Parish in college and Our Lady of Fatima in high school, stands before a green backdrop in Mongolia. She will be sworn in as a Peace Corps volunteer Aug. 20.
NEACE IN THE PEACE CORPS
Neace continued on page 2