The parish priest of St Joseph’s Church in Upper Bukit Timah, Singapore, was stabb-ed during Mass on Saturday evening, re-ported Channel News Asia. Father Christo-pher Lee, 57, whose stabbing occured dur-ing Communion, was taken to Singapore’s National University Hospital and is said to be in stable condition. The attacker, a 37-year-old Singaporean, has been arrested.
According to Singapore’s Police Force, he had been disar-med by members of the congre-gation, before later being arrested by police officers, the Singapore Police Force said in a statement, noting the assailant has past antecedents for serious hurt and misuse of drugs offences. “Based on the preliminary investigations, the man,” they noted, “is believed to have acted alone and the police do not suspect that this is an act of terrorism, for now.” “The public,” the po-lice urged, “is urged to remain calm and refrain from specula-tion as investigations are ongoing to ascertain the motive behind this incident.”
Cardinal William Goh, the head of the Catholic Church in Singapore, said he was “shocked and deeply saddened that violence has been committed against one of our beloved priests in the house of God while he was celebrating Mass.” “I am also very concern-ed,” he added, “about the psy-chological impact this incident may have had on our children and all who witnessed this attack.” “I ask,” Cardinal Goh urged, “the faithful to remain calm, not to speculate on the incident or pass judgment without knowing all the facts. We must allow the authorities to investigate the matter.”