Melbourne: A Catholic priest from India who was stabbed inside a church in Australia says he harbors no hatred or anger against his attacker.
“I have forgiven him. I am also praying for him,” Father Tomy Kalathoor Mathew said on March 26, a week after a 72-year-old man stabbed him on the neck at St Matthew’s Church in Fawkner North, a suburb of Melbourne.
The 48-year-old priest, who offered the morning Mass on March 26, thanked the congregation for their support and prayers.
Father Mathew became the vicar of the predominantly Italian parish in 2014. He is well-liked by the parishioners, who were shocked by the attack, reports the Herald Sun.
The man, suspected to be an Italian, stabbed the priest as he was getting ready for Sunday Mass on March 19
The priest said the man yelled at him that he was a Hindu or Muslim.
“I am praying for him, because I know that he is sick. I don’t have any hatred or anger toward him,” Father Mathew told his parishioners.
The priest was not seriously injured but was rushed to hospital after he received first aid inside the church
The alleged offender had gone to the church three times last month looking for Father Mathew, asking ‘Where’s that Indian?’
The priest then first met the man on March 4.
‘He told me he was not going to let me celebrate Mass here, that I’m an Indian and Indians are either Hindu or Muslim. That’s his ignorance. There are nearly 20 million Catholics in India,” Father Mathew said.
The attacker has been charged over the attack, which was described as ‘appalling’ by the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne.
The man was charged with intentionally and recklessly causing injury, and will appear in the Broadmeadows Magistrates’ Court on June 13.
(Source: dailymail.co.uk)