PUTTING INTO PRACTICE
Even before Fr Lee’s stabbing, such rigorous training had paid dividends. In 2023, three Chinese nationals were caught by police for stealing from donation boxes at churches and other religious institutions.
Mr Ho said this was “in no small part” due to the emergency response teams at several churches, who alerted each other on potential suspects.
Staff from one of the churches even managed to scare off one of the perpetrators upon identifying him.
“Surrounding churches were mobilised and they shared information which eventually resulted in this syndicate being caught,” said Mr Ho.
But such cases are uncommon.
Most of the time, the emergency preparedness teams respond to parishioners who feel faint or sustain minor injuries in church due to accidents such as falls, said Mr Ho.
“More of these things happen than a knife attack,” he added.
Responding to queries from CNA, the Archbishop’s Communications Office and the AERO Council said that in light of the attack, a review of security protocols showed that “generally sufficient security measures are in place”.
“A few churches have brought forward their implementation of certain security measures, such as additional training for parishioners to spot threats, in light of the recent incident,” the Catholic Church said.
It added that while there might be a temptation to overreact and want to do more after a crisis, the Church has to be mindful that “any additional security measures have to be carefully calibrated”.
“Else, they may have the unintended effect of alarming the congregants and causing inconvenience … the Catholic Church has always been open and welcoming to all who enter and we will continue to do so.”
