Thefts, acts of vandalism perplex church officials

By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer

Clarence DeCaires — retired cop, deacon at St. Anthony's Church — symbolizes the push-and-pull going on inside the O'ahu churches hit by crime.

Brother James Dunn checks the gate to Monastery Garden at St. Patrick's Church in Kaimuki, where homeless people have broken in by smashing windows. Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser

Yet he worries that ideas such as locking the church doors early or patrolling the parking lots would send the wrong message about what a church is supposed to be.

"I get asked this question a lot: Where's the line between criminal justice and being Christian?" said DeCaires.

"... If we lock up the church and keep people away, we're not being much service to the community."

St. Anthony's officials are worrying more about security since a $10,000 marble statue of their patron saint that stood outside the church was found decapitated and shattered a week ago.

St. Anthony's is merely the latest church, synagogue and temple on O'ahu to be hit by vandalism, theft or fire. Each new crime strikes at the soul of a congregation and leads to reflections about society, God and forgiveness. Inevitably, the congregation leaders offer their prayers for the people who could do such things.

But somewhere along the way, somebody raises the pragmatic question of whether more should be done about security. The answers only lead to more questions about the role of a house of worship in its community.

"You try to be open and have your services open to everyone," said Michelle Robinson, executive director of Temple Emanu-El, on the town side of the Pali Highway. "It's a sad thing that you have to take action to protect your congregants."

In 1994, the temple obtained a restraining order against a group of homeless people who stole a purse from a woman and continued to harass her. Five years ago, vandals took the plastic white letters out of a bulletin board and spray painted the office with World Wrestling Federation slogans. A lawn mower was stolen from a tool shed in one incident, and the temple's caretaker has scared away another burglar.

'Appalling situation'

Down the road at Honpa Hongwanji Hawai'i Betsuin, police officers now use the temple's offices to write reports and check the grounds since the latest break-in three weeks ago.

Two homeless men had been using the temple's dormitory at night and left graffiti, vienna sausages, rice and feces everywhere. "It was an appalling situation," said Mary Tanouye, the hongwanji's president.

The leaders at Hope Chapel Kane'ohe Bay are thinking of installing surveillance cameras and hiring a private security company after suffering five incidents of theft and vandalism in just three years — totaling $15,000.

"There isn't a meeting where the issue of security isn't on the agenda," said associate pastor Rob McWilliams.

St. Patrick's Church in Kaimuki decided last year to lock the church doors at 5 p.m., long before the sun ever sets. Still, somebody keeps breaking in through the windows to sleep at night.

Even during the day there are problems. Last year schoolchildren saw a young man rob the collection box. About three months ago a man rode a bicycle through a church service and argued with elderly members, said Father Lane Akiona.

"It's just a symptom of our society," Akiona said. "There's no sense getting angry. We just pray for people like that."

Teens with too much time

Deacon Clarence DeCaires stands near the spot where a statue of St. Anthony was decapitated recently at St. Anthony's church in Kailua. DeCaires remembers times when churches never locked their doors. Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser

"We haven't had any cases where any religious places have been attacked just for the sake of religion," Det. DeCaires said. "Sometimes it's just teenagers with too much time on their hands. Sometimes we've seen people with mental health problems. Sometimes they're just crimes of opportunity."

Deacon DeCaires grew up in a time when the Catholic Church in Hawai'i had a different attitude toward locking its doors.

In the 1950s his boyhood church, St. Augustine, stayed open at all hours, he said. When the old building was replaced by a new one, suddenly "everything got secured," he said. "People were coming in from the beach to change their clothes in the confessionals. Homeless people were setting up house."

Still chasing thieves

DeCaires was still with the HPD when he was ordained in 1997. Then two years later, the Rev. Father Dennis Koshko surprised a thief breaking into his church residence.

"We had a long chase from the father's house — a good three football fields," DeCaires said. "It felt like a million miles. That's why I retired (from the HPD). I know when I'm old."

DeCaires still caught up with the man, who was in his 20s, and applied some of his old police holds.

Earlier this year, someone kept stealing from the church's pantry that helps needy families. The fathers finally found a man rummaging through food baskets and told him he was welcome to the food, but needed to go through the church's program the next time.

Instead, he returned in February, broke into a locked cabinet and stole unconsecrated communion wafers. The man was in his 20s, 6 feet 3 and 230 pounds. But DeCaires still ran after him and held him for police.

The man, a homeless former Marine with a history of mental problems, turned out to be the suspect in a January arson fire at St. Christopher's Episcopal Church, about a block from St. Anthony's.

Now DeCaires worries about the souls of whoever broke the statue of St. Anthony and made off with the top.

"We're going to need St. Anthony's help in finding his own head," DeCaires said.

St. Anthony is the patron saint of lost items.

Dan Nakaso can be reached by phone at 525-8085, or by e-mail at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com