{"id":110881,"date":"2026-01-24T10:51:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T10:51:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/110881\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T10:51:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T10:51:08","slug":"a-little-something-to-help-nypd-group-supports-staten-island-church-damaged-in-incident","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/110881\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018A little something to help.\u2019 NYPD group supports Staten Island church damaged in incident"},"content":{"rendered":"

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 An NYPD religious fraternal organization presented a $1,000 donation to St. Ann\u2019s R.C. Church in Dongan Hills this week to help repair damage caused during a recent incident while Mass was being celebrated.<\/p>\n

Deputy Chief Terence Hurson and Lt. Steven Jerome delivered the check from the Holy Name Society of Manhattan, Bronx, and Staten Island<\/a> to Rev. Jacob Thumma. The organization, founded in 1914, is the NYPD\u2019s largest and oldest religious fraternal organization.<\/p>\n

Hurson, a 32-year veteran who serves as the borough\u2019s executive officer, said the donation reflected the organization\u2019s commitment to community outreach beyond typical law enforcement duties.<\/p>\n

\u201cChurches are supposed to be safe places for all of us to go to. It was disturbing to learn that a daily Mass was violated in this way,\u201d Hurson said. \u201cKnowing the church has been damaged, and churches don\u2019t have much funding, we figured as a Catholic community of police officers, we wanted to do a little something to help out and do some outreach.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NYPDDeputy Chief Terence Hurson, left, and Lieutenant Steven Jerome, right, present Rev. Jacob Thumma, the pastor of St. Ann’s R.C. Church in Dongan Hills, with a $1,000 donation on behalf of the NYPD\u2019s Holy Name Society of Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten Island. (Owen Reiter for the Advance\/SILive.com)Owen Reiter<\/p>\n

Jerome, who commands the department\u2019s Chaplain Unit and serves as president of the Holy Name Society, said the organization\u2019s board was unanimous in wanting to help the church. He emphasized forgiveness for the person charged in the incident.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy feeling is forgiveness, no matter what, in the sense that this man was having problems, obviously emotionally disturbed, and he wasn\u2019t in the right state when he did this,\u201d Jerome said. \u201cWe\u2019re hoping and praying that he gets help as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Father Thumma expressed gratitude for the gesture, calling it a pleasant surprise.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a little surprised when I received a call from the Holy Name Society, but it was a good surprise,\u201d he said. \u201cCombining this aspect of law enforcement as well as the faith comes to something wonderful and marvelous; some good really comes out of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added, \u201cI think the world has to see the other side of the NYPD.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NYPDRev. Jacob Thumma, center, welcomes Lt. Steven Jerome and Deputy Chief Terence Hurson upon their arrival at St. Ann’s R.C. Church in Dongan Hills on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (Owen Reiter for the Advance\/SILive.com)Owen ReiterSuspect charged<\/p>\n

The donation came in response to a disruptive incident that occurred at the church earlier this month.<\/p>\n

The incident occurred Jan. 9<\/a> at approximately 7 a.m. when two NYPD officers responded to the church at 101 Cromwell Ave. According to the criminal complaint, Matthew Caffrey, 29, of Gansevoort Boulevarad in Meiers Corners, refused to leave when asked and swung a wooden chair at an officer. Police say he threw a statue of an angel to the ground, breaking off a wing and causing cracks in the church floor. He also allegedly shattered a vase.<\/p>\n

Caffrey faces numerous charges, including multiple counts of assault, resisting arrest, and obstructing governmental administration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 An NYPD religious fraternal organization presented a $1,000 donation to St. Ann\u2019s R.C. Church…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":110882,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-110881","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-staten-island","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-staten-island","12":"tag-staten-island-headlines","13":"tag-staten-island-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110881\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}