By MARK BONAMO
January 28, 2017 at 5:15 PM
The Most Reverend Manuel A. Cruz, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Newark.
A day meant to venerate a hero of Newark’s Latino community ended in shock and horror when an auxiliary bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark was punched in the face during Mass at Newark’s Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart.
The Most Reverend Manuel A. Cruz, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Newark, was offering opening prayers at a Saturday afternoon service commemorating the life of baseball great Roberto Clemente, remembered by Latinos in Newark, especially those from his native Puerto Rico, for his tragic death in a plane crash en route to deliver aid to earthquake victims in Nicaragua in 1972.
The sanctity of the mass was shattered when a man wearing a white robe over a red suit shambled up to the altar from the crowd, reached Bishop Cruz and struck the 63-year-old in the face, knocking him backwards until he fell on the altar.
https://www.tapinto.net/towns/newark/articles/auxiliary-catholic-bishop-of-newark-assaulted-dur
