Catholic priest urges forgiveness after helping to extinguish church fire lit by Molotov cocktails

Facebook / Our Lady Of Peace Church

• By Drea Humphrey

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RCMP are looking for an unknown number of suspects after confirming that a church in Peace River, Alberta, was set on fire after Molotov cocktails were thrown through its windows late on Saturday night.

Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church was quickly attended to by the local bishop and the church's pastor, Fr. Nel Esguerra, who attempted to put out the fire before crews arrived.

In a Sunday morning thread on Facebook, the church thanked the Peace River Fire Department and the RCMP for their help, and confirmed that there were “some damages” but Mass would not be cancelled.

According to Global News, Fr. Esguerra urged his congregation to “rise above the occasion” during that morning's homily:

“When we see fire, our initial reaction is to put it out to prevent more damage from being done. We do not add wood to keep the flame and do a lot of damage.

“And this is exactly how we should react at this moment. We don’t let the church be burnt with anger and revenge but we kill it with compassion and kindness and forgiveness and reconciliation.”

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