South Jersey Church Adds Armed Police For Mass: Report

A church in South Jersey is reportedly heightening its security protocols for weekend mass.

The pastor at St. Charles Borromeo Roman Catholic Church in Washington Township, Gloucester County, told Philly.com the church is deploying armed local police officers as a precaution following the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, last month. A marked police cruiser has been stationed outside the church for weekend mass since March 4. The officer also directs traffic. There are no plans to put an armed officer inside.

“We just thought an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” the Rev. Michael J. Matveenko told the publication.

Heightened security has been a matter of discussion since the Feb. 14 shooting, although most of it centers around schools. The Cherry Hill Public School District recently updated its security measures to include fully equipped police officers. St. Charles Borromeo is the first church to employ such measures.

Last year the church made headlines when an elderly woman stole a life-sized cutout of the pope from the church following a Bingo night fundraiser, according to nj.com.

The church’s move is the latest reaction to the Florida shooting, which seems to have moved more Americans to action than previous mass shootings in America.

Students at schools across the nation, including South Jersey, participated in a National Walkout on March 14. Read more here: Over 200 Students Walked Out At Ocean City High School

This was followed by community gatherings of public officials, adults and children as part of the March for Our Lives Campaign on March 24.

"People are just fed up with shooting after shooting," Diana Trasatti, a Gloucester Township school counselor from Collingswood and a Moms Demand Action member previously told Patch. "And it's not even counting the ones we don't see, like when someone gets shot in Camden. But this happened at a high school, and it involved students who could talk about it, post about it and record it. That brought insiders into it."

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