Gutsy Fordham Pastor Makes a Collar By JORDAN MOSS
"I was just so angry," Foster said in an interview after the April 7 incident. "You just don't break into my church and get away with it right in front of me." He didn't. First Foster locked the church door and then ran after the man, Gerald Rosendary. When she realized she was losing the race she got into her car and followed him onto Jerome Avenue. She even drove onto the sidewalk. Back on foot, Foster says she caught up to the man and "body slammed" him to the ground before he could get into an apartment building. Two men helped her restrain Rosendary until police from the 46th Precinct showed up. During the chase, Rosendary dropped the bag of items he allegedly stole from the church including a fax machine, some compact disks and a case of light bulbs. He also broke a stained glass window in the church that dates to 1915, Foster said. The next day, in church, the congregation prayed for Foster. "Please protect my pastor," they said. "You know she's crazy." Church Council president Emily Rhandanie is used to Foster pushing the envelope. "That's her style," Rhandanie said. "You can't stop her. You try to warn her, but that's just her nature - she tries to solve the problem." Both Foster and Rhandanie agree that being Christian does not mean letting an injustice like this pass unchallenged. Ask what she thought of a pastor crime-fighting, Rhandanie said. "First, she's a reverend, but she's also a human being. The church is a holy place for her, and she was protecting the house of worship." Foster said her vocation doesn't preclude her from fighting against wrongdoing. "Being Christian doesn't mean that you have to be a pacifist completely," she said. "Breaking into a church means that you have really gone wayward. I told the congregation Sunday, we must pray for those who trouble us. He troubled us so we have to pray for him." An indictment against Rosendary is being unsealed on May 8, according to Gloria Cullen, a spokeswoman for Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson.
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Anyone who has met the
Rev. Katrina Foster knows she's the kind of pastor who sees the community
as an extension of her little stone Fordham Lutheran Church just south of
Fordham Road on Walton Avenue. But even Foster's own parishioners were
taken aback when they heard she chased after a man - on foot and in her
car - she saw leaving the church with a bag of stolen items from the
church.