Bishop David Monroe blesses Deacon Paul Simms as he is ordained a priest at this 2012 ceremony. After being attacked in 2010, Monroe is busy doing the church’s work.
More than five years after he was viciously attacked by a man suffering religious delusions, the bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kamloops says things are completely back to normal — and busy.
On Oct. 22, 2010, Bishop David Monroe was left with head injuries and lacerations after being attacked by John Bandura.
At the time, Monroe was at Sacred Heart Cathedral preparing for a wedding. He answered the rectory doorbell at about 10 p.m. and was attacked.
Bandura pulled the door off the rectory microwave and used it to beat Monroe before fleeing on foot. He was found hours later hiding inside a shed on his father’s property.
Monroe said Bandura wrote him a letter in the months following the attack.
“He wrote to me a beautiful letter in his own hand, just apologizing and saying he was sorry it took something like this for him to realize the severity of his illness,” Monroe told KTW.
“I replied. I said thank you.”
Monroe said he’s keeping plenty busy.
“In the winter now, I won’t be getting out to all the parishes,” he said, noting he has recently visited churches in Blue River and Valemount. “I usually do that in the spring.”
Monroe said office work keeps him tied up most weekdays.
“A lot of the time is in the business office here, answering letters or other business that comes in,” he said.
“Right now, several of the parishes are wanting to help with the refugees. That will hopefully be moving forward.”
Following the attack, Bandura was found not criminally responsible by way of a mental disorder.
He was given a discharge from Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in November 2011.
