This shocking story broke late yesterday:

A Catholic priest who ministered to the poor from his wealthy New Jersey parish was found beaten to death in his church rectory yesterday — possibly by someone he was trying to help, sources said.

The Rev. Edward Hinds, 61, known as “Father Ed” to his 1,600 parishioners in the affluent suburb of Chatham, was wearing his black cassock when his body was discovered on the kitchen floor of St. Patrick Church. 
A deacon and a maintenance man went to look for the soft-spoken priest after he failed to show up to say Mass at 8 a.m.

The parish workers called police and notified Hinds’ friend, retired priest Kenneth Lasch.

“He had his dog with him, and apparently he was making a cup of coffee,” Lasch told reporters. The killing sent shock waves through the tony neighborhood 25 miles west of New York City. Yesterday, cops warned residents of the town, which has a has a median annual family income of $132,000 and hasn’t seen a slaying case since 1990, to be on the look out for a killer.

Dozens of police officers spent the afternoon combing the leafy yards of stately homes, looking for any clue the killer may have left behind.

Police said the church was being treated as crime scene but waited several hours before classifying the death as a homicide.

Morris County Prosecutor Robert Bianchi said the priest died of “traumatic” wounds. It was unclear what the preacher was hit with, but the Newark Star-Ledger reported he had been beaten to death.

Officials said it was possible Hinds was killed by someone who sought his help.

There’s more, including local reaction, at the link.


Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.