St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church priest, the Rev. John David “J.D.” Matherne, released a statement on the attack outside of the church on Feb 7.

Required reading: Incident near campus under investigation by Nicholls Police, David says, Man identified in Friday’s attack

On Feb. 7 a construction worker at a nearby job site allegedly assaulted a woman heading to the church to attend a retreat that weekend

In the message he called the assault on the woman an “appalling situation”. He said church staff and students helped neutralize the threat and triage the victim before she was taken to a local hospital for treatment.

He thanked the students and staff who responded to the incident and said an emergency response training the church took part in over the summer “proved to be very beneficial” in their response.

Matherne also thanked Nicholls State University Police for their response and the Colonel Catholics’ community for their continued support.

He ended the message asking for continued prayers for those impacted.

The full message is posted here.