The Dallas Morning News
1994.07.11
http://www.dallasnews.com

Worshipers get details of July 4th church fire
Man charged in blaze, burglary in Richardson
By Jayne Noble Staff Writer of The Dallas Morning
Published July 11, 1994

RICHARDSON - When parishioners at St. Francis of Assisi
 Anglican Church showed up for makeshift services
 Sunday morning at the Clarion Hotel, they heard the 
 bad news.

 The fire that heavily damaged the church on Arapaho
 Road on the Fourth of July had not been accidental,
 and a former fellow worshiper had been charged with
 setting the blaze and burglarizing church offices.
 But the news didn't diminish their faith in others -
 or their hope. "Out of the ashes we will come back,
 there's no doubt of that," said the Rev. Jay Matthews,
 the church's assistant pastor.

 John Nunez, 32, who was barred from the church two
 months ago after posing as a priest, was arraigned
 Friday on charges that he set fire to the church, at
 the corner of Arapaho and Plano roads.

 Richardson police say Mr. Nunez set the fire after
 stealing a computer and other supplies from the
 church. The blaze was set in the vestment room, where
 robes and other items used in the Mass are stored,
 said Sgt. Ray Pennington.

 Police arrested Mr. Nunez about 3:30 a.m. last Monday,
 shortly after the fire started. He was apprehended in
 the church's parking lot with a vehicle full of stolen
 goods, Sgt. Pennington said.

 He was being held Sunday in the Lew Sterrett Justice
 Center in lieu of $25,000 bail.

 The fire was confined to one room, but the smoke and
 heat traveled through the air conditioning ducts,
 damaging the worship room and offices, Father Matthews
 said.

 The fire caused an estimated $50,000 in damages to the
 church, including melting an organ valued at $11,000.
 About $10,000 worth of robes and linens used during
 the service also were destroyed, Father Matthews said.

 Mr. Nunez was barred from the church in May after
 telling at least one parishioner that he was an
 Anglican priest.

 "He had told us before he had studied for the
 priesthood, but we could never confirm he had ever
 been ordained," Father Matthews said. "We presented
 him with a letter of excommunication the beginning of
 May, and he never came back. We never heard from him
 again."

 Mr. Nunez, who gave the church an Oak Cliff address
 when he joined a year ago, was listed as a transient
 by police.

 Louis Shiell, a church member from Garland, described
 Mr. Nunez as "very mild, very meek. . . . He was very
 well--liked, that's the shocking part about it."

 Police recovered a computer, office supplies and robes
 from Mr. Nunez after his arrest, which were returned
 to the church, Father Matthews said.

 "In a way, we were very fortunate he burgled us before
 the fire started so much of that was recovered,"
 Father Matthews said.

 Father Matthews conducted the church service Sunday
 for his 65-member congregation in a meeting room at
 the Clarion Hotel on North Central Expressway. Members
 met with the priest after the service to discuss
 cleaning parties and other things they could do to put
 their church back in order.

 Church services will be held at the hotel or in other
 temporary places until the church can be restored,
 which will take three to four months, Father Matthews
 said.

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