Eureka’s Catholics — and the Humboldt County community at large — was shocked last week when the popular pastor of St. Bernard Church, Father Eric Freed, was found killed on New Year’s Day in the church’s rectory where he lived.
Now the church and its parishioners are figuring out how to move on, and, following a week of grieving and reflection, many who knew Freed are remarkably positive about a life without the Father — a man they remember as wry, erudite and giving.
That doesn’t mean Freed’s loss won’t be felt throughout this community and beyond.
“He was a fantastic priest in a time when there’s so much negativity publicized about the Catholic church,” said Jamie Bellermann, a massage therapist and St. Bernard parishioner. “He was an intellectual and at the same time always had the ability to communicate with people.”
After two decades studying and ministering in Japan and Italy, Freed spent a year with Arcata’s St. Mary’s Church before taking on various roles at churches around the Bay Area. He became the pastor of the St. Bernard Parish in Eureka in 2011.
Bellermann said Freed applied his international experience to small town pastoring. “He was able to see [the gospel] from the viewpoint of having lived it in so many cultures,” he said. “Bringing that fresh perspective to the gospel and his ministry meant that he wasn’t constrained by the limits of a strictly American interpretation.”
Amanda Rutledge, the director of religious education for the St. Bernard Parish, recalled a mentor and friend who was both scholarly and jovial.
Rutledge was hired a year ago by Freed for a new position that the two were excited to create together, she said. Rutledge had in Freed a spiritual advisor through her college years, connecting with him while he headed HSU’s Newman Center, the university’s Christian and Catholic society. Freed continued to teach classes for the university’s religious studies department up until his death. “No matter how much time goes by, there will always be that little space that misses him,” Rutledge said.
Monsignor Daniel Whelton, of the Archdiocese of Santa Rosa, described Freed as compassionate, intelligent and giving, as well as a good and efficient pastor. They watched sports together, Whelton said — and in fact had planned to watch this past weekend’s 49ers game together. “He was an easy person to be with,” Whelton said. “Friendly and accepting — he’s a great loss.”
The dramatic killing was discovered the morning of the first day of the year, when Freed didn’t show up for mass. Church staff discovered him badly injured amid the remnants of a violent struggle. He was pronounced dead shortly after police arrived. Tension mounted around town as mourning churchgoers and community members gathered in front of the church. Eureka’s chief of police and mayor held a tearful press conference in which it was revealed that Freed had been the victim of an apparent assault and murder.
The next day, several hours after identifying a suspect, police caught him: 44-year-old Gary Lee Bullock, a Redway resident who had been arrested for intoxication on New Year’s Eve, sobered up in jail, and was released onto the streets of Eureka shortly after midnight the morning that Freed was killed. Police were called at least once to the church’s neighborhood, where they asked Bullock to move along, according to a press release. At one point a security guard also asked Bullock to leave the grounds.
At some point, Bullock apparently returned to his family’s Briceland home. On Jan. 2, after discovering Bullock was a suspect, his family turned him over to police. Freed’s car was found nearby, police said. During Bullock’s arraignment Monday, the DA’s office charged him with auto theft, attempted arson and murder with special allegations of torture. Bullock pleaded not guilty to the charges.
While a motive for the attack is unclear, police have assured the public that there doesn’t appear to be further threat to the community. Still, the killing has left some parishioners shaken.
“Our priest was murdered. It brings into our awareness the violence and the sickness in our community,” Bellermann said. “Father Eric knew about that. He was an advocate for people who lived on the fringes. If he could give us a message — and I think he does give us a message — it would be to pray for not just the perpetrator of this crime but for people who may be in a similar position in dealing with mental health issues and addiction issues. Because my guess is that those played a role.”
Rutledge said the Church and parishioners have brought up concerns about St. Bernard’s downtown location and proximity to the jail before. “When something like this happens it confirms their fears,” she said. Still, Rutledge said the church is taking steps to make sure that parishioners are safe. “Unfortunately that sense has been taken away from us — at least for now,” she said. “We’ll pray that it comes back. And that it prevents something like this from happening again.”
Support for Freed and the parish he left behind has been inspiring, Rutledge said. Local businesses, college students, police and the community at large have attended masses and services in honor of Freed and offered to help the Church recover.
Father Loren Allen, who led the St. Bernard Parish before Freed was hired, will act as the Church’s pastor for the next five months until administrators can find a permanent replacement. Parishioners and administrators agreed that, despite the sudden loss, Freed left the Church in good shape.
“It’s all in God’s hands,” Bellerman said. “One of the other things Father Eric did very consciously — he tried to step out of the spotlight of being what St. Bernard’s was. He gave a lot of responsibility to other people in the Church. The church is not him — he’s part of the church. … So the church will go on.”
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What really happened here is even more tragic then told. Father Freed had been documenting accounts from servivers of Genicide and has been speaking and meeting at Humbolt state University.Freed had been moved about his work in Japan and elsewhere that has been a help in many ways in bringing understanding and some closer where possible to those suffering from its horror even today. Father Freed had been brought about by the Holy Ghost to touch and heal pain from the genicide of Gautamala’s Mayan Indians by then CIA plant;Jose Efraim Rios Montt.Coincidently he was a plant at the Lighthouse Ranch of Lolita California formerly of gospel outreach ministry/Jim Dirkin self aclaimed Apostil. I was there back then. Montt went on to be brought up as a fake priest so to go down and win a fake election. 250,000 people were murdered,over 1.5 million people displaced, and we find out now that it was so some billionare friends of PLT’s Pat Robertson that had a diamond and nickel mine he wanted that had been under the feet of the poor indians. They were cathlic poor. When human rights groups proved the killing by CIA/Montt he went on trial for genocide.I had been poisoned by Montt when I discovered he was doing things that are not permitted in the ranch policies,ie drinking, smoking, and fornication. I am lucky I’m alive.
Montt also killed people that went from the mission field right there in Eureka that were sent to Guatamala. He killed at least 50 missionares that in time learned and tried to beg him to stop indiscrimatly killing innocent poor children. Six such missionaries,four sent from the ranch with me,were gunned down by Montt himself for pleading to have them take there lives and not there missions innocent children saying,”How can you kill innocent little children and preach your surman on forgiveness tomorrow? He said he had to then make an example of them for speaking out so in front of his solders( the CIA backed republican death squads). I had been helping the missionaries and survivers of the earthguake and aftershocks. It took me 37 years to find out all the mess they did. The CIA did effectivly end and eradicate the Jesus Hippie Movement by there plans carried out by Montt.Jim Dirkin,Ed Mease,G.Bush , P.Robertson,Farwell,Swaggart,etc. and from there the charlotans did the rest of the damage to the body of Christ. Proff is the closed churches everywhere do to people seeing many charlotans in charge of ministries being nothing more then moner mongering fleasers,being so evil that there deads are so grandious as to make the worst criminal minds to envy there cleaver work for the Devil. Now you see Father Freed was exposing the evil doers and digging up the past.Many CIA people involved in the Eureka side of the genocide plot are still nessled in there plush jobs that Dirkin gave them. Freed was killed by one of them and this guy that a scapegoat was somehow goated or placed there. Like Oswell.
At any rate the possibility that someone in the CIA had Father Freed murdered to shut up the movement he was involved in that left our churches and government appearing quilty of this genocide is much more likely then what they want you to beleave had happened.And the leadership of the former lighthouse ranch and gospel outreach do not want anyone to know about the genocide that they helped sponser by pushing Brg.General Montt through there priesthood and disgarding so many young willing saintly people by dismissing them.Leaving victims of the genocide everywhere including Eureka California.
The sins of jim dirkin,pat robertson,jerry farwell,jimmy swaggart, that resulted in the horror of genicide is still responsible for killing more and doing more evil 30some odd years latter. And Father Freed died as so many saints did in the past,by suffering pursecution and murder.Not by the hand of a nut but a group of government cronies still trying to keep a lid on how they got there billions.Look it up.Read his book. They silenced Freed. The rich charlotans of the greedy ptl club helped Satan close down and make many ministries of no effect for making possitive changes for a socoiety on the verge of losing it all to the enemy. This country was attacked on 911 but it wasn’t the Arabs.It wasn’t Binlodin. It was planed by Bush. The moral majority is neither moral or a majority.They fooled so many and now that many is to embarrashed to admit it and move on.So they lash out in hatred.There ship sinks and they curse God refusing to beleave they could have ever been in bed with the Devil and his antichrist all these years. I will keep the hope light burning that they will remember and repent.
You will notice that the local Eureka newspaper will have nothing on Father Freeds work writing a book on the documenting eye witness accounts of genicide caused by CIA plant Jose Efraim Rios Montt and gospel outreach.Why? The CIA /G.O. group are still together.Many work for the Standard and tricity. For hiding the truth,they all have blood on there hands. Father Freed died a martyr for the cause of genuine christianity. Few people practice this selfless love.Making it easy for the Devil to find and end there work. Seems I see the devils laughing because the work they had to do is now being done by humans so they dont have to work. They just laugh out loud endlessly at there releaf and truely it may be because they are winning. Oh Lord help us and bring us more like Freed. But I can not yet truely say,Lord forgive them for they know not what they do. Because they do know. Pray then that I can learn to forgive.250,000 innocent people dead is a hard thing to forgive.
Say, zzzzz, i notice that you’ve posted about 5 times and nobody responds. Maybe you do have something important to say. Maybe you have some piece of proof that, say, Fr. Freed was writing a book exposing more of the Montt-genocide–Gospel Outreach connection than someone was comfortable with, or evidence of Bullock’s prior involvement with GO or the CIA. If so, and you want it to be heard, please either contact a private investigator, or the official detective on the case, or maybe just a proofreader, so that people can read your allegations. They’re a mess as it is.
Dear Mizz.Cooskeskey,I will do as I feel as my Lord is with me and seeing the church stood by Jose Montt AND HIS GENOCIDE, and I suffer from the disability I have that was caused by the poisoning he did, and falling treeplanting for the ministry I still live to love. They never gave me more then a prayer that I hadn’t paid for with nearly my life many times over. I have been shot at and even hit for doing the work at the ranch and for my Lord,(as a missionary here and elsewhere).I feel I can write well enough for thoses that can read past my pain and mental angwish; about what the truth is. I try to convey as best as I can. But I am dieing. Ask my wife. This man was a saint and died a martyr. Many should find it strange that people die and all you do Miss.Coosby is write against a persons odd efforts to do his best to get the word out after 37years that we were tricked.Then attack my short commings in spelling. Are you also planning on running for local court judge too? Seems you are judging me without even knowing who I am. But what your not seeing is this murder. it wasn’t about me or you. it was about what they shut him up about. And I’d love to hire an investagator with all your money you must have. You must have at least a few on your appron strings seeing how you talk the talk, right? Send me one I will tell all. Since your so interested go see all the other stuff I wrote about when I used to live in the area.Then expect if your so inclined to interview me personaly and so I will stop over when I visit the area this spring to see you. Your sticking your nose in,I hope its to help and not just be an @#$. I wrote what I wrote. There are many ways people respond to me Miss Cooskey. And have from this collumn. I gave Hiedi my number .She responded and I expect to here more by April when the trial restarts. Its been a week mame,give it time. I have faith in God still. The church may have turned away from a libral theology and Christ for the money lukered charlotans whom work for satan to make churches of no effect, But I continue to strive to get the truth out regardless.I have few options but great hopes. If your so sure about things then ask God. The church was in bed with the cia and the cia kills innocent people. By there fruits you shall know them. God save the earth,and may God save humanity.feel free to call miss C.
One day went by and I got you to comment Miss.Coosekey. Give it time mame. You don’t seem to know how these things work. I write alot and some people mark that they give a thums up. You only got a few thums down already. No thums up. What has that to say about this. Hmmm? Oh well, like they say, theres one in every crowd. Well peace.
Wow,it seems miss Coosbee has a real bug up her but these days.I will be in town later this spring to discuss the Montt-CIA Genocide/Eureka lighthouse -G.O.;connection to this case and others.Please feel free to to bring your church people involved in hiding the Verbo/Gospel Outreach, Jose Montt CIA, Genocidal priest of Gospel outreach; connection with you to my meeting(to be date and place givin later). Im certain as all hell,that several members are infact CIA infiltraters and traitors to the cause of the gospel,God,the earth, mankind,and yes this nations great intentions of equality.(And still linger with you with the intent of shutting down the truth when someone like me or anyone with the truth and a conscience stands in bravery to face the enemy. He murdered 250,000people and is now waiting trail for genocide again this April. Thank you.