By Natasha Velez, Reuven Fenton and Chris Perez
August 20, 2015 | 5:22pm
Alexandra Dyer Photo: JLS Photo
The man who
attacked and seriously burned a Queens woman Wednesday night — splashing her in
the face with a Drano-like substance — snuck up and ambushed her as
she walked alone to her car, law-enforcement sources said.
“Can I ask you
something?” the assailant said, before hurling an off-brand drain cleaner in
the face of Dr. Alexandra Dyer, an ordained priest who has devoted her life to
helping others.
The 59-year-old
St. Albans resident had just left the Healing Arts Initiative at 33-02 Skillman
Avenue in Long Island City when the man, who is believed to be in his 30s,
approached her around 5:35 p.m and tossed the liquid from a coffee cup, sources
said.
With her face
severely burned, Dyer hopped in her car and took off — but she only got
about 200 feet before the pain proved to be to much for her to bear and forced
her to stop.
Moments later,
a passer-by heard her screaming inside the vehicle and dialed 911, sources
said.
Cops soon
arrived on the scene and rushed Dyer to Elmhurst Hospital with 3rd degree
burns. She was then transported to New York-Presbyterian Hospital, where she
was listed as stable.
Cops are still
on the hunt for Dyer’s cowardly attacker.
The active
community member told investigators she didn’t know the man and had never seen
him before, sources said.
“It’s
sickening,” said Lorraine Gilmore, a Block Association head who lives a few
houses down from Dyer. “She’s friendly, very nice, quiet. I’m saddened to hear
that such a thing could happen to any individual.”
Jennifer
O’Malley, Board President of the Roman Catholic WomenPriests, was also shocked
to hear that someone so kind could be targeted in such a vicious attack.
“She’s a very
kind, passionate, gentle woman who is following her call to God to be a
priest,” she said. “I think she’s someone always willing to reach out and help
somebody whose in need and to walk with them. It’s very shocking that anybody
would target a human being in this violent matter.”
Describing her
as a devout Catholic who loved doing ministry in the Big Apple, O’Malley
explained that Dyer was someone who wasn’t afraid to help people that the
Catholic Church would often turn a blind eye to.
“She’s a very
compassionate person, who works with people who the institutional church may
exclude for any reason,” she said. “She often administers to those who might
feel marginalized or turned away from the church.”
Dyer has worked
extensively with AIDS victims and the city’s homeless community, according to
her LinkedIn profile page.
From 2005 to
2011, she served as the SVP and CFO of The Greyston Foundation, which is a
self-sufficiency program in New York aimed to provide housing, employment,
skills and resources to lift people out of poverty.
She then spent
two years working as the executive director and CEO of the Lower East Side Harm
Reduction Center, which is described on its website as a non-profit
organization whose mission is to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS, HCV and other
drug related harm among injection drug users and the community.
But O’Malley
feels that all the good work in the world can’t change the horrible fact that
some people can’t stomach seeing a woman in the priesthood.
“There’s
certainly people that are very orthodox Catholics that are certainly unhappy
with what we’re doing,” she said. “We are breaking Canon Law 1024, which says
only a baptized male can be a priest.”
Rather than go
along with the church, though, O’Malley says the Womenpriests movement believes
the law is oppressive and deserves to be abolished.
“If (Dyer’s
attack) was related to her being a woman priest, it fully emphasizes the need
for the church to allow and accept women who are called to ordination. As long
as they continue to exclude us from the church, and the longer they continue to
say that women are not fully capable to be priests or to hold other positions,
than it will be much easier for people like this man or anyone else to say that
women don’t have to be treated equally.”
Since being
ordained through Roman Catholic Womenpriests in 2014, Dyer has been a member of
the St. Praxedis Roman Catholic community in Manhattan and has lived in Queens
with her significant other, Nelson Padilla.
While most
orthodox Catholics feel priests from being married, O’Malley says that the
Womenpriests movement does not believe that being married or ones sexuality are
conditions for ordination.
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"The master class
has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles.
The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject
class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their
lives." Eugene Victor Debs
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