Why they smashed the altar

Destroying a church’s altar was a dream realized for one Hartselle man, who claimed his decision to confront a Decatur Catholic congregation during Mass was heaven-sent.

In an interview Monday from the visitation room at the Morgan County Jail, Adam Joseph Turgeon, 27, admitted his act of knocking over a marble altar Sunday, shortly after communion at Annunciation of the Lord, was poor judgment.

Decatur police charged Turgeon, his common-law wife Lisa Marie Wagner, 26, and their roommates Val Eugene Loughman, 20, and Loughman’s wife Emily Beth Loughman, 21, with felony criminal mischief, following the outburst at the 11 a.m. Mass.

"I woke up Sunday, went, pulled in and there it was," Turgeon said of why the group chose Annunciation of the Lord. "I had a vision. Lisa and me were tearing a church apart. That’s not what I did. I just tore up a table that people saw as an idol, kneeling before it and bowing before an idol."

The group went inside, listened to prayers and watched parishioners take communion before the outburst, Turgeon said.

"It was so monotone," Turgeon said. "There was no passion, fire, reverence. Through the prayer they were just eyeballing everyone else and saying the words. They have no heart. That’s not love. (The Bible says) Make a joyful noise unto the Lord."

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