Pastor defends recent cemetery work

By Roman J. Uschak, Staff Writer

Members of the Belleville Township Council last month spoke out on what they  perceived as the desecration of the venerable cemetery at the old Dutch Reformed Church on Main Street. Tombstones dating back to the Revolutionary War were reported toppled over, and soil appeared to have been plowed.According to the current pastor of the church, however, it’s a case of don’t believe everything you see or hear.

“It’s nonsense,” said Pastor Miguel Ortiz late last week.Ortiz has been the pastor for the last three years at the church, which is now known as La Senda Antigua, or “The Old Path.” He said the church cemetery had been closed for a decade or so, and that he and a number of current church members had been working to cut the grass and perform other clean-up tasks.There were old and broken tombstones, but Ortiz said there were just a handful of them. He added that those had been piled up, and that he also was seeking someone to help restore them.

The cleanup of what he said was private property actually turned out to be a major labor effort.“We had 56 bags of leaves taken out,” said Ortiz.He admitted there was a Bobcat tracked vehicle on the church site; but he said that it had been used to construct a handicap-accessible ramp in the front of the church, not to knock down tombstones in the cemetery, which he said had been cleaned for safety reasons.

“We cleaned up the grounds with the Bobcat, and picked up the leaves,” said Ortiz. “It got out of proportion.”Ortiz related that when his group first purchased the Dutch Reformed Church several years ago, he often had to chase trespassers off the grounds, especially from the cemetery at night. Some of them were dumping garbage, while otherswere taking drugs or drinkingalcohol. Some even attempted animal sacrifices around Halloween,he said, as there were simply too many places for people to hide inthe overgrown graveyard.

“To have control, you have to clean up the cemetery,” he said.Belleville Councilman Kevin Kennedy said last month in a phone message that state officials considered the leveling of the cemetery a desecration of graves, and added that it was a criminal offense. Kennedy said at the time that he was not certain what would happen next, or if charges would be brought against the pastor or not.Ortiz said that when he was first accused of damaging the cemetery and the media got involved, he was never given his own opportunity to speak.

He said he felt hurt and embarrassed, and even betrayed by an unnamed person whom he had previously lent church keys to so that they could perform an annual Memorial Day service on the grounds.“I’m not going to give them keys anymore, if they’re going to accuse me,” said Ortiz, who came to Belleville from Newark and has been a pastor for eight years overall.He said that police detectives have done a full investigation, and that he has also met with Belleville Mayor Ray Kimble and police representatives. He also said he has been offered assistance in cleaning up the cemetery.“That’s the best thing I’ve heard in the last two weeks,” said Ortiz.

“We’re trying to bring the church back.”The Dutch Reformed Church originally closed its doors in 2006, after its congregation had dwindled to a handful of parishioners after three centuries of services.Ortiz said he planned to put the fallen tombstones back in place with the help of a person experienced in such matters, and added that he also had respect for the graves.“The tombstones are still there,” he said. “We want to put them back, and they’re all over.”Ortiz also said that there was no way he had decimated the cemetery in the three years that he had been the pastor at the old church on Main Street.“We’re trying to clean it up and not make it look abandoned,” he said of the property. “It had a bad look.”