A pair of construction workers had a unique assignment Wednesday at the largest church in New England: repairing a crucifix that a vandal broke while swinging on it.

A judge at Boston Municipal Court ordered the man behind the damage, Michael Patzelt, 37, of Attleboro, held on $5,000 cash bail and to stay away from the Cathedral of the Holy Cross and witnesses who caught him committing the unholy act in the South End.

Officers assigned to the neighborhood for the Boston Police Department arrested Patzelt around 6:15 p.m. Tuesday after receiving a call for a suspicious person who had knocked a hat off a woman in the area of the cathedral.

“The suspect then proceeded to climb up the cross where he began to swing and hang from it, breaking off several parts of the cross,” a police release states. “The suspect broke both the statue’s arms prior to officers responding and placed him under arrest.”

Patzelt pleaded not guilty to charges of assault and malicious destruction of property during an arraignment in court Wednesday afternoon. He appeared wearing a ripped green shirt.

The judge asked the defense whether the vandalism stemmed from a “depraved heart or sick,” to which an attorney representing Patzelt responded that the Attleboro man is homeless and unemployed after the death of his grandmother.

The judge also requested the defense seek mental health counseling for Patzelt.

Samuel Jones, a prosecutor for the Suffolk District Attorney’s Office, estimated the cross that Patzelt damaged to be around 150 years old and will cost about $20,000 to repair.

“Unfortunately, the Cathedral experienced vandalism at the exterior crucifix. I have no information regarding why someone would take such an action,” said Terry Donilon, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Boston. “The Archdiocese will work with the Cathedral to assess the damage.”

The Cathedral of Holy Cross opened in 1875 and seats nearly 2,000 people, the largest church in New England. It also houses the largest organ built by the world-renowned Hook and Hastings Company, according to its website.

Over the years, the Cathedral has hosted some prominent events, including a Mass in memory of President John F. Kennedy with the Kennedy family and dignitaries in 1964. More recently, then-President Barack Obama addressed the nation during an interfaith service following the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013.

Workers repair the vandalized statue of Jesus at the Cathedral of Holy Cross in the South End. (Nancy Lane/Boston Herald)
Workers repair the vandalized statue of Jesus at the Cathedral of Holy Cross in the South End. (Nancy Lane/Boston Herald)

Wisconsin wildlife officials unanimously approved a contentious new wolf management plan Wednesday that doesn’t include a specific population goal despite demands from hunters and farmers to cap the number of wolves roaming the state.

In backing the plan, Department of Natural Resources policy board members praised it as a scientifically sound compromise that could give federal officials confidence that Wisconsin would manage its wolf population responsibly if the federal government removes protections for the species.

“Impressive work,” board member Todd Ambs told DNR large carnivore specialist Larry Johnson, who spent months developing and revising the plan in an attempt to please hunters, farmers and conservationists. “Amazing what you’ve been going through. … Congratulations on still being upright when you got here.”

Wolf management has become one of the fiercest policy debates in Wisconsin hunting circles as the population has grown over the last three decades.

Farmers in northern Wisconsin have long complained that wolves are preying on their livestock. The DNR has recorded 67 confirmed or probably wolf attacks on livestock, pets and hunting dogs so far in 2023, up from 49 in all of 2022. Hunters believe the animals are devastating the deer population in the northern reaches of the state. Conservationists counter that wolves haven’t firmly established themselves in the state and should be protected.

The DNR adopted a wolf management plan in 1999 that called for capping the population at 350 wolves. The latest DNR estimates, however, indicate the population currently stands at around 1,000 wolves.

With the population growing, Republican legislators in 2012 passed a law requiring the DNR to hold an annual wolf hunting season. Hunters and farmers have pointed to the 350-wolf limit as justification for setting high kill quotas, angering animal rights activists.

A federal judge last year placed gray wolves in the lower 48 states back on the endangered species list, making hunting illegal and limiting farmers to nonlethal control methods, such as fencing in livestock or using guard dogs. The DNR has been working on an updated wolf management plan in case wolves are removed from the list and hunting resumes.

The new plan recommends a statewide population of about 1,000 animals but doesn’t set a hard limit on the population. Instead, the plan recommends allowing the population to grow or decline at certain numerical thresholds. DNR officials insist the plan creates flexibility in dealing with local packs, allowing for more hunting pressure in areas overpopulated with wolves.

The proposal has met with sharp criticism from farmers and hunters who want to see a specific statewide population goal. The Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation, the largest farmers association in the state, has called for maintaining the 350-wolf cap and Republican lawmakers are advancing a bill that would force the DNR to insert a specific number in the plan.

Republicans who control the state Senate on Oct. 17 refused to confirm four members of the DNR board who said they supported the new management plan, removing them from the board. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers named four replacements the same day.

The board spent more than three-and-a-hours before the vote listening to public comments on the plan from both sides.

Alex Mardosky, associate director of the Nature Conservancy in Wisconsin, called the plan “exceptional.” He praised the DNR for moving toward a flexible management approach, calling a hard population goal “a really blunt instrument.” He recommended the DNR set a zero quota if hunting resumes.

Ed Harvey of the Conservation Congress, a group of influential sportsmen who advise the DNR, said the organization doesn’t think the plan should keep the 350-wolf goal. He complained that the department hasn’t given enough weight to the opinions of people who live among wolves.

Patrick Quaintance, of Bayfield, said he’s seen the remains of calves killed by wolves on farms around his property and has taken photos of wolves in broad daylight. “I don’t feel safe walking my dog or turning my dog loose on my property,” he said. “Let’s keep this in perspective. People are having problems with wolves.”

There has never been a documented wolf attack on a human in Wisconsin, according to the DNR. Wolves typically prey on old, young, sick or otherwise weakened animals, although the department has said that wolves could start acting more aggressively toward people as they become habituated to them.

Fred Clark, executive director of conservation group Wisconsin’s Green Fire, said his group supports the plan and that the 350-wolf goal in 1999 means nothing because scientists have had 24 years to learn more about wolves. He said the plan will help persuade federal wildlife officials that they can hand wolf management back to the states in good conscience.

“The feds are paying attention,” Johnson, the DNR’s large carnivore specialist, told the board. “(They’re) looking for a plan that lays out our intentions. It’s really important to put our best foot forward as a state so when that delisting comes we can maintain it long-term.”

The board also voted unanimously to approve new regulations governing the state’s wolf season. The DNR has been relying on emergency rules crafted after Republicans passed the 2012 law establishing a hunt.

The new regulations largely duplicate the emergency provisions but do include some changes to reflect goals in the management plan. Notable changes include shrinking the 24-hour period for registering kills to eight hours. Hunters would be allowed to train dogs to track wolves only during the wolf season and would be barred from destroying dens.

The new rules retain existing prohibitions on hunting wolves with dogs at night.

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Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey said earlier this month that the Twins were expecting Alex Kirilloff to need a labrum repair when he underwent surgery on Tuesday with Dr. Neal ElAttrache.

They got some good news.

After imaging and evaluation, the surgeon did not need to repair the labrum or rotator cuff in his right shoulder. Instead, Kirilloff underwent a bursectomy, a procedure to clean up the bursal sac in his shoulder, on Tuesday.

The left-handed Kirilloff first hurt his non-throwing shoulder during the middle of the season and wound up missing more than a month with the injury. He returned in September, though manager Rocco Baldelli later said though they had gotten him “to a reasonably good spot,” he was never back to 100 percent.

After playing through shoulder pain, Kirilloff eventually was placed on the injured list before what would become the final game of the American League Division Series as the issue had gotten progressively worse to the point where he was having difficulty swinging the bat.

“Certain things — diving, reaching, swinging — kind of aggravated (it),” Kirilloff said earlier this month. “It’s something I was obviously dealing with for a while, but kind of gets to the point where you can’t be effective with it.”

The Twins have not yet publicly laid out a recovery timeline for Kirilloff, but they expect him to focus on range of motion and strengthening exercises in the short term before then progressing to his normal offseason conditioning-and-strength program.

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It was after Patterson Mill dismantled Bohemia Manor for four quarters — a 41-14 win on Sept. 22 — that RJ Wilhelm realized it was within reach.

The junior running back walked confidently off the field having dashed 240 yards that night. His dad, Rich, told him the outing positioned him for a successful season and potentially to sniff a lauded milestone. A month later, RJ is at 943 on the year, only 57 rushing yards from joining a short list of Huskies to eclipse 1,000 in a single season.

He’ll have the chance to do it at 7 p.m. Thursday at Aberdeen in the Huskies’ regular season finale.

“I’ve always had a special connection with my football team,” RJ said. “I wouldn’t be able to get any of these yards without my teammates blocking for me. It’s all the line. They make the holes and I’m just the one who gets to run through them.”

Football wasn’t RJ’s first sport growing up. Like many 5-year-olds, he gave soccer a try. That lasted only a season playing on truncated fields and (handily) leading his team in penalties. RJ’s youth coach once told him, “Hey, you can slide tackle him.”

“RJ didn’t get the ‘slide’ part right,” Rich said. “Then he would just manhandle kids. … The ball would get to the middle and at 5 years old, it’s like a big clump of kids following the ball around. Well, you’d see kids falling over because RJ would be running through them.”

His physicality translated to football the following year and, as he started to take the sport more seriously, by 10U became his signature trait. RJ added it’s his field awareness and ability to cut back into gaps that have defined his backfield presence.

But to truly grasp the running back RJ is for Patterson Mill, you have to go back to his early years getting interested in the sport and an inherited fandom.

“I became a huge [Tampa Bay] Buccaneers fan when the [Baltimore] Colts left,” Rich said, tracing his fandom back to that fateful midnight move in March 1984. “I asked my dad, ‘Who’s the worst team in the NFL?’ It was the Bucs. I said, ‘Alright, well I’m gonna become a fan because they need as many fans as possible.’”

When the Bucs rose to prominence in the early 2000s, Rich clung onto Mike Alstott, a muscular downhill power back who played 11 years in the NFL. So when his son started playing the same position, Rich pointed to Alstott and said, ‘That’s gonna be you.”

The two formed a bond watching Tampa Bay every Sunday and RJ subsequently became an unwavering fan of his new favorite team’s former backfield star. Suddenly, he was watching old Alstott highlights on YouTube before rec football games to get psyched up.

Now, Alstott is the reason RJ wears No. 40 for Patterson Mill.

“I always liked running the same way he did,” RJ said. “So he’s always been like an idol of mine. Just hardcore downhill running and plowing people over.”

Two Alstott Bucs jerseys hang in RJ’s closet — creamsicle and white. The only decorations in his bedroom are Alstott memorabilia and a few posters of Juggernaut, the Alstott of fictional Marvel characters who similarly wears a helmet and is known for shedding physical attacks.

Patterson Mill’s 7-1 record, its first banner as UCBAC Susquehanna Division champs and a chance to claim the program’s second playoff win next week are largely thanks to coach Dave Huryk’s Wing-T formation.

The Huskies offense is averaging 28.4 points per game this year with RJ as a key cog.

Each rusher brings unique flair to Patterson Mill’s crowded backfield. RJ is undoubtedly the Alstott of the group. Huryk described him earlier this season as the perfect balance between athleticism and a bruising enforcer between the tackles.

“RJ is an amazing blocker who can set the edge or go inside and block when it’s not his turn to run,” Rich said. “But when it’s his turn to run — even from when he was 6 and first started running — it’s nothing fancy. He is a straight, strong downhill runner.”

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