JACKSON, Tenn. -- A popular young Catholic priest was found shot to death Friday in his rectory, and police said he was apparently slain by a burglar he surprised after returning from dinner.
The Rev. John Jay Jackson, 35, shot in the back of the head and the neck, was found sprawled face down on the floor of a cozy room with a fireplace at St. Mary's School with blood spattered on his neck.
He was found by a bookkeeper wondering why he failed to appear and say morning mass at the school.
Although police downplayed the possibility of any link between the shooting and Wednesday's attempt on the life of Pope Paul II in Rome, Bishop Caroll Dozier of the Memphis Diocese, a close friend of the victim, said the shootings could be related.
'The hysteria moving across the world' could precipitate such an act of violence, the bishop said. 'Violence is as American as apple pie. We react violently as if we were not God's children.'
Late Friday police questioned and then released a suspect, described as a drifter who had performed some odd jobs for the church, and said they were looking for two other persons who may have information about the shooting.
Deputy Police Chief C.L. Johnsey said Jackson, a former newspaperman and Air Force pilot, was apparently killed by someone who broke through a set of sliding glass doors at the rear of the rectory. He also said, 'I rather think it might have been somebody that knew him.'
Parish secretary Mary Timby, who had dinner with the priest Thursday night, said, 'Anybody that knew him couldn't have done it. He was too nice.'
'I'm absolutely numb,' she said. 'I loved him so much. It's just really heartbreaking. He was such a happy and giving person who had so much to give and no time to give it.'
Johnsey insisted the assassination attempt and Jackson's murder were unrelated.
'Father Jackson had apparently discovered a burglary in progress and was slain by the perpetrator,' Johnsey said. 'Right now, we don't have any reason to tie that in.
Investigators said Jackson had removed his collar, and his pants pockets had been turned inside out. Johnsey said 'some money' was apparently taken but he did not know the amount.
After news of the shooting spread, students and spectators stood openly weeping outside the rectory.
The school and rectory, operated by the downtown St. Mary's Church, are on the outskirts of this West Tennessee community, located about 100 miles northeast of Memphis.
Johnsey said at least three 'fairly large caliber' bullets were fired during the shooting. One struck the priest in the back of the head, another struck him in back of the neck, and a third was found in a wall.
Johnsey said Jackson had apparently been dead about 12 hours when the body was discovered by parish bookkeeper Bert Duffy at 8:15 a.m. after the priest failed to appear at the school to say mass.
A coroner was performing an autopsy to provide investigators more clues.
Concern that the shooting might have been spawned by the attack on the pope was fueled in part by an incident Wednesday -- the day the Pope was shot.
A Memphis man carrying a shotgun was picked up by police a short distance from the church where Dozier was holding a special prayer service for the pope. Dozier was a close friend of Jackson's and instrumental in the youngman's decision to become a priest.
Jackson, a former Jackson Sun reporter, held a special mass Wednesday to pray for the recovery of the pope. 'In the last year or two or three we have had a pope who speaks fearlessly of human rights for all people,' he told his parishoners.
'As it happens with prophets who speak, people don't like it. Perhaps we're closer today to the mystery of the cross, but if that's true, we're also closer to the mystery of the ressurrection.'
A copy of the Jackson Sun lay on a couch near the body. The headline read, 'Gunshots Wound Pope.'
Bishop James D. Niedergeses, head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Nashville, said Jackson was educated in Rome at the North American School of Theology.
'Father Jackson was an extremely bright, loveable, likeable person,' the bishop said. 'He was very accomodating, very outgoing. I couldn't think of a nicer person in any profession.
'I just don't know if you could make a valid connection between this shooting and the attempt on the pope's life. There might be, but I certainly hope and pray that there is no connection.'
Ms. Timby said she had dinner with the priest Thursday night.
I'm absolutely numb,' she said. 'I loved him so much. It's just really heartbreaking. He was such a happy and giving person who had so much to give and no time to give it.'
She said the priest often played the guitar and sang. 'He brought so much joy into our lives,' she said. 'He was really one in a million.'
'Anybody that knew him (Jackson) couldn't have done it,' said Ms. Timby. 'He was too nice.'
Johnsey said police recived a call at 8:26 a.m. to go to the St. Mary's School on the Highway 45 bypass.
'This is the location of the school and parsonage for followers of St. Mary's Church, which is located downtown. Upon arriving at the scene, they (investigators) found Father Jackson had been shot.'
Jackson was a reporter for the Sun from 1970 to 1972. He left the Sun to work on a competing newspaper, served as communications director for a drug and alcohol treatment program after that newspaper folded, and then decided to become a priest.
Ms. Timby said Jackson was motivated to join the priesthood after becoming involved in a program for the treatment of alcoholics.
John Parish, press secretary to Gov. Lamar Alexander and former political editor of the Jackson Sun, was an acquaintance of the priest.
Parish said Father Jackson was 'an ace reporter' for the Sun. 'Aside from that, he was just a great guy. He was very involved in the community although he had never lived in Jackson before.
'He was always anxious to do something about things when he thought there was injustice or he thought people were in need of help.'
Parish said the priest left the newspaper to work for a small newspaper, the West Tennessean, that folded after about six months.
Jackson graduated from the University of Tennessee in 1968 with a Bachelor of Science degree in journalism.
He joined the Air Force shortly after graduating from UT and was a co-pilot of jets flying between Saigon and air force bases in Delaware, bring bodies and wounded soldiers home from the Vietnam War.
After two years in the service, he received conscientious objector status and later was granted an honorable discharge.
'It was not easy to witness this tragedy trip after trip,' Jackson told the Sun in an interview last summer.
