FAR ROCKAWAY — Father Francis Shannon said he was shocked to find out that St. Mary Star of the Sea Church was vandalized on Oct. 5 — the third time in one week that his parish, which also includes St. Gertrude Church, was targeted.
The vandal sprayed black paint on the faces of two statues at St. Mary Star of the Sea: the Blessed Virgin Mary statue near the church entrance and the St. Thérèse of Lisieux statue near the parking lot. The word “cult” was also spray-painted at the base of the St. Thérèse statue, in front of the Virgin Mary statue, and on a nearby wall. A spray-painted message read “Welcome cult members.”
This latest incident occurred just three days after both churches in the Far Rockaway parish were vandalized on Oct. 2.
At St. Gertrude, a garbage bag was placed over the Virgin Mary statue’s head. Later that same day, according to Father Shannon, the vandal went to St. Mary Star of the Sea, where a traffic cone was placed on the head of the St. Thérèse statue, crutch-like metal objects were hung from the arms of a statue of Jesus, and a garbage bag was wrapped around a second statue of Mary at the back of the church, near the rectory.
“Last week I said, ‘Let’s take the garbage bag off,’ but this time for some reason I said people have to see what’s going on, and they have to know that we’re kind of under attack,” Father Shannon said. “Our values are not that loved and respected out there, and so it’s time to stand up.”
The Blessed Virgin Mary statue at St. Mary Star of the Sea is especially significant to the community, as it had stood at the church’s school for nearly 120 years before it was entrusted to the parish after the school closed in 2011.
“I had told everyone that I think this is one shot (referring to the Oct. 2 incident) and it’s over [and not to] worry about it, so that’s why it’s a little sadder that it happened again,” Father Shannon said after the Oct. 5 incident. “Somebody’s actually thinking about doing this [and it] says something about what’s going on out there.”
Father Shannon said he was praying in the rectory at St. Mary Star of the Sea on the morning of Oct. 5 when Father Joseph Miller, the parochial vicar for the parish, alerted him to the vandalism and instructed him to call the police.
“My first response [to the graffiti] is we are nothing like a cult … there is nothing secretive about us. Our love, our teachings, are right out in the open,” Father Shannon said.
Parishioner Joanne Murray said she cried when she learned her parish was vandalized for the second time in less than a week, and like Father Shannon, the word “cult” being spray-painted on parish walls and statues is a clear misrepresentation of her Catholic faith.
“That hit to the heart very much because this is not a cult,” Murray said. “We believe in Jesus Christ and that’s what we practice here in our faith — they obviously don’t know about our faith.”
Nonetheless, Murray said she must find it within herself to forgive.
“If you need help, then get the help you need,” Murray said. “But if you want to know about the Church, you should talk to the folks who go to church, so perhaps you can get an understanding of why we celebrate the way we do and why we believe in God.”
Father Shannon credited parish receptionist Irene Mejia, who nearly confronted the vandal on Oct. 2, in helping stop more damage from being done.
Mejia said she saw a man wave at her as she pulled into the parking lot. Moments later, she was alerted that someone was defacing the Mary statue at St. Mary Star of the Sea. When she stepped back outside, the man had already jumped the church fence. She shouted at him, but he walked away unfazed.
“We’re in a world where there’s so much corruption, so much hate, I would say, and I do feel like religion, no matter what the religion, is always being attacked, and I feel like now more than ever this is a time where everyone should just come together and pray,” Mejia said. “One thing happened, and now this. It’s just getting worse, but we’re not going to lose our faith, and hopefully things do get better.”
Father Shannon said the church’s security cameras malfunctioned two months ago, and they received new proposals two weeks ago to replace cameras, which he said were being installed on Oct. 6.
He explained there was one still camera that was able to take an image of the vandal, but it came out too dark for the police to use.
Two Protestant churches in the area were also vandalized last week, and, according to the NYPD’s Office of Public Information, as of Oct. 7, no arrests have been made, and the Hate Crime Task Force is investigating whether these incidents are connected.
