JAMAICA — A man repeatedly hurled paver stones at a historic statue of Mary early Tuesday morning Sept. 24 at Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish.
Surveillance video recorded the attack, which severed the hands and gouged the face of the statue at around 3 a.m., according to the pastor, Father Victor Bolaños.
A New York Police Department spokesperson said on Oct. 1 that no arrests had been made, and the incident is being investigated as a criminal mischief case.
“I am very frustrated,” Father Bolaños said. “It’s a beautiful face, a beautiful statue. Many people stop here to pray and to admire the beauty. Most people feel good when they see her.”
Father Bolaños was unsure if the marble statue could be repaired but said the parish would try to do so. He did not know its exact age, but he speculated it could be over 100 years old.
It was posted for many years at Mary Immaculate Hospital, which opened in 1902 on 89th Street, a couple blocks from the parish. The hospital closed in 2009, but the statue got a new home at the parish, on the front lawn of the rectory facing Parsons Boulevard.
Also on the lawn is a statue of St. Michael the Archangel, which was not vandalized on Sept. 24. However, its sword was damaged and replaced last year in a separate incident, according to the Diocese of Brooklyn.
Father Bolaños said he was at a meeting in New Jersey when he got a phone call from his parish that the statue of Mary had been damaged. He returned to the rectory and spent hours reviewing the surveillance video footage before finding images of the attack.
Footage shows the perpetrator, who appears to be in his 20s or 30s, milling about in front of the rectory.
The man paces and punches at the air. He then hops over a fence surrounding the lawn, grabs paver stones from the landscaping, and throws them at the statue. Upon impact, the stones explode into puffs of concrete dust.
The suspect hops back over the fence and walks away from the scene. Traffic and pedestrians can be seen passing on Parsons Boulevard during the incident.
More parishioners learned of the vandalism on Sept. 25 and expressed sadness, Father Bolaños said.
“I don’t know what was in his mind,” he said of the attacker. “I hope he can be helped before he does something again.”
Father Bolaños lamented how statues are increasingly being desecrated in the Diocese of Brooklyn and throughout the U.S., especially after the pandemic.
There have been 452 attacks on Catholic churches since May, 2020. He added that irrational and aggressive behavior is becoming more common.
A plaque on the rectory’s front lawn states that the statue was dedicated to Father Ignatius Zeller, the parish’s first pastor. His continued devotion to Mary inspired him to lead the effort to establish a hospital promoting Catholic values in Jamaica.
“I hope we can restore it,” Father Bolaños said. “It’s so beautiful. It’s history. And history is always important.”
The NYPD’s 103rd Precinct is asking anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477).
