A statue of Christ with outstretched arms that has long comforted the community of Belle Harbor was found desecrated early this month.
Both hands were broken off the figure, and a streak of white paint was placed across its shoulders and arms.
“It’s like a big family down here,” said Father Thomas Doyle, pastor. “Nothing like this is supposed to happen.”
The statue was the focal point of St. Francis de Sales parish’s memorial prayer garden, located on Rockaway Beach Boulevard, which is dedicated to local victims of 9/11 and the American Airlines Flight 587 plane crash in 2001.
Parish and police officials are unsure exactly when the statue was vandalized. A parishioner noticed the hands were missing while returning home from voting on Election Day, Nov. 4.
Upon entering the garden, he saw the hands, broken and carefully arranged on the brick walkway.
“The parishioner found the hands in the praying position,” Father Doyle noted.
He carried the hands to the rectory around 4:15 p.m.
Father Doyle rushed to the garden, where he found the statue had also been dislodged from its pedestal.
To prevent any further damage, he carried the statue to the rectory and called the police. Members of the 100th precinct studied the scene along with hate crimes and crime scene investigation units.
According to Sergeant Brendan Ryan of the NYPD Office of the Deputy Commissioner for Public Information, “This incident is currently being investigated as a possible hate crime.”
Weathered Hard Times
Father Doyle says he’s frustrated and perplexed by this unusual act of violence in a close-knit community that has weathered hard times and is still recovering from Superstorm Sandy.
He doesn’t know why the statue was damaged and dislodged. He wonders if the vandal thought the fiberglass statue, which had a bronze-like finish, was real bronze and upon realizing it wasn’t, abandoned the effort.
As for the hands being posed in prayer, he said, “Did the person know that what he was doing was wrong and try to make amends? I don’t know. Who knows?”
Once police finished dusting for fingerprints, Father Doyle placed the statue in church, next to the altar, where parishioners gathered after Masses last weekend to see and touch the brokenness for themselves.
“I wanted people to see it, to visualize what was done,” Father Doyle said.
Longtime parish lector Edward Quinn said he was shocked by this “senseless act.”
“I’ve been in this parish 40 years, and I can’t remember anything of this nature ever happening, much less in a prayer garden,” Quinn said.
“We’re all horrified,” shared his wife, Ronnie, who co-directs the children’s folk group. “It’s a terrible thing. You have to wonder what goes through people’s heads.”
The Quinns learned about the incident at morning Mass last Thursday, and word quickly spread through the beach community.
“There’s anger that it happened. Anger and confusion,” Father Doyle said. “It (the garden) is a sacred space just like the church. People go there to pray.”
Considered a sacred space since it was dedicated in 2003, the garden is gated but has always been accessible to the community, day or night. Father Doyle said there are no security cameras, and the garden lights, which provided some illumination at night, needed to be replaced.
There have been other issues of late at the parish Father Doyle added. There were reports of panhandlers outside church, and individuals were seen in the parking lot checking for open car doors. He shared that blessed oils have also been taken from the church ambry.
Father Doyle feels the garden should be a place of refuge, and he wants the community to use it and feel secure there. He’s looking into placing security cameras with high-definition night vision in the outdoor space.
And this pastor says the statue will be returned to the garden as soon as possible. He planned to have the statue repaired this past week. A parishioner offered to cover all of the costs.
Anyone with information can call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or text 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.