The man suspected of desecrating St. Joseph Church in Astoria a month ago was arrested Saturday, July 8 after returning to the parish and acting erratically. Also on Saturday, parishioners at Resurrection Church in Gerritsen Beach caught a man spray painting a new statue of Mary. They handed him over to police.
A 21-year-old man who appeared to be emotionally disturbed entered St. Joseph Church in Astoria on June 5, broke open the tabernacle, removed the holy Eucharist stored inside it, and carelessly tossed it around, church officials said.
Police are asking for the public’s help in finding a pair of suspects who vandalized Catholic Charities Brooklyn & Queens headquarters earlier this month by throwing a brick through the glass door of the organization’s offices.
The NYPD is looking for three teenagers after they destroyed a statue of an angel outside a church on March 23.
More than 275 attacks on Catholic churches have taken place since 2020 according to a report updated Jan. 26 by CatholicVote, a political action group based in Wisconsin.
Vandals struck twice at St. Nicholas of Tolentine Church on the night of Jan. 5, ransacking the creche.
Ten months after a marble statue of Our Lady of Fatima in the Rosary Walk and Garden outside the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception was vandalized and destroyed beyond repair, a replacement statue was blessed Oct. 23 by Washington Cardinal Wilton D. Gregory.
The pastor of Mary’s Nativity Church said his “nerves were shot” after witnessing a man vandalize church property, including a statue of the Blessed Mother. Police arrested the suspect moments later at the church in Flushing, Queens.
A Catholic church in the Washington suburb of Bethesda was one of three houses of worship along the same road to be victimized by vandalism the weekend of July 9-10.
While the attack on the crucifix at St. Athanasius Church shocked and angered many, it wasn’t the only incident that a church or office in the diocese had been the target of vandals over the past year.
