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.
The Diocese of Brooklyn is working with the 103rd Precinct of the New York City Police Department following an attempted robbery this past weekend at St. Gerard Majella in the Hollis section of Queens.
Mary Guadagni was heartbroken last spring when she learned that the crucifix outside St. Athanasius Church had been vandalized. But on Sunday, a new crucifix was dedicated – signaling a fresh start for the parish.
Police are searching for a woman who threw eggs at the front door of the Church of Saints Simon and Jude, Gravesend, Sunday afternoon.
The Oct. 10 vandalization of Denver’s cathedral basilica that resulted in satanic and other “hateful graffiti” being scrawled on its doors and at least one statue brought to 100 the number of incidents of arson, vandalism and other destruction that have taken place at Catholic sites across the United States since May 2020.
An Oct. 10 vandalism of the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Denver, Colorado, was the 100th incident of destruction to Catholic sites in the U.S. since the U.S. Bishops Conference began tracking the phenomenon in May 2020.
In the latest of vandalism attacks at churches in the Diocese of Brooklyn, a statue of St. Bernadette was found damaged outside St. Michael’s Roman Catholic Church on August 17.
