FRESH MEADOWS — Around 8 p.m. on June 21, Holy Family Church in Fresh Meadows was vandalized for the fourth time since 2023. This time, a statue of the Holy Family and the church’s two front doors were damaged.
Parishioner Betty Balfour said she was upset to hear the news of the destruction.
“I’m not sure why someone would do something like this to a church where we go to worship, praise God, and thank him for all his blessings,” Balfour said. “I think I’ll be able to forgive, but first I have to see the person who did it.”
RELATED: Holy Family Parish ‘Feels More Peace’ After Vandalized Statue is Repaired
According to a deputy commissioner of public information spokesperson, the NYPD has arrested and charged 38-year-old Queens resident Freddy Genao with a hate crime and criminal possession of a weapon for his involvement in the incident.
“It was reported to police that on Saturday, June 21, 2025, at approximately 19:50 hours, an individual hit multiple doors of a church with a crowbar at 175-20 74 Avenue,” a DCPI spokesperson told The Tablet. “The individual also used the crowbar to break a statue at the location.”
Holy Family pastor, Father Sean Suckiel, said he first learned of the incident when a parishioner, who lives across the street and witnessed the act, called to alert him. He said Genao was caught in the act by police who were already in the area and was taken into custody shortly after.
“It just shows you that there’s a growing need for God in our world. People are lost and they’re hopeless,” Father Suckiel said. “This is a very holy parish, deeply Eucharistic and Marian, and those are the two things that the evil one despises, so you’re going to see things like this happening. But you know what? We will get the statue repaired, and the statue will be here for many years to come.”
Father Suckiel acknowledged the vandalism during his June 23 homily, also noting four other times that the church has been defaced in recent years.
This is the second time the statue of the Holy Family itself has been desecrated. Around this time last year, the head of the child Jesus was decapitated, costing the parish roughly $4,000 in repairs. Also last year, the church was defaced with graffiti. And in 2023, two teenagers destroyed the parish’s angel statues by smashing them on the ground.
“We know that the Holy Family statue outside is more than just a statue for us,” Father Suckiel said. “It represents our faith, it represents our hope, and because of that, we are Holy Family strong, and that’s one of the gifts I’ve earned from this parish.”
Jose Batista, who attended the June 23 Mass, questioned the perpetrator’s motive.
“It’s so sad that someone would want to damage a holy place, a holy property — and this damage is going to cost a lot of money,” Batista said. “But it’s not just about the money. Why did they have to come and damage a holy place?”
