Two religious statues displayed outside Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church in the New York borough of Queens were destroyed in an act of vandalism in the early morning hours of July 17.
The damaged statues included one of Mary and one of
Vandals defaced the long-revered statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus outside St. Lawrence Basilica over the July 3-4 weekend, but it was quickly restored by parish staff.
Arriving for Sunday Mass around 8 a.m. July 4, staff discovered the 7-foot statue of
Officials in the Brooklyn Diocese said May 17 they will be "notifying our churches to be on alert" to vandalism and hate crimes directed at Catholic church property following two such incidents in about a three-day period.
Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco said the "justice system is working" is a statement issued late Feb. 19 following the arraignment of five people on charges of felony vandalism for toppling a St. Junipero Serra statue outside a Catholic church
To rid the site of a toppled statue of St. Junipero Serra of evil, San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone performed an exorcism rite outside St. Rafael Mission Church in San Rafael Oct. 17.
San Francisco's archbishop plans to conduct an exorcism Oct. 17 at the site of a now-toppled statue of St. Junipero Serra at St. Rafael Mission Church in San Rafael.
Just the saint's feet are left after the statue on church property was vandalized
Authorities in El Paso, Texas, have apprehended a suspect who is said to have entered the border city's St. Patrick Cathedral Sept. 15 and destroyed an almost 90-year statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Weeks after protesters toppled a statue of Christopher Columbus and threw it into Baltimore's Inner Harbor, members of the city's Italian American community are developing a plan to reproduce the marble monument so it can be displayed in a more secure location.
The beheading of a statue of Christ at a Catholic church in the Miami Archdiocese has saddened the parish community of Good Shepherd Church and prompted Miami Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski to call on law enforcement to investigate the incident as a