Vandalism and destruction of church property, normally regarded as hate crimes, reportedly continue in various locations in the United States with the most recent in Pennsylvania.
The Christian Headlines said the Lititz Church of the Brethren was vandalized on Friday, November 10, with satanic images and messages. The vandalism has been reported to the Lititz Borough Police Department whose initial investigation revealed that the perpetrators used chalk and no property was damaged in the process.
The Lititz Borough Police Department announced it is undergoing investigation to determine the motives of the perpetrators. The police estimated the vandalism done on the exterior walls and fixtures of the church was made "during the overnight hours between the evening of 12/03/2021 and the morning of 12/04/2021."
"The imagery and references were discovered to have been written on the rear exterior wall of the church and also on the pavilion ground and tables to the rear of the church building. The imagery and references were written with chalk and were subsequently able to be cleaned off without any damage to the property," the Lititz Borough Police Department said in a statement released through Crime Watch on December 4.
A photo taken by the police during its investigation show pink chalk was used to mark the covered benches of the church with "Hail Satan," "666," "Kill God," and the pentagram, which is a sign attributed to Satan.
Lititz Church of the Brethren Lead Pastor Eric Landram revealed in an interview with The Christian Post that this was the first time the church's property was vandalized and the "chalk which was used left no permanent damage and clean up was minimal." Thus, they are really not that bothered about it.
"(We) are treating it as a one-time prank and are not concerned by the antics. What has already been reported, we have no additional comments to make at this time," Landram said.
However, Lancaster Online's editorial board condemned the vandalism as "especially disturbing" considering it was done at a place of worship.
"There is something especially disturbing about vandalism directed at a place of worship or a religious symbol. It seems designed to rattle people of faith who regard their sacred spaces as sanctuaries to which they go in times of both grief and joy," the Lancaster Online's editors said.
Aside from this incident in Lilitz, the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington was also vandalized by a perpetrator who destroyed the Our Lady of Fatima statue. The basilica's spokesman told Catholic News Service that video footage showed a masked person came around 10:45 p.m. of December 5 by climbing the locked fence of the rosary walk where the marble statue is located.
The perpetrator then scratched the face of Mary, broke the cross on her crown, and cut off her nose and hands before leaving with it. The damage was then discovered the next day and reported to the police who are still investigating the matter. Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception Rector Msgr. Walter Rossi said in a statement that they are really "pained" by the incident but are praying for the perpetrator.
"Though we are deeply pained by this incident, we pray for the perpetrator through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary under her title of Our Lady of Fatima," Rossi said.
The vandalism of the basilica is an addition to the 95 attacks we reported in September that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops have experienced since May 2020 for churches across the nation. In fact, the USCCB updated their report last October 14 stating that the 100th attack took place on October 10 when the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Denver, Colorado was vandalized with "satanic and other hateful graffiti on the walls."
