According to New York City Police, the person also defaced two other Christian churches.
By Catholics for Catholics
New York City Police are looking for a mysterious, black-clad, pride-flag carrying person who allegedly defaced three Christian temples, including a Catholic church, spreading anti-Christian statements during his crime binge.
Surveillance video showed that on Oct. 5, the perpetrator, who was also wearing a rainbow face covering and pushing a bicycle, spray-painted in black “anti-gay cult” “Welcome Cult Members” on the wall of St. Mary’s Star of the Sea Church on New Haven Avenue and wrote “cult” multiple times on the sidewalks outside, police said. The defacement happened at about 2 a.m., according to Fox News.
The suspect also defaced two religious statues, painting over their faces, police said.
Father Francis Shannon, who has been a priest at St. Mary’s Star of the Sea Church for more than eight years, said he was troubled to learn of the graffiti. The parish holds Eucharistic adoration, has a youth group, Charismatic prayer groups in English and Spanish and is set to have a Thanksgiving lunch for those who cannot be with their families.
“It was really heartbreaking learning about the vandalism. I was at my mother’s house, and as soon as it happened, I got sent pictures,” Shannon, 67, told the New York Post. “So, when I woke up, I saw them, and it was just really sad.”
“I think this is more of a statement than a hate crime, just anti-institution kind of stuff,” he said.
“The Diocese of Brooklyn is grateful to the NYPD for their continued diligence and investigation in this matter,” they stated, as quoted by ABC 7 Eyewitness News.
“The vandalism and desecration discovered at St. Mary Star of the Sea in Far Rockaway last month was absolutely disgraceful. We continue to pray for the responsible individual, as well as for greater religious tolerance in our city.”
The perpetrator had previously defaced the façade of Refuge Church of Christ in Far Rockaway, Queens, at about 1:40 a.m., NYPD said. Far Rockaway is the southernmost neighborhood in the borough of Queens.
Minutes later, the suspect allegedly tagged the neighboring City of Oasis Church of Deliverance with the same anti-Christian message, police said. Both churches are on Mott Avenue.
In a security video released by the NYPD, the suspect was captured scrawling “anti-gay cult” in black paint on the façade of one of the churches.
According to a recently released report from the Family Research Council, over 400 acts of hostility were recorded against churches in the United States last year, according to a story by The Christian Post.
The FRC report documented 415 hostile acts across 43 states, affecting 383 churches, based on open-source documents, media reports and official records.
“Although the motivations for many of these incidents remain unknown, the rise in crimes against churches is taking place in a context in which fewer Americans are attending religious services or identifying with a specific faith,” the report explained.
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