A hate crime investigation was reportedly launched after vandals decapitated a statue of baby Jesus at a New York Catholic church.
“Jesus, held in the arms of His Mother Mary, was decapitated,” the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn said in a statement. “The destruction was discovered by a facilities manager and immediately reported to the New York City Police Department. The crime is currently being investigated as a hate crime.”
The statue, which was last seen intact on Friday, was discovered vandalized by a church employee.
“There was a statue of Mary holding baby Jesus which had the head of Jesus knocked off,” an NYPD spokeswoman said.
NYPD HATE CRIMES UNIT INVESTIGATES TOPPLING OF JESUS STATUE OUTSIDE BROOKLYN CATHOLIC CHURCH
It was the second such attack in Brooklyn in the last three days, following the toppling of a statue of Jesus on the cross and the burning of an American flag at a different Brooklyn Catholic church Friday.
“We are definitely concerned that there is a pattern of hate crimes against Catholics,” Monsignor Anthony Hernandez, moderator of the curia for the Diocese of Brooklyn, said in the statement.
“There was a hate crime at a Bensonhurst parish on Friday morning and now, just a few days later, this act of hatred has been discovered at the Diocesan offices,” the statement continued. “The Diocese will be notifying our churches to be on alert, and we are asking the NYPD to increase patrols in and around the area of our churches. Hatred and intolerance of the Catholic faith, and for that matter any faith, has no place here.”
The vandalism of Catholic churches follows a similar string of incidents in the Bronx last month at Jewish institutions, which saw windows broken and smashed by vandals. One man was arrested in connection to those incidents but was later released by a judge.
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A Coney Island mosque was also vandalized last week, with the phrase “Death 2 Palestine” written on the building on the last day of Ramadan.
New York’s City Council unanimously passed a bill last week raising the fine for defacing churches, synagogues, or mosques from $500 to $1,000.
