HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Over the weekend three statues at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church in Harlingen were vandalized.
The church reported two angel statues were stolen and one statue of the Virgin Mary was toppled over.
Elias Zamora, a longtime member of the church, said he was going to church as he’s done for years when he saw the statues were vandalized.
“I started coming here since I was a young kid,” said Zamora. “It was really sad because I remember seeing them putting them up and everything, and it was really beautiful and some of them nick-named it the sanctuary.”
However, Zamora believes the church was targeted instead of this being a random incident.
“It’s so hard that it’d be random because it’s been here for a while,” said Zamora. “Not that I know that the church was pushing for anything about the abortion and stuff.”
With the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, Zamora thinks the incident is related.
He was emotional seeing the statues misplaced and decided to bring some statues of his own: an angel, the Virgin Mary, and a baby Jesus.
“So, seeing this one broken and stuff that’s when I decided to go home and get the statutes and stuff, and I put them in my truck and brought them, I brought them this morning,” said Zamora.
The pastor of St. Anthony’s Catholic Church, Father Alejandro Flores, was not available for an interview but confirmed the church filed a police report.
Zamora had a message to whoever is responsible, “please, please y’all, how you feel I can understand, but I don’t see that the church was doing anything to push against abortions, I didn’t see them file (a lawsuit).”