(Photos: Angelica Frey)
According to the police, 20-year-old Michael Torres entered the locked church, at 414 East 14th Street, last night and damaged multiple statues, crosses, and altar pieces.
This afternoon, a group was cleaning up the ravaged house of worship. All 14 stations of the cross were damaged, as was an icon depicting the Virgin Mary holding infant Jesus. Several statues were destroyed, including one of Our Lady of Fatima, a nativity scene, and a plaster statue of the Virgin Mary that, according to parish manager John Matcovich, was over 100 years old. It had been moved from Mary Help of Christians shortly before the East 12th Street church was demolished in 2013.
Matcovich, who had just returned from a meeting with the district attorney when we spoke to him today, said that Torres allegedly took the metal staff of an incense holder and used it as a battering ram to break the side doors of the church. Wounds indicated that he likely used his bare hands to wreak havoc, Matcovich said.
The church is equipped with a closed-circuit camera that filmed the whole scene. Police officers caught the alleged perpetrator after he found himself locked inside of the church’s cloister, said René Garcia, one of the deacons assigned to the parish.
Torres, a resident of the Marcy Houses in Bed-Stuy, was arrested shortly before 11pm and charged with burglary and criminal mischief, both of which will be prosecuted as hate crimes, the police said.
Torres seems to have attended one of the AA meetings hosted at the parish’s gym earlier that evening. “He was caught in the camera leaving the meeting with a group of people,” Garcia told us. “Then he went off to First Avenue and he came back and pulled the front door open. He forced the door.”
Motives for the desecration are still unclear. Antonio Vila, who works at the parish and was helping clean the mess today, described the alleged perp as “a young guy — he was mad with God, who knows.”
It isn’t the first time the church has been victimized: it was robbed of $11,000 in May of last year.
The church staff hopes to resume regular service tomorrow.
I think he should be put to death, is what I think.
Rob has it right to forgive, it is God’s place to judge only…and repayment is a must. It will will be the first step towards penance…and Catholic gal you need to change your name because you are going to hell. You need to relearn the RC doctrine.
He should have to pay it all back, with interest.
This is my parish, and, as a Catholic, while I think he should be forgiven and prayed for, I hope he receives a hefty prison sentence, of at least a year or two, AND he, or his family, should pay back as much of the damage as possible.
don’t feed the trolls.
Being deprived of statues or icons should help us remember that statues and icons do not make the Church they are only our tools to assist in our prayer by putting a human form there for us to see. People make the church. So where ever 2 or more gather in my name – I will be there. May the young man find peace from the demons that torment him
I was surprised to learn that the 100+ year old Virgin Mary statue saved from Mary Help of Christians church was also destroyed. My great-grandmother, a Sicilian immigrant, probably prayed to this statue in the early 20th century. Very sad.
It looks like we’re getting to Satan. This is his work.
I was in the church a year ago and I hope that it gets back to doing God’s work fast.
I suggest that they post a site for contributions to help get back in the state that it was in before.
John
JMJ. Does “true catholic” see any hypocrisy—or at least splendid irony—in his/her response to Catholic Gal? To quote: “…it is God’s place to judge only…” and then this spectacular non sequitur: “…you are going to hell.” Yes, indeed, spoken like a “true catholic.”