Police in Anchorage, Alaska, are searching for a man who, according to security camera footage, damaged several windows of a historic Catholic cathedral Aug. 13.
Must Read Alaska reported that the suspect approached Holy Family Cathedral in the middle of the night and used bricks from a nearby planter to shatter the cathedral’s windows, damaging sections of stained glass.
“Holy Family Cathedral, a central place of worship for Anchorage’s Catholic community, has endured past incidents of vandalism, but parish members say this attack is especially painful because of the damage to its irreplaceable stained glass,” the outlet noted.
According to the parish website, the cathedral is more than 100 years old. The stained-glass windows, more than 125 years old, were rescued in 2015 from a Philadelphia church that was being demolished. The windows depict the Joyful Mysteries, and according to photos of the vandalism obtained by Must Read Alaska, the window portraying the Visitation was damaged.
The outlet added that services at the cathedral are regularly interrupted by homeless people, and priests have been attacked in downtown Anchorage.
In a letter to parishioners, Holy Family pastor Father James Junípero Moore said that the attack had a “demoralizing effect” on him until he heard a parishioner say, “We must be doing something right if grappin [St. John Vianney’s term for the Devil] is getting so mad!”
Fr. Moore reflected on the blessings the cathedral has seen this summer, which included crowded Masses, long confession lines, and children signing up for religious education classes.
“It is our job when these things happen to stand firm! We should pray for each other too as we deal with hardships and irritations,” he continued. “When people misunderstand us or outright curse or hate us because of the truth, we are called to love back! This doesn’t mean that we should be doormats, we should stand up for justice. However, it does mean that what we should also hope for [is] the conversion of those who are hateful towards us.”
According to CatholicVote’s tracker on violence against churches, the attack on Holy Family was the 40th recorded incident against Catholic churches in the US this year.
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Author: Hannah Hiester
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