Washington D.C., May 17, 2021 / 11:15 am
A crucifixion display at a church in the Brooklyn diocese was vandalized last week in what is being investigated as a possible hate crime.
“This was truly an act of hatred and today is the saddest day of my twenty years here at this parish,” Monsignor David Cassato, pastor of St. Athanasius parish in Brooklyn, New York, said in a May 14 diocesan press release. The vandalism occurred at St. Athanasius, which is located in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn.
According to the diocese, a crucifix installed outside the church in 2010 was toppled over and lay face-down on the ground. Msgr. Cassato discovered the vandalism on the morning of May 14; the display had been installed in memory of his mother.
An American flag outside the parish rectory was also burned, according to the parish.