Grisly Nativity scene vandalism draws prayerful response

Boston, Mass., Jan 6, 2015 / 21:07 pm

A vandal's placement of a decapitated pig's head at a Nativity scene at a Catholic church in Massachusetts shocked locals, but they committed themselves to pray for and to forgive the perpetrator.

"When it comes to who did this, or why did they do it? That's something for the police to figure out," Bishop Robert Hennessey, an Auxiliary Bishop of Boston, said at a Dec. 27 Mass at Sacred Hearts Parish in Haverhill.

"They know how to confront crime, but we know how to confront evil. That's why we gather as a Church, together, to pray."

On Christmas morning, the parish's parochial vicar, Fr. Benjamin LeTran, discovered that the Nativity scene's statue of the Infant Jesus had been stolen and replaced by a recently decapitated black pig's head, the Boston Pilot reports.

A woman from Haverhill, which is located 35 miles north of Boston, brought another statute of the infant Jesus to replace the stolen statue.

Fr. John Delaney, Sacred Hearts' pastor, said the woman's action was "a sign of hope" on a day of "sadness and hurt." He said that congregants at the church came "full of love, full of forgiveness."

Fr. LeTran said he saw the Nativity scene as "a great message" of "God's love for us, the message that Jesus brings into this world."

Bishop Hennessey said the Dec. 27 Mass, then blessed the Nativity scene. Churchgoers then sang "Silent Night." The bishop expressed support from the Boston archdiocese and Cardinal Sean O'Malley.

The vandalism drew condemnation from many.

Haverhill mayor James Fiorentini said the vandalism was "an outrage" and contended it had "all the elements of a hate crime," the Boston Globe reports.

"I want to state in the strongest possible way that this does not reflect our community," said the mayor, who is a former parishioner of the church.

Ibrahim Hooper, national communications director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said Dec. 26 that American Muslims "stand with the Christian community in condemning this desecration of a religious display and against anyone who would target a house of worship in such an apparently hate-filled manner."

Police on Dec. 30 arrested a 54-year-old homeless woman who allegedly wrote the number "666" 15 times on another Haverhill church, La Iglesia Biblica Bautista. The Boston CBS affiliate WBIZ reports that she was carrying a large metal crucifix. She tried to hit an arresting officer with the crucifix, which police say came from Sacred Hearts Church's Nativity scene.

The woman denied placing the pig's head in the Nativity scene, but admitted vandalizing the other church.

A police detective familiar with the woman has said he believes she may have an "altered mental state" at times, according to the Boston Herald.

Police are still investigating whether the woman was involved with the vandalism at the Catholic church. The woman has been ordered to undergo a 20-day psychiatric evaluation before her next court appearance.