Massachusetts

Vandalism at Boston Churches Under Investigation

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Two Boston churches were vandalized Thursday night or early Friday morning.

A statue of the Virgin Mary was toppled over at St. Monica's Parish in South Boston.

"If somebody's hurting, this isn't the way to go about their pain," said Reverend Peter DeFazio, the church's pastor.

Multiple door locks were filled with a glue-like sticky substance that DeFazio says resembles caulk.

At St. Teresa of Calcutta in Dorchester, the door locks were also filled with the same kind of material. It happened at the school next door, as well.

A bike lock was placed over the door handles at the church.

"I view it as a hate crime," said DeFazio.

The statue has been vandalized multiple times over the last several months.

"Last week somebody had ripped her hands off," he said. "We had just replaced her hands yesterday and cemented her to a concrete footing and she was knocked down."

Surveillance video released by Boston Police captured a suspect wanted in connection with the crimes.

"It just goes on and on," said Father John Ronaghan, the pastor at St. Teresa.

It's not the first time the parish has been vandalized -- on one occasion a few months ago, someone threw eggs at the church.

"We've got to pray for this person," said Ronaghan. "Obviously, there's some issue there that needs to be resolved."

It's unknown why these two specific churches keep getting vandalized.

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