Vandalism at a Historic Catholic Church in Hartford, Arkansas

an An historic Catholic Church in Hartford, Arkansas, U.S.A., has been struck by vandals several times. On July 13th, vandals attacked St. Leo Church in Hartford. knocking over exterior statues of the Blessed Virgin Mary and an angel.
This was the third act of vandalism in the church in 18 months. On Feb. 23, 2023, the church’s marquee sign was defaced, removing the “M” from the word Mass and adding sexually explicit epithets. On March 10, a vandal spray-painted a racial slur on the exterior door to the church sacristy.

“My husband found the statues on the ground on July 14,” Mary Radley, a lifelong parishioner and director of religious education, said. “It took two men to lift the cement statues to an upright position. We notified the Hartford police about all three acts of vandalism, and the case is under investigation.”
The vandalism has upset the parish of 40 families, who are looking forward to a 125th parish anniversary celebration in 2026.
“St. Leo’s is the oldest Catholic church west of the Mississippi in continuous operation without a resident priest or pastor,” Radley said.
Hartford, four miles from the Oklahoma border, was a coal mining town, and in 1901 the local coal mine donated the land for a church to minister to the Italian immigrant miners. It was several decades before the church was completed in its present form.
It is a historic landmark, and air vents that allowed the miners to breathe are still on the church floor and in the parking lot.
Pastor Father Joseph Chan said the parish serves several rural communities in Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma.
Radley said, “We have filed with our insurance company to see how much money we will have to repair the damage. The diocese is also involved. On the first Saturday of every month we meet for Mass, devotions, the Rosary, Benediction and the sacrament of the sick. Afterwards we work around the church, vacuuming, dusting, mopping and sweeping, ending with brunch. When we meet in August, we will discuss repairs or replacement.”
“All parishes should have some sort of safeguards against vandalism,” Father Chan said, “but because it is the work of evil, prayer is the best antidote. Each Sunday we pray to Jesus and Mary and recite the Prayer of St. Michael at the close of Mass. Christ conquers evil.”

He also called for forgiveness, explaining that the perpetrators also suffer and may never recover from the effects of what they did. He told KFSM-TV, “The church is, I think, a forgiving church, and we pray more for the perpetrator than what’s going on. We maintain our hope, and we just need to do the right thing. Hopefully, what happened to us will strengthen our faith and also will evangelize and convert whoever did this to the church and for all churches for that matter.”

Father Chan hopes that anti-Catholic violence will not escalate.

“Statues are sacramentals that lead us to Jesus, but they can be replaced, but lives cannot be replaced,” he said.
Source: https://arkansas-catholic.org/2024/07/26/vandals-strike-hartford-church-for-third-time-in-18-months/