Graffiti on the church walls, the Gospel Book destroyed, statues and pew candles smashed and the tabernacle and the reserve sacraments desecrated: Grace Episcopal in Kingston, Pennsylvania, built in 1930, was vandalized on Monday night. No arrests have been made, and the church did not have surveillance cameras or a security system.
[Police detective Thomas] Paratore confirmed graffiti was painted on walls inside the church but would not disclose the vulgarity.
“There is graffiti on the walls that tell me somebody is really disturbed. Maybe they’ve been hurt by the church in the past. It really is bad,” [Rector, the Reverend John Franklin] Hartman said.
Hartman said the church’s youth group has offered to clean the church of graffiti and debris. Several items were reported missing from the church.
According to WBRE/WYOU, two computers were damaged: “One of those computers is used to control the church bells, so the tower will not sound until they can get a new computer back up and running.”
The church’s history: Grace Episcopal began as a mission church, became an independent parish in 1921, and constructed its current building during the Great Depression.
Posted by Cara Ellen Modisett