Parishioners of a prominent Catholic church in North Hollywood were searching for answers Wednesday, July 25, after their beloved sanctuary was severely vandalized before dawn.
Authorities were asking for the public’s help in solving the crime after the Los Angeles Police Department’s North Hollywood Division found evidence of fire outside St. Charles Borromeo Church and “a large amount of property damage” inside, including broken artifacts, turned-over pews and broken stained glass windows, according to Sgt. Barry Montgomery of LAPD’s Media Relations Section.
Mass was canceled Wednesday as a result of the investigation but was set to resume Thursday at 7:30 a.m. and 12:05 p.m., according to a written statement from the Rev. José Magaña, the church’s new pastor.
“I’m just heartbroken, heartbroken for the community,” longtime parishioner Yeni Lozano, 42, whose 5-year-old son was baptized at the church in 2013, said.
She and her family heard about the vandalism on the radio Wednesday while on their way to a coffee shop and felt compelled to visit the church, she said.
“I’m puzzled by all this … it just feels like there is so much hate,” Lozano said.
While authorities said Wednesday that there was no early evidence of a hate crime, “it feels like when you do something like this … [it’s] because it’s a church.”
The towering church at Lankershim Boulevard and Moorpark Street is a local landmark. Roger Mahony, the former archbishop of Los Angeles, continues to live on the church’s grounds.
The construction of the Spanish Colonial-style church was completed in 1959. Entertainers Bob Hope and Bing Crosby were once active members of the parish, according to a spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Their children attended the parish school and they held benefit shows for it.
Willow Hale, who also serves as a eucharistic minister, wept outside the church as she heard the news.
“What has our world come to?” she cried. “It’s such a beautiful church…It’s the center of North Hollywood.”
Full story at Los Angeles Daily News.
Would a proper ‘burglar alarm’ have alerted the authorities to the vandal’s entry? Also, seems they were there for a while to unbolt or otherwise rip the pews from the floor to overturn them.
One would think everyone would respect places of worship. But a few do not. Aparently Churches need to take protective measures.
Parish leaders vandalized St. Charles with a recent “renovation”. The tabernacle that had once been the essential feature at the center of the church was taken off to a side altar area and is barely visible to worshipers. The beautiful communion rail was ripped out and the sanctuary has lost it’s graceful look. Such a shame that the renovation crew paved the way for rogue vandals to cause even greater and cruder damage to this church.
It is a metaphor for what the Socialist Left is doing to the Church and Faith.
Don’t worry about Mahony—he has a condo in Bakersfield.
The Los Angeles Times in an article earlier this week publicized St. Charles Borromeo Church as the parish where Cdl. Mahony resides:
https://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-catholic-church-immigration-20180722-htmlstory.html#
Is it possible that the publicized information by the L.A. Times could have incited some sort of “twisted” retribution against Mahony for his past past role clerical sex abuse of innocent victims?
McCarrick did more damage. Mahony did more damage. Law did more damage. Weakland did more damage. Ziemans did more damage. McElroy is doing more damage. Cupich is doing more damage. Tobin is doing more damage. McGrath is doing more damage. Wuerl is doing more damage. Dolan is doing more damage.
How many billions paid out? How many souls lost? How many people alienated? How many victims? How much has the Church suffered?
Imagine if we had a church whose shepherds watched our for their flock instead of covering up the crimes of their fellow shepherds?
So true; especially when our prelates expect the faithful to believe them when they say that matters have been addressed and corrected:
https://www.lifesitenews.com/opinion/u.s.-catholic-church-sex-abuses-whistleblower-paul-likoudis-vindicated
WE BELIEVE IN THE CHURCH; NOT THE JUDASES WHO HAVE BETRAYED THEIR RESPONSIBILITIES IN THE LINE OF APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION!
They are not “shepards”; they are the predatory wolves, who sold out the faithful. Judas got thirty pieces of silver for betraying Jesus. How much of their privileged positions were they preserving by keeping silent?
Is Mahony still in tesidence there or is he on-the-run and hiding out “under a rock?”