Providence church defiled by vandalism

By: Rebecca Turco

Email: rturco@abc6.com

PROVIDENCE – A 129 year-old church in Providence was defiled by an act of vandalism.

Someone destroyed a hand-crafted pulpit at Our Lady of the Rosary Church, debased a statue and took off with rosary beads. It all happened sometime before mass Saturday evening.

Rev. Joseph Escobar says the thief or thieves also stole a ring from one of the statues that he had placed there for his late mother. “We've never had an act of violence like that here in the parish, so seeing something that was done purposefully to be damaging and unnerving is difficult,” he explained.

Father Escobar plans on locking the church’s doors after mass, and he is considering installing security cameras. In the meantime, he says he is using the destruction as a teaching moment for parishioners to “see for themselves these acts of violence…no one is safe from it.”

Sarah Soares of Providence, who has been attending mass at the church for 60 years, is having trouble wrapping her head around it all. “I never, never thought in this whole world that would happen to our church,” she told ABC6 News.

Father Escobar is hoping insurance will cover the damage, even though it won’t replace the sentimental value. He says Bishop Tobin is set to visit the church Monday to offer his support.

© WLNE-TV 2015