SAD SIGHT — Father Mike Cronin of All Saints Catholic Church surveys some of the damage done to his church by vandals Friday morning. (Star Eagle photo by Jim Lutgens)
By JIM LUTGENS
Publisher
Father Mike Cronin was in an especially somber mood last Friday morning.
The same question kept running through his head. Why?
Why would someone walk into an unlocked All Saints Catholic Church and proceed to vandalize it? Why?
Cronin surveyed the damage and cleanup efforts as he pondered the question.
Sometime after Cronin opened the church and left for New Richland Care Center worship Friday morning, someone did the damage, spilling paint, writing graffiti and breaking glass in the basement while spraying a fire extinguisher and spilling wine upstairs.
“It’s very disappointing to me,” said Cronin. “It’s just not very respectful.”
The vandals also attempted to remove a microphone from the altar and tried to break into a lock box in a back room.
New Richland Police Chief Tony Martens didn’t have much to say about the incident, though he definitely didn’t seem pleased.
“There was vandalism at the church and there’s an ongoing investigation,” he said. “We’ll work it as we would any other case.”
A parishioner entering the church was the first to notice and, according to Cronin, actually saw someone exiting but got no description of the person.
The graffiti, which included the initials “FTP” and “HB,” with hearts underneath, had a distinctive feminine flavor. It looked like the word “Love” was scrawled on a table.
Fortunately, Cronin said, services and activities won’t be interrupted at the church. ServiceMaster was there Friday working feverishly on the cleanup.
“It’s disappointing more than anything,” said Cronin. “People take such great pride in their church.”
Cronin said it’s common practice to leave the church unlocked during the day and that policy is unlikely to change anytime soon.
“We’ll keep doing what we do,” he said.
Cronin is confident the culprits will be caught, and soon.
And, through it all, Cronin was able see a silver lining.
“Thank God they didn’t touch our stained glass windows,” he said. “We just put $100,000 into them.”
CRYPTIC CLUES — Vandals left behind clues at All Saints Catholic Church, including this grafiti written in the kitchen. (Star Eagle photos by Jim Lutgens)