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Posted on 01/05/2004 8:25:02 AM PST by presidio9
Vandals defaced pillars in the sanctuary behind the altar of St. Patrick's Cathedral with red paint or ink, disgusting parishioners at the landmark church yesterday. "They don't have respect for man or for God," Linda Reder, 47, said of the vandals after she lit a candle inside St. Patrick's.
Police were investigating the defacement as a possible bias crime yesterday as the church roped off the defiled pillars.
Cops described the markings as illegible scrawls that appeared to have been made with red paint or ink. The damage measures about 16 inches high and 2 inches wide, police said.
A priest discovered the markings before yesterday's first Mass, which was celebrated at 7 a.m., said Joseph Zwilling, spokesman for the Archdiocese of New York.
He said the red scrawls would not be cleaned up for at least a day because of the ongoing police investigation.
"We are going to let the police do their work and see if we can figure out what happened and determine if it was a simple act of vandalism or something more," Zwilling said.
He added, "Any kind of defacement of the cathedral is obviously upsetting."
St. Patrick's is open to the public from just before the day's first Mass until about 9p.m. each day. The sanctuary area behind the altar is usually accessible to visitors.
Security cameras monitor the inside of the Fifth Ave. cathedral, and footage would be examined to see if the culprits were caught on film, Zwilling said.
Victor Rojas, a 32-year-old construction worker from Brooklyn, was visibly upset when he heard about the vandalism.
"It's unacceptable," Rojas said after praying at the Virgin of Guadalupe statue inside the cathedral. "I'm a Catholic, 100%, and I think it was very wrong. There is no forgiveness for such an act."
"No one has the right to enter the house of God to do something like that," he said.
The incident marked the latest affront to the St. Patrick's faithful.
In August 2002, a couple had sex inside the cathedral in plain view of about 20 worshipers and tourists as part of a radio stunt sponsored by WNEW/102.7 FM.
The Federal Communications Commission levied a $357,000 fine for indecency. The radio show's hosts, Gregg Hughes and Anthony Cumia, were fired.
The woman, Loretta Harper, 36, of Virginia was sentenced to five days' community service. Her boyfriend Brian Florence, 38, died of a heart attack in September.
Nice. can't be hate, gotta be bias.
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ACT-UP, wanna bet?
I’d think that ACT-UP would have written something legible, rather than just scrawls.
This actually sounds like the work of my two-year-old daughter. I’ll check her hands for red ink marks when I get home.
ACT-UP, wanna bet?Anonymous vandalism is not really their MO. Their antics are far more open and notorious.
Hmmmmmmm......zot?
??
The reporter fails to mention the most vile and blasphemous of all the "affronts" to the faithful at St. Patrick's Cathedral--the ACT-UP protest at which several homosexuals defiled the Sacred Host.
ACT-UP is politically correct. So, naturally The Daily News, servant of hillary, is not about to speak critically about them.
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