HARTFORD, ARKANSAS, Ark. — Over the last few weeks St. Leo's Church in Sebastian County has been vandalized three different times.
Parishioner Guy Dickinson said he found the first damage a few weeks ago.
"I came up on Saturday, a couple of weeks ago ... When I pulled in, I noticed a statue of Mary was laying on the ground and her head was broken off," Dickinson said. "Why does something like this happen? I don't know."
Outside of the statue being broken, there was also a racial slur written on the door of the church.
"It is disrespectful, but we really cannot judge on what's underneath that — whether it's based on what it's based upon," Father Joseph Chan said. "It's a racial comment. I think we all know that."
Chan said he doesn't know why someone is vandalizing the church.
"It's hard to say because then we'll be presuming, but we can only say that probably someone is disturbed, someone who has expressed disagreement or even hatred," he said.
More than anything, Chan said he feels for the suspect and hopes that this incident strengthens the church community.
"The church is, I think, a forgiving church, and we pray more for the perpetrator than what's going on," he said. "We maintain our hope, and we just need to do the right thing. Hopefully, what happened to us will strengthen our faith and also will evangelize and convert whoever did this to the church, and for all churches for that matter."
The church is still in the process of restoring the Mary statue and hope to have it back intact soon.
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