Magna parish is vandalized for fourth time in two years

Intermountain Catholic

+ Enlarge

A worker from Utah Disaster Kleenup works to clean up the damage done to Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Magna. IC photo/Jenn Sparks

MAGNA — Vandals kicked in the basement door of the rectory to break into Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Magna for the second time this year, smashing statues and glass doors and spraying a fire extinguisher throughout the chapel sometime during the night of Aug. 24 or early morning Aug. 25.

This is the fourth vandalism in two years at the parish. During the most recent occurrence, the intruders left behind blood stains, fingerprints and a cell phone, according to reports.

When Father Christopher Gray arrived at 8:25 a.m. to prepare for the Sunday liturgy, he saw people standing outside the church, some weeping. With police cars all around, "things were not looking good," he said.

The pastor, Father Javier Virgen, was on vacation.

Inside the church, Fr. Gray found smashed benches and beer in the holy water font, but he was relieved that the Tabernacle, which contained the consecrated Eucharist, was locked.

The 9 a.m. Mass was canceled to allow police to finish their investigation.

Although the parishioners were "somewhat rattled," said Fr. Gray, "they wanted to start cleaning what they could without interfering with the crime scene."

They wiped off pews, swept up glass and cleaned the floors enough to celebrate the 11 a.m. Mass, after which they prayed the rosary in reparation for the destruction.

"This made us all sick and upset," said Joanie Dobesh, a parish council member. "I could not believe the damage. They seem to know and strike when the priest is out of town. Last spring when Fr. Javier was away they broke in through the boys’ bathroom window and sprayed the church with a fire extinguisher. When Father John Norman was pastor and out of town, vandals broke in and stole the luna out of the tabernacle. Both times they urinated in the chalices; this time they urinated on the walls."

When Deacon Rick Huffman arrived at 8 a.m., he found garbage all over the yard, the door unlocked, the kitchen in ruin and smashed lights and computers, he said. "They also stole a television from the rectory and all the sacramental wine. They are trying to destroy our faith, which is very important to us, but we are not going to let that happen. We’ll pray for them and hopefully they will see the light and change their ways. We are going to do the best we can and move on. This old rock church was built in 1928, and the church was enlarged in the 1940s. There are generations of families here. We are a community and a family here."

Melanie Dern, Our Lady of Lourdes finance director, learned the news when she received a call from a fellow parishioner.

"This is the worst it’s ever been," she said as she choked back tears. "We had to call in a professional disaster cleaning company to clean up the mess. We are grateful that the statue of the Blessed Mother seated on the back of altar was not damaged, even though the rest were. They also destroyed some of Fr. Javier’s most cherished items and photographs."

Each time the church has been vandalized, the parish has taken action to prevent future occurrences.

"We have replaced windows and put bars on them, replaced doors, installed motion lights, and we have talked about an alarm system," said Dern. "This time it has probably reached that point."

After hearing of the vandalism, Catherine Holt, a china restoration expert and member of Saint John the Baptist Parish, volunteered to restore the statues if it is possible. At press time, Holt had not seen the statues.

In a separate incident, Colosimo’s Original Standard Market in Magna was broken into a week before the most recent incident at the church.

The community has already begun to help the parish. At the Aug. 30 Judge Memorial Catholic High School football game, a collection was taken up for this cause.