Decapitated Statue at St. Margaret's Parish in Burlington, MA

Over the past week, several acts of vandalism have occurred in Catholic parishes in Massachusetts, prompting calls to the state’s Attorney General to investigate these actions as hate crimes.

Catholics in Massachusetts are demanding that law enforcement begin to investigate a rash of vandalism that has occurred at Catholic parishes during the Easter as potential hate crimes.

In addition to the Muslim graffiti that was spray painted on a statue of Our Lady at St. Catherine of Sienna parish in Norwood, police are also investigating an incident where vandals decapitated statues at St. Margaret’s parish in Burlington.

In this incident, two statues were found with their hands severed and multiple sets of rosary beads scattered across the ground. A third statue of Our Lady, which stood near the rectory, had its head severed and both hands removed.

Police believe this incident occurred on Monday, March 29, either late in the evening or early Tuesday morning.

Although Police Chief Michael Kent said they were not investigating the incident as a hate crime, he called it “a deeply disturbing crime committed against a religious institution in our community during a major holiday season,” and promised to use every asset at his disposal to find the culprits and bring them to justice.

A day later, vandals struck again, this time at St. Mary’s Parish in nearby Billerica where a statue of Mary had her head and hands cut off.

Vandalism at St. Mary's in Billerica, MA

All of these incidents come in the wake of an incident that occurred on December 8, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, when vandals tossed a brick through a century-old stained glass window depicting St. Thomas Aquinas at St. Edith Stein parish in Brockton.

Until now, police have not been investigating these incidents as hate crimes, but the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts is now demanding that they do so.

In a letter sent to Massachusetts’ Attorney General Maura Healey, the League is asking her to open a hate crime investigation.

"The number and increasing frequency of these attacks upon Catholic churches, their malicious timing, coinciding with Catholic holy days, and the heartbreaking effects being suffered by the Catholic faithful, should not be treated by law enforcement as a mere accumulation of isolated incidents," writes Catholic Action League Executive Director C. J. Doyle.

“As these criminal episodes have, in the past three months, occurred in Middlesex, Norfolk and Plymouth Counties, and in four different police jurisdictions, we urge the Attorney General’s Office to undertake an investigation of these acts of property destruction perpetrated against Catholic religious iconography, with a view to prosecute them as hate crimes."

In total, Doyle cites eight acts of “violent depredations” against Catholic churches in the state since 2012.

A spokesman for the Attorney General told Boston.com that their office takes these acts of vandalism “very seriously,” and that officials are reaching out to get more information.

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