Dangerous vandals have been targeting a Framingham, Mass., Catholic church with two arson attempts and malicious damage to two statues.
The arson appears to be the more serious crime since the fires were while folks were inside the church for Mass.
The latest incident occurred Saturday at about 4 p.m. when the priests were preparing for the Saturday service on the eve of Palm Sunday.
During the Mass, black smoke came billowing from the sacristy. Most parishioners evacuated while others used fire extinguishers to put the fire out.
Church fires are “notoriously very dangerous,” Assistant Fire Chief John Magri said.
“Most church fires result in total losses,” he said. “There’s a lot of potential hazard because of the amount of wood.”
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Two separate fires had been set in the sacristy, Shastany said. They found charred coat hangers, a rope, a belt, pieces of paper, money and clothing. The fire left scorch marks on the floor and on a wooden bench.
Before that incident, someone had set a small fire on March 18. Another time someone ripped a corpus off a crucifix inside the church and broke the right arm off while a Mary statute outside had the fingers on the left hand broken.
The violence appears to be escalating. I hope they catch the vandals before someone gets hurt.
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