Vandals
deface Levittown churches
Police work, prayerful support bring closure to
impacted parishes
By Lou Baldwin
Special to the CS&T
Recent incidents at Catholic churches in the Levittown area have their
communities on edge.
Over a period of weeks, both St. Michael the Archangel Church and Our
Lady of Perpetual Help Byzantine Catholic Church in Levittown have experienced
vandalism.
At. St. Michael, it began in mid-January when Father Michael C. DiIorio,
the pastor, was approached after Mass by two women who described themselves
in demonic terms.
On Feb. 9, obscenities were carved deeply into the church door. Two
days later, the church interior was desecrated and messages offensive
to the Blessed Virgin Mary were written into the prayer petition book.
Threatening notes were received at the parish. One was directed to the
pastor, and the other to the parishioners. Because of the threats, the
parish buildings, including the school, were evacuated. All non-religious
parish activities were canceled for the rest of the week, until more
stringent security measures could be put in place, Father DiIorio said.
A 40-year-old area woman was arrested Feb. 21 in connection with the
vandalism. Father DiIorio believes the woman who has been arrested may
be one of the two who approached him in January.
“We are encouraged by the arrest of what seems to be one member
of the group — but two or three more may still be out there,”
Father DiIorio said. “We are grateful for the extraordinary goodness
and hard work of the Tullytown Police force under Chief Patrick Priori
on this.”
Parish secretary Ann Szokoli said, “I can’t tell you what
it’s like knowing someone was inside the church doing that. It’s
like ripping your heart out.
“I’m glad they caught her,” Szokoli added.
“People were upset and would have liked to have been kept abreast
of what was going on, but the church members were happy with the way
Father DiIorio handled it,” commented parishioner James Phillips.
“It was handled quickly and appropriately.”
The vandalism at Our Lady of Perpetual Help included physical damage
to an outdoor shrine dedicated to Our Lady of Fatima, obscene and sacrilegious
writings and graffiti “tags,” usually associated with teen
vandals, spray-painted over a large section of a wall.
“It was very upsetting and hateful,” said parish CCD coordinator
Kay McFarland, who discovered the vandalism on the morning of Feb. 10.
The community came together the following week and a support rally was
held at the church by concerned members of various religious denominations.
On Feb. 26 Middletown Police Detective Brian McDonough said four local
public high school teens, who live near the church, were arrested in
connection with the vandalism. Two, who are 18, are expected to be charged
as adults; the other two as juveniles.
The group of youths are believed to have vandalized several area businesses
the same night as the church was hit.
A Feb. 9 incident at Levittown’s St. Joseph the Worker Parish,
which was reported in area newspapers, was probably overstated, according
to Father Donald G. Birch, the pastor.
“Nothing really happened,” he said. “Two of our parishioners
met a man in the parking lot who appeared to have satanic symbols on
his clothing. He told them he had to get into the church and they told
him it was locked. He didn’t try to get into the building.”
Lou Baldwin is a member of St. Leo Parish and a freelance writer.