News : Vandalism hits area Churches

Vandals defaced this sign located on St. Mary's Catholic Church property last week

At the end of May, a couple of area churches were hit with minor vandalism on a Saturday night. Just in time for parishioners to arrive and see it on Sunday morning. As one of the pastors said, "I can't argue with any of it. Love IS love. Women's rights are human rights. But I can't figure out where the 'Climate change is real' comes in, we've never said anything about that..."

Now you might say, writing on the sidewalk and driveway with chalk isn't "really" vandalism. Let's look at the definition of vandalism: "willful or malicious destruction or defacement of public or private property." In response, the two churches cleaned off the sidewalks and went on about their business serving the community.

Cards were also placed in the little Prayer Boxes around town that contain books, and snacks to just help anyone that needs a little encouragement and a little help. But someone felt the need to print up messages that read, "Black Lives Matter, Women's rights are human rights, No human is illegal, Climate change is real, News isn't fake, You can't grab anyone there, Love is love" and ironically, "Be kind to one another." Again, the owner of the boxes shrugged it off.

Last week, vandals stepped it up and spray-painted a sign on St. Mary's Catholic Church lawn. The sign simply reads, "Choose Life," with the picture of a grandma holding a baby. Vandals painted, "Pro Choice, My Body My Choice" across the sign.

Colman Silbernagel was out on Saturday morning attempting to clean the sign. He said, "Anyone wanting to discuss the topic is welcome to contact me and talk." You can click his name above and send him a message and visit with him if you'd like.

The thing that is ironic is that all of this is done by people unwilling to put their names on it. People who are fine with vandalizing the property of someone else. People who can't come up with any good ideas of their own that actually help anyone.

Churches, on the other hand, do nothing but good in the community. There is a food pantry in a couple of the churches, they don't care who you are, come on in and get some food if you need it.

The Baptist church holds a Free Thanksgiving Dinner and the Presbyterians take care of the Christmas dinner. These Churches don't ask anything about you either, they just want to make the holidays better for everyone, come on over and grab a meal.

There will be VBS programs held by three area churches combining their resources. There are various community service projects that members are involved in, some church members help with the Red Cross, Operation Santa, and Operation Christmas Child. Some find residents and properties in the area that need a hand and meet the need.

There are events for kids. Some serve meals after school to area children, and WIC meets at one of the churches to help moms with young children. There are camps that the churches take kids to in the summer, and a whole host of other activities that I'm sure I don't even know about are provided by our churches. And you know what? They really don't care who you are, you're welcome to come on in, have a seat and be part of the family.

If you have any information about who vandalized the church's sign, (it appears to have been around 1:45 on Wednesday, June 29) or if you have video footage of that area around that time of a vehicle approaching that area, I don't know, maybe the police would like a look-see.