Fr Stephen Smuts

A Catholic church in Union City was defaced on Ash Wednesday with  spray-painted pentagrams and messages about Satan, vandalism that is being  investigated as a hate crime, police said.

Vandals knocked down a wooden cross outside St. Anne’s Church at Cabello and  Dyer streets and used black spray paint to deface a statue and write on the  church’s exterior walls, police said Thursday.

“Satan,” “Carpe noctem” and a pentagram were drawn on the walls, and spray  paint covered the faces of a statue of Mary and Joseph, police said. Carpe  noctem is Latin for “seize the night.”

Investigators have classified the incident as a hate crime because of the  nature and timing of the vandalism. Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent, a  period of repentance and moderation for many Christians that precedes  Easter.

“My gut feeling is that it might be local kids,” said police Cmdr. Ben  Horner. “They were going for shock value, and they certainly achieved that.”

He added, “Even gang members leave churches alone.”

St. Anne’s pastor delivered a sermon Wednesday about the value of forgiving  those who harm.

“We need to remember to always counter violence and hatred with love and  compassion,” said the Rev. Geoffrey Baraan.

He said his parishioners had reacted with surprise, sadness and anger to the  vandalism, but not hatred.

A church member has already built an 8-foot wooden cross to replace the one  that was knocked down, Baraan said.

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