Senseless acts of desecration

MORRISTOWN  Saddened by an act of desecration to their church, Carlos Valladares and wife, Rosie, kept watch over St. Margaret of Scotland Church here, in the early morning hours of Nov. 23, after it was left shattered by acts of vandalism by a middle-aged resident of Morristown.

Morristown police quickly apprehended the suspect near the scene of the crime and charged him with destroying the glass on six of the church’s main doors and damaging a large stained-glass mural above them, leaving the building vulnerable until the doors were boarded up in the early dawn.

Police Officer Michael Cerick arrested Pedro Bautisa-Vasquez, 47, of Morristown, at the scene of the incident, which occurred close to midnight on Nov. 22. The suspect was charged with using a rock to smash the main door windows and damaging a stained-glass mural above them that depicts the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, including the Lamb of God, the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Apostles. St. Margaret’s narthex was also broken into with damage to a clear-glass partition that leads into the church’s worship space, said Father Hernan Arias, pastor of St. Margaret’s, which is home to a large Hispanic faith community.

Framed photos of Pope Francis and Bishop Sweeney, displayed in the narthex, were torn down, carried outside and destroyed, said the pastor, who noted that no one was in or around the church at the time of the incident. He also credited the Valla­dares for keeping watch over the church from 1 a.m. to dawn until Carlos and members of his family could clean up and bring building supplies to board up the doors to secure the building.

“This is a very sad moment for the parish and the people. I had tears in my eyes,” said Father Arias. “But I’m glad that no one got hurt. This incident has brought the parish together. We will keep our heads up, knowing what we believe and preach, and will continue to go out into the world to be the ‘salt of the earth.’ The people are the Church and no one can destroy the Church,” said Father Arias, who received a call in his room from police at 12:06 a.m. “Thankfully, the Valladares volunteered to look after St. Margaret’s Church. They are good examples of people who serve our parish,” he said.

Police charged Bautista-Vasquez with burglary and criminal mischief and transported him to Morristown Medical Center for evaluation. “No motive or additional information is available at the time, however, the investigation suggests that Mr. Bautista-Vasquez was the sole party involved in this incident,” said Capt. Darnell Richardson, Morristown’s acting police chief.

Father Arias also told The Beacon, “There also is forgiveness for the person who did this damage and hope that he will get help and treatment.”

Shortly after midnight, a citizen flagged down Officer Michael Cerick who was on patrol to report seeing a person possibly trying to break into St. Margaret’s at 6 Sussex Ave. The officer quickly responded to the location, saw a person throwing a rock through one of St. Margaret’s large windows and apprehended him. Father Arias had called Carlos Valladares who promised to stay at the church until dawn with his wife until it was secured. They both stayed in their car with the headlights shining on the entrance of the church, he said.

“I received a call from Father Hernan and listened to him. I felt very sad and very worried about what happened,” said Valladares, who waited at St. Margaret’s until dawn, when relatives showed up to clean up debris. They also went to a building construction company when it opened to buy plywood, screws and other materials to board up the windows. “I was sad to see the glass doors of the church broken and the photos ripped up and thrown out,” he said.

St. Margaret’s was cleaned up before Father Arias celebrated 8 a.m. Mass Nov. 23, followed by a funeral at 9 a.m. After that, workers put up the plywood, said Carlos Valladares, a parishioner for 13 years. He belongs to the parish’s Virgin Mother of Queens group and to a group that assists English and Spanish Masses.

“This church is my house. It’s the place where I can tell God what happened in my life. I want it to be nice,” said Carlos Valla­dares, a general contractor and a native of Ecuador.

Two days later, St. Margaret’s posted on Facebook photos of damage and this message: “We celebrated the feast of Christ the King [on Nov. 22] with great joy and solemnity and at night they destroyed our front doors along with the beautiful stained glass window of our church. The Kingdom of God is one of peace, justice and love, why then this abomination against the church?”

Immediately, the parish received an outpouring of shock and support in posts in English and Spanish from its Facebook community. One Facebook friend wrote, “I am very sorry for what has happened” but posted a reminder that we “must thank God when only material things destroy our lives, our hearts remain intact.”