St. Gertrude’s Blessed Mother Statue Vandalized…Again

By Katie McFadden

St. Gertrude Church in Far Rockaway has once again been the target of alleged vandalism. And this time, with more serious damage.

On Wednesday, January 28, the church on Beach 38th Street’s outdoor Blessed Mother statue, was found face down in the snow, with the back of the head of the statue smashed. It was a horrific site, and one that was familiar, after the same statue was vandalized just three months before. During the previous incident, a black bag with a skull-like face had been placed over the statue’s head, an easier fix.

In this latest incident, Father Frank Shannon considered the cold, icy weather as a factor in the fallen statue, but upon closer inspection, he started to lean more toward another vandalism incident than a weather-related accident, and once again notified the NYPD. There was no video available of the incident.

After The Rockaway Times shared a photo of the broken statue on social media, in addition to sharing outrage, a few people offered to fix the statue free of charge, or to donate toward its repairs. We followed up with the Diocese of Brooklyn regarding the incident but did not receive a response by press time, so it is not clear if police were looking into the matter, and what will happen with the statue.

In Sunday’s church bulletin, Father Frank said, “The great snowstorm covered the Earth with God‘s beauty. But the ugly evil one is always looking to attack the love! Our statue of Blessed Mary, at Saint Gertrude‘s, was desecrated and toppled during the night. God have mercy on the sick person or persons that did this people used by the devil. We are hoping to restore the magnificent symbol of love. Until then, stay strong. True love will always be attacked, Jesus said so. May Mary protect us.”

The statue was previously vandalized on October 2, as well as statues and property at St. Mary Star of the Sea Church, twice in the same week. In addition to messing with St. Gertrude’s statue, the suspect had vandalized other statues and used spray paint to write hate-filled messages around the walls and sidewalks of St. Mary Star of the Sea. Police were called following those incidents.

Police started investigating the previous incident, in addition to the vandalism of two Protestant churches in the area, The Refuge Church of Christ and The City of Oasis Church of Deliverance, as a hate crime. There was no video footage of the incident that could identify a suspect. However, in November, the NYPD released video and photos from the surrounding area of a possible suspect from the timeframe of when the vandalism occurred. The suspect was wearing sunglasses, dark clothing, a blue baseball cap and a rainbow bandana covering his face, while carrying a rainbow flag and a walking a bike. No arrests have been made in these incidents, and it is not clear if those incidents are connected to the act of alleged vandalism last week.

Anyone with information for either incident is encouraged to contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips online at www.crimestoppers.nypdonline.org.