A statue of Christ at St. Charles Borromeo parish in Waltham, Mass., that was vandalized May 2-3, 2021.

Boston, Mass., May 7, 2021 / 15:00 pm (CNA).

During the night of May 2-3 a statue of Christ at a Massachusetts parish was decapitated.

The destruction at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in Waltham, about 10 miles west of Boston, was discovered the morning of May 3.

Fr. Michael Nolan, the parish’s pastor, told CNA: “It’s possible that it’s an attack on the faith, a more direct attack on the faith, and a more serious act of sacrilege as opposed to … vandalism.” 

Mary Darcy, 75, a parishioner of St. Charles Borromeo, told CNA: “It’s very upsetting to think that somebody would desecrate a statue.”

Fr. Nolan told CNA that this is the second attack on a Catholic facility in Waltham this year. An abandoned Catholic chapel was set on fire on Good Friday, in what has been ruled an arson.

The incident follows a series acts of vandalism against churches.

In April, the face on a statue of Christ was spray painted black at Saint Mary’s Cathedral in the Fargo diocese. On March 13, the sidewalk outside Saint Joseph’s Parish on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. was vandalized with what appeared to be satanic graffiti.

In early February three statues of angels at St. Pius X Church in El Paso were toppled over and broken.

In early January, a statue of St. Therese of Lisieux was defaced with an upside-down cross, the word “satan,” and a pentagram, at St. Theresa of the Child Jesus parish in Abbeville, Louisiana.

Catholic Churches and statues throughout the United States were targeted for arson or vandalism throughout 2020 as well. Sometimes, churches were damaged amid mass riots and protests, such as in Kenosha, Wisconsin, while other churches appeared to be the targets of random acts of vandalism.