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St Anna Church. Photo: City of Münster

Vandals pee in holy water of Catholic church

Published: 28 Jul 11 15:17 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/society/20110728-36605.html

Vandals broke into a Catholic church in North Rhine-Westphalia and peed into the bowl of holy water, the police announced on Thursday.

Officials at the St Anna Church in Ascheberg, south of Münster, were horrified to discover the destructive rampage, which saw statues and other religious artefacts damaged.

“This was serious vandalism,” said parish secretary Marlies Stratmann.

The vandals struck between 3:30pm and 5:40 pm on Tuesday. As well as urinating in the holy water, they also broke four statues of apostles in the knave of the church, as well as damaging a bishop’s staff, two swords, an incense burner and the church’s newly renovated pipe organ.

Several wreaths were stolen, one of which was found in a nearby school playground. Children returned it to the church, Stratmann said.

The cost of the damage totalled several thousand euros, church officials estimated.

A spokesman for the nearby Coesfeld police said that “children or youths” were viewed as likely suspects.

DPA/The Local/djw

What do you think? Leave your comment below.


Your comments about this article:

15:52 July 28, 2011 by jbaker
Keep your fingers out of the holy water bowl- You do no know where it has been!
16:20 July 28, 2011 by auniquecorn
guess I won´t be drinking out of that bowl anymore.
16:41 July 28, 2011 by lordkorner
Wait till the pope hears about this,boy will he be peeved :-)
17:34 July 28, 2011 by starsh3ro
not that peeing in the water makes any difference
18:16 July 28, 2011 by Zlik
I bet the only witness was thought to be (,,,,...) yup ems'lf. And Know,This is Our liquidic Dna, We Males exist. Lastly "writing fastly" On a less/more spiritual note, We was intoxicated too much and apologies for the accidental stumbling that resulted and the losses you incurred due to our actions.
18:40 July 28, 2011 by Kanji
Why on earth they do that?....
03:10 July 29, 2011 by Larry Thrash
If this isn't a "hate crime" there is no such thing.
10:30 July 29, 2011 by lumberjack
When the priest takes his magic wand and shakes holy water on you, he is actually giving you a Golden Shower.

signed: an ex-catholic
15:17 August 6, 2011 by Bruno53
Personally I am not a practicing Catholic and reject most of the Catholic Church's doctrines. But defacing a religious building of any denomination should be considered not only vandalism, but also hate crime. The culprits must be brought to justice.
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