Petals and paper are seen strewn about the sanctuary of St. Damien Chapel, the eucharistic chapel for St. Anthony Parish in Wailuku, Maui, the day after Easter, April 22. Two statues and other objects were damaged in the vandalism. (Photo courtesy of Father Roland Bunda, SM)
By Patrick Downes
Hawaii Catholic Herald
The good news was that the Blessed Sacrament was not desecrated, said Marianist Father Roland Bunda, pastor of St. Anthony Parish in Wailuku, Maui, of the perplexing vandalism that occurred in the parish’s eucharistic chapel Easter Sunday night.
The priest said he entered the St. Damien Chapel at 6:25 a.m. for Mass on April 22, Easter Monday, to find the place “trashed.”
The candles were “ransacked,” he said. Easter flowers were ripped up and their white and red petals scattered everywhere. Pages were torn out of hymnals and strewn about. The Holy water font was emptied. Two small statues were broken. Furniture was moved.
A reliquary containing third-class relics of St. Damien was defaced. The picture frame glass with a portrait of St. Marianne was shattered.
Odd images, names and words (“sewer”) were scrawled on the walls in what looked like red lipstick. Stuck on the outside wall was a face outlined in blue masking tape
But the tabernacle was not touched and “they didn’t take anything,” or burn anything, Father Bunda said with some relief.
By noon lay volunteers had cleaned up most of the mess and scrubbed the walls.
The pastor thinks the vandal or vandals might have been “sending a message.” He said a prayer book on the altar was opened to the page that contained a “prayer for addiction.”
Father Bunda wondered if the acts could be related to people “on drugs” who have recently been seen “sleeping on campus.”
The police are investigating.
The chapel door would routinely have been locked after the 5 p.m. Mass in the main church on Sunday. But that Sunday being Easter, there was no 5 p.m. Mass and the chapel was inadvertently left open.
According to Father Bunda, the chapel is used a lot during the day by the parish school’s students, staff and faculty and in the evenings by lay devotional groups for the rosary or other prayers. It is usually locked for the night around 6 or 7 p.m.
Four weeks ago, perhaps not coincidentally, the priest’s rectory had been broken into and burglarized, Father Bunda said. The intruders damaged two statues.
He is considering installing an alarm system in the chapel, he said. The school, rectory and cafeteria already have one.
The pastor said he “forgives” the people who vandalized the chapel, but wishes they would express their anger elsewhere.