NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- A Brooklyn church's crucifix was toppled and its American flag was burned in an act of vandalism on Thursday, the house of worship said.
The vandalism happened at St. Athanasius Roman Catholic Church in Bensonhurst Thursday night, the church said on its Facebook page.
"We are deeply saddened to inform you that the Cross on our Church property was vandalized last night," the Facebook post read. "This exhibition of violence and religious hatred is very disturbing."
"This is definitely an offensive act not only to our Parish but to the Catholic Church!" the post added. "We ask our political leaders to act on the issue of religious hate crime ASAP! This is unacceptable!"
Rev. Edwin Ortiz, a priest at the church, told 1010 WINS a custodian discovered the damage Friday morning.
The charred flagpole.St. Athanasius Church
"Normally we have two Masses in the morning… and one of our custodians saw the cross, the cross that we have in the corner of the school, it was knocked down and broken," he said. "And that's really when we found out this morning. We found out through him and immediately we contacted the police in order to let them know."
Police said they received a report of a person jumping over a fence, causing the damage, before fleeing the scene.
No one had been arrested in connection with the incident as of Friday evening. An investigation is ongoing.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo released a statement Saturday responding to the vandalism: "I am disgusted to learn that St. Athanasius Church, a historically Italian American place of worship in Brooklyn, has been vandalized. These acts of hate should offend and outrage every New Yorker, and I want the Bensonhurst community to know we will do everything we can to bring the cowardly vandals responsible for this to justice. Hate has no place in our state, and as New Yorkers we celebrate our diversity."
