KINGSTON -- Police say someone broke into Grace Episcopal Church in Kingston and then stole and damaged thousands of dollars in items, mostly sacred to the church.
Father John Hartman is the church's pastor and says he's never seen so many sacred items destroyed.
The vandals ransacked the church, stole several items, including a computer and the metal cover of the church's gospel book.
They also graffitied the inside with phrases like "666" -- a number Christians believe is associated with the Antichrist.
Church leaders are so shocked, they wouldn't let our cameras into the building.
“It really hit me hard, harder than I thought it was going to,” Hartman said.
But what ticks Fr. John off the most, he said, is that the thief or thieves also stole the church's ciborium. That's a sacred metal box worth about $1,000 that churchgoers believe holds the literal body of Christ. Fr. John says its contents were dumped on the floor.
“They literally profaned the body of Christ by taking the reserved sacrament and throwing it on the floor," Fr. John said.
Some parishioners came by the church to help Fr. John clean the building. They want whoever did damage their church to be caught.
“It's unfortunate that the level of morality has sunk to the level that a person would steal from a church,” said Colin Keefer.
“When you do something wrong under God's eyes, there are always repercussions,” said Fr. John. “And while we forgive, we won't forget.”
So far no charges have been filed in this case. Kingston police are urging anyone with information on this church vandalism to come forward.
