Vandalism in Velen church
Repeated acts of vandalism at St. Andrew's Church in Velen, in the Borken district. The church has been left in a state of disarray, with overturned candles and firecrackers set off next to the high altar. The most recent example: The icon of 'Our Lady of Perpetual Help' was sprayed with wax, and the damage is estimated to be in the mid-three-digit range.
'We have repeated problems with vandalism here,' says Michaela Twens, administrative officer of the St Peter and Paul parish, to which the church belongs. As the vandalism primarily occurs on long weekends or during school holidays, the parish assumes that the perpetrators could be teenagers.
The parish does not want to file a complaint. 'We don't want to make a big deal about this. We're a small village community here. We hope that parents might pay a little more attention to what their children are doing.'
Source and Picture: Kirche und Leben