Police are investigating whether a Catholic church that was
spray-painted with graffiti is related to graffiti cases at two other
Arlington churches over the last month.The graffiti at the the Most Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church at 2100 North Davis Dr. was discovered early Sunday by church officials as the congregation arrived for the 8 a.m. mass.
Graffiti was spray-painted on the brick columns at the entrance to the church and on a sign along North Davis.
The graffiti was written in Spanish and included words such as muerte, the Spanish word for death, and also contained references to the crucifixion. Most of what was spray-painted made little sense, said Sgt. Jeff Houston, an Arlington police spokesman.
Investigators have determined that two other Arlington churches were also vandalized with graffiti in recent weeks. The New Life Fellowship Church at 2001 Brown Blvd. was spray-painted with graffiti on Oct. 9 and St. Joseph Catholic Church was hit on Sept. 30.
“My understanding is the message content was similar but it’s still early in the investigation,” Houston said. “... The only difference is it was a much smaller area that was spray-painted in the first two incidents.”
The graffiti spray-painted at St. Joseph was so inconspicuous that it wasn’t initially reported to police, said Pat Svacina, a spokesman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth.
Police were contacted after Most Blessed Sacrament was struck.
The vandalism at Most Blessed Sacrament occurred sometime after a wedding Saturday night and before the first mass at 8 a.m. Sunday, Houston said. It is the first time the church has been vandalized.
“The church has never had any problems and is ingrained in that north Arlington community,” Svacina said. “Several folks have said they can’t understand why they would do that. The church is open and welcomes everyone.”
While the police department’s gang and robbery unit handle all graffiti investigations, police do not have any reason to believe the graffiti incidents are gang-related, Houston said.
“We canvassed the neighborhood and didn’t get any potential leads,” Houston said
The graffiti will be cleaned up by the city’s graffiti abatement program.
Graffiti becomes an automatic state jail felony if it involves a school, church, cemetery, public monument, or community center.