![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768671089_326_shutterstock_2336756679-2_tjfvbk.jpg\")
Staten Island, New York | Credit: John McAdorey\/Shutterstock<\/p>\nSeveral Catholic churches on Staten Island have been vandalized or attacked in recent weeks.<\/p>\n
Staten Island, New York | Credit: John McAdorey\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n
Jan 16, 2026 \/ 17:40 pm (CNA).<\/p>\n
The New York Police Department (NYPD) says it will increase officer presence at local churches after several crimes committed at Catholic parishes on Staten Island.<\/p>\n
Several Catholic churches on Staten Island have been vandalized or attacked in recent weeks<\/a>, including a robbery and a violent incident during a morning Mass in which two police officers were injured.<\/p>\n State Sen. Jessica Scarcella-Spanton called for increased police presence at churches in the area after the incidents. At a Jan. 15 press conference, local leaders including NYPD Staten Island Borough Commander Melissa Eger said police presence would be heightened at churches across the borough.<\/p>\n Eger said at the press conference that none of the incidents indicated that the Catholic churches had been targeted due to religion, describing the crimes as \u201cacts \u2026 of opportunism and theft\u201d as well as one incident involving a mentally ill person.<\/p>\n \u201cThat said, any incident, especially a disruption of service that occurs at any house of worship, generates serious concern from our community and we know that,\u201d the commander said.<\/p>\n Scarcella-Spanton said at the press event that \u201cnobody should feel unsafe where they are praying.\u201d<\/p>\n Addressing the Catholic community, she said: \u201cI just want you to know that we stand with you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re going to be making sure that this issue is highlighted, because I think it\u2019s important to bring light to the fact that this has happened now four times,\u201d the state senator said.<\/p>\n Also at the press conference was Father Jacob Thumma, the pastor of both St. Ann\u2019s Church and St. Sylvester\u2019s Church, both of which were the site of recent criminal incidents.<\/p>\n Referring to the incident at St. Ann\u2019s on Jan. 9 where a man violently disrupted morning Mass and injured two responding officers, Thumma said the altercation \u201chighlights an urgent societal concern \u2014 the need for enhanced services and compassionate care for those suffering from mental illness.\u201c<\/p>\n \u201cWe must continue to invest in mental health resources that support families [and] provide timely interventions before crises occur,\u201d the priest said.<\/p>\n He further called on the public \u201cto join us in prayer for the individual involved in this incident, that he may receive the healing he needs, [as well as for] for the injured police officers and their families.\u201d<\/p>\n If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating<\/a> to support our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free, without a subscription. Thank you for your generosity!<\/p>\n Click here<\/a> for more information on donating to CWR. Click here<\/a> to sign up for our newsletter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Several Catholic churches on Staten Island have been vandalized or attacked in recent weeks. Staten Island, New York…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":103388,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-103387","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-staten-island","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-staten-island","12":"tag-staten-island-headlines","13":"tag-staten-island-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103387\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}