{"id":81924,"date":"2025-12-26T23:53:04","date_gmt":"2025-12-26T23:53:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/81924\/"},"modified":"2025-12-26T23:53:04","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T23:53:04","slug":"after-staten-island-church-defaced-with-feces-during-christmas-mass-priest-searches-for-answers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/81924\/","title":{"rendered":"After Staten Island church defaced with feces during Christmas Mass, priest searches for answers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"T55WQ7CI2JF5TKLV5KIPK6PGBA\">STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 Worshippers at St. Sylvester\u2019s R.C. church in Concord were shocked to learn the front of their church was defaced with feces Thursday while they were inside celebrating Christmas Mass.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"4ID5AXAWPRFP7L7HPHRUHZLSEI\">The church\u2019s pastor, Fr. Jacob Thumma, said the human feces were discovered on the main doors, steps and railing of the church during the 10 a.m. mass. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"2MVMKWPKINHP3MWQXZ45BRZH6Y\">\u201cWhile the mass was going on around 10:30, I was walking to the church to thank people, and I found human (feces) on the door. Smeared on the outside of the door,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"KAGMQIR3VBF4JCMVK6DRBRZ5NM\">He directed the congregation to exit through a side door. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"CT5DX3SHRND7HORLBBNAVNSPBE\">Speaking to the Advance\/SILive.com on Friday he said, \u201cYesterday, there were a lot of people at the Mass, and I didn\u2019t want anyone to see that. So I sent them through the side door. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"VXQCZA7YQRDMZBQ2YOIK4NXUVI\">\u201cI feel sorry for the guy who did this; and why he did it, we don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"low\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Church incident\" class=\"article__image-content\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/LV3EQF27WBCMHJMGIYM2FOH6NU.png\"  \/>St. Sylvester&#8217;s camera picked up the incident.Church Images<img fetchpriority=\"low\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Church incident\" class=\"article__image-content\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/HLEUW53TINBG7H35KMPC2S7KRQ.png\"  \/>St. Sylvester&#8217;s camera picked up the incident.Church Images<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"I37JVJ3FVRAJLFPL3VIC2F63BA\">The church\u2019s camera footage captured a man committing the act at 10:26 a.m. Fr. Thumma said that while the act was disturbing and he reported it to police, he feels sympathy for the man.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"L2M4SAI2TBFJZM4EJ37B6XUKNU\">\u201cHe looks like he may be a homeless or disturbed person. I feel sorry for him and wonder why he did that on the joyful day of Christmas.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"S2GRWBR5FZDQBBHRITORTFNEAU\">The Advance\/SILive.com viewed a video that shows a man approach the front of the church carrying a cup. After he passes, the brown substance has been splattered across the doors. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"3HOPT43KSNDM3LMBIVA4ZRQNDE\">Police would only confirm a report connected to the incident had been filed. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"XVOCAFR3UJESFKUHLI67QNBYSE\">\u201cIt\u2019s a little disturbing,\u201d Fr. Thumma said. \u201cPeople are hurting emotionally somewhere, with some problems. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"TTYB2B7RBJBQLBLQE5WXVY5P44\">\u201cIs he trying to tell us some kind of message? That\u2019s what I felt.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 Worshippers at St. Sylvester\u2019s R.C. church in Concord were shocked to learn the front&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81925,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-81924","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\/81924","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=81924"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81924\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}