Vandals Deface Seattle Church on Easter Morning With Bizarre & Anti-Catholic Messages

While children were just hours away from enjoying their Easter baskets filled with candy and delightful trinkets, vandals were preparing another "gift" for a Seattle church on Easter eve.

Over a dozen messages were found spray-painted on St. James Cathedral on Resurrection morning. Church officials believe that the attack on the church occurred sometime between Saturday evening and Sunday morning.

Red paint was sprayed on a statue of the Virgin Mary and bizarre and disturbing graffiti messages were painted on the front of the church and in the courtyard. One message read, "Child killer." Another said, "Death Angel, we won't be silent." And a third proclaimed, "The Catholic Church was not born in the U.S.A."

It took workers all day to sandblast and remove the damage. The parish will now be increasing security to prevent future attacks, as authorities attempt to figure out who was responsible.

Larry Brouse, an administrator at St. James, dismissed the graffiti, though, and said that it is "not important."

"What's happening inside is important -- that we're celebrating Easter," Brouse said.

This is at least the second time that unfavorable messages have been posted on the church. In March, other anti-Catholic notes were reportedly stenciled at the cathedral as well.