This week, a Catholic church at Marquette University (Church of the Gesu) was vandalized on March 18, 2026—statues destroyed, sacred space desecrated.
But this isn’t an isolated incident.
• St. Ann’s Church (Staten Island, NY) – Jan 11, 2026 (Altar stormed during Mass)
• St. Patrick’s Church (Staten Island, NY) – Dec 2025 (Mass disruption/desecration)
• Central Seventh-day Adventist Church (San Francisco, CA) – Feb 28, 2026 (Hate symbols were spray-painted on the church)
• Cities Church (St. Paul, MN) — Jan 18, 2026 (Service disrupted by protesters and threatening posture to congregation, including Don Lemon)
• Holy Innocents Catholic School (Long Beach, CA) – Feb 2, 2026 (Church ransacked, tabernacle desecrated)
• Which church is next?
And since 2020?
Over 400 attacks on Catholic churches across the United States.
Some incidents involve individuals in crisis. Others involve clear hatred. But taken together, the pattern is hard to ignore.
And beyond physical attacks, there’s a growing trend of disruption, hostility, and disrespect toward people of faith in public life and even during worship.
A culture that loses respect for the sacred begins to lose respect for life itself.
We don’t have to agree on everything — But we should all be able to agree on this: Houses of worship should never be targets.