DALLAS (CBS11) – An Oak Cliff pastor is at a loss for words after someone vandalized his place of worship.
Pastor Rocky Vasquez at the Calvary Baptist Church of Oak Cliff said someone broke several sections of a priceless and historic strained glass window.
“It was like a stab in the heart,” said Vasquez.
Oak Cliff church vandalized (CBS11)
The more than 100-year-old window was punched out and left shattered from the outside and within the church walls.
Vasquez spotted a group of teenagers hanging out on the steps last week, saw the mess and chased them off.
“Not just a broken window, obviously it could be a sign of a broken community,” said Vasquez.
The next day, Vasquez came back to find more shattered windows and sexually explicit graffiti all over his windows and walls.
“That was sickening,” said Vasquez. “Sickening. And I won’t even mention what they wrote.”
He often finds blunt wrappers, rolling papers, dime bags and leftover drug paraphernalia on the ground.
“This is God we’re talking about,” said Vasquez. “This is God’s house. So whoever did this has to answer to him.”
Karen Simmons lives next door to the church in Oak Cliff.
“It’s the biggest sign of disrespect I can think of at this point,” said Simmons.
She feels the church can be a hidden spot with few eyes on it at night.
“So it becomes the neighborhood’s job to enforce the traffic that goes up and down this street,” said Simmons.
While Vasquez appreciate his watchful neighbors, he would like nothing more but to sit down and talk to whoever is responsible.
“We forgive them. Doors are open,” said Vasquez.
The Dallas Police Department is investigating.
Vasquez estimates it will cost the church thousands of dollars to get a different window that likely will not match the remaining fixtures.
