Statue of Jesus outside of Waltham church found broken, beheaded

WALTHAM, Mass. — William Childs said he was walking by St. Charles Chapel in Waltham this weekend when he found the Sacred Heart of Jesus statue laying on the ground in pieces.

“Sometimes I’ll go up to the statue, might say a little prayer or something,” said Childs. “Went to pick it up, it was awfully heavy, so I got it up and the head and the hand were detached.”

Childs put the statue back up and left the head and hand next to it.

That’s how Father Michael Nolan found it Sunday.

Nolan is the pastor of Saint Mary’s Parish which oversees St. Charles Chapel, and now he’s holding on to the broken pieces to see if the statue can be restored.

“It’s important to know whether it was intentional or not, it’s quite possible it was an accident,” said Nolan.

Nolan said he canvassed the area to figure out who may have vandalized this statue.

He learned from neighbors that a small group of people were hanging out on the lawn of St. Charles Saturday night.

Now, he wants to know if this vandalism was an attack on their faith, especially after he learned there’s been 67 confirmed attacks on Catholic churches across the country within the last year.

“If it was, we want to make sure it doesn’t happen again to our church or any other church or religious institutions, and we want to make sure the person gets help if they need it,” said Nolan.

Childs hopes whoever did this is held responsible since seeing this damage can be disturbing.

“I’m angry, upset because I grew up here, this is where I got my communion and everything when I was younger,” said Childs.

Waltham police said so far, they don’t have any leads on who may be responsible for this damage, but if you have any information that can help them, call police.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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