Another downtown church is facing troubles after discovering broken glass and large rocks littered in its halls.
Jim Melville, with St. Paul’s Anglican Cathedral, said seven of the church’s windows were broken or damaged on Tuesday night.
Three windows in the parish hall are boarded up, and a window in the administrative hall is partially broken. Those windows will cost as much as $3,000 to replace.
Melville said the most upsetting damage was done to three stained-glass windows.
“It’s a place of sanctuary. It’s a place we’re comfortable in. It’s heartbreaking, because they probably can’t be replaced, certainly, to what they were,” said Melville.
The priceless windows are well over 100 years old, said Melville.
“We don’t even know where to get them fixed, but I suspect we’re going to have to take them, box them up and ship them somewhere, and hopefully they can repair them to look something like they did,” he said.
He said he’s unsure what the cost of replacing the stained glass will be.
This isn’t the first broken window to happen at the church. About a month ago, another rock was thrown into a window, and vandals entered the building and made a mess, though Melville nothing was stolen.
Another downtown church put up fences after dealing with fires on its property.
Although St. Paul’s has faced issues with vandalism recently, Melville said the church not be adding extra security measures like fencing.
“We try to help in the community when we can. We don’t want to put up a fence and block people out,” he said.
He said being a downtown church comes with challenges, but there are vulnerable people in the area the church wants to be able to help.