There have already been some cases of vandalism in the past. But what happened now in the place of worship in the past few days was even more brazen. This time there was even urination in the baptismal font. Christoph Eck, a member of the parish council, has strong words to say about this: “I see this as a racist attack on our religious community. Urinating in a baptismal font is a serious offence. A disrespect and disregard for our Christian Catholic faith. It is similar to desecrating graves or desecrating Jewish symbols in synagogue.”
But that was not all. The church was also set on fire. Eck speaks of an arson attack with the possible intention of completely burning down the place of worship: “This is not a trivial matter”. Rosario Moser, second chairperson of the parish council, is appalled by the incidents: ” One is speechless.” Sexton Joseph Lapeta speaks of a “huge mess”. He has discovered much of the devastation.
As a spokesperson of the Pforzheim Police Department confirmed on Monday in response to a query from our editorial office, the first incident happened on Saturday, May 29, between 12 and 7.30 pm. On that day, there had been a baptism with Father Paul Kalarickal, which sacristan Lapeta was preparing. “Everything was still in order here,” was the sacristan’s account. Lapeta closed the church at 7.30 pm on Saturday. But it must have happened by then. However, Lapeta had not noticed it yet. It was not a church service. So he just quickly checked the church to make sure no one was inside and locked both entrances.
The unpleasant surprise followed for Lapeta on Sunday morning when he arrived at the church at 9.30 a.m. to prepare for the service. He was confronted with a scene of devastation: the matchboxes on all three candlesticks were completely burnt. In the choir room, the paper towels were scattered all over the room and crumpled. They normally lie on the stone slab next to the entrance to the sacristy. A paper towel was placed on a burning candle, symbolising eternal light. The towel did not burn, however, which was presumably intended, Lapeta said. It merely smothered the flame.
But that was not all: the altar boys’ stools were misaligned. There were clear traces of shoe soles on the cushions, as Lapeta further reports. The altar cloth was dirty and crumpled. A stool stood directly in front of the altar as if it were a step. “Was there any walking on the altar?” wondered Lapeta. Moreover, one of the glass holy water bowls from the back entrance was on the altar. “Since it all seemed very strange to me, I cleaned all the bowls and the glasses containing matches in the dishwasher and renewed the altar cloth,” said Lapeta.
But the worst was yet to come: After the service, the sacristan wanted to refill the clean holy water bowls on the baptismal font. He discovered that the holy water in the baptismal font had been urinated on. Lapeta dismantled the font. It is currently lying in the grass behind the parish hall and has not yet been cleaned. “It needs to be done professionally,” Lapeta said. The plastic bowl in the baptismal font is lying there next to the basin. It should be disposed of, the sacristan suggests. “The holy water bowls were put straight back into the second rinse cycle because unfortunately they had already come into contact with what was supposed to be holy water,” Lapeta further informed.
But there was more to it than that: on Sunday, the second chairperson of the parish council, Rosario Moser, was in the house of worship at around 4.30 pm. She noticed a burning smell. “Paper towels had been set on fire at the ambo,” Moser reported.
The church is now closed until next Thursday, Moser said. Then the parish council will decide what to do next.