Sweet Jesus! Holy statue busted by drunken man in Williamsburg

Third Time Not a Charm for Saints Peter and Paul Rectory

September 14, 2016 By Mary Frost Brooklyn Daily Eagle

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An apparently inebriated man broke a statue of Jesus outside of a Williamsburg church early Sunday morning and police would like to have a word with him and his two equally spiffed pals.

The “Sacred Heart of Jesus” statue was damaged outside of Saints Peter and Paul Rectory in Williamsburg. Video sent to the Brooklyn Eagle from the Diocese of Brooklyn shows the three goofballs approaching the statue after 4:30 a.m. on Sunday. A man appears to high-five the statue’s hand, leans over a fence and pulls the statue forward, clumsily kissing its forehead. After the statue tilts on its pedestal, he and his buddies, a man and a woman, run off.

It was the third time since 2012 that a “Sacred Heart of Jesus” statue at the rectory has been stolen or damaged, according to the Diocese of Brooklyn.

After a similar statue was stolen in 2012, a couple from New Jersey donated a nearly 100-year-old family heirloom to replace it. That statue was stolen in May of 2016. It was recovered after a man spotted it in a trash can outside his Brooklyn apartment and gave it to his mother. After seeing media reports, the family realized where the statue belonged and returned it to the rectory, where it is being kept indoors.

Another statue, donated by a local business, was placed outside the rectory following the May incident. That’s the one that was damaged over the weekend, the Diocese said.

Anyone with information in regards to this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.