Senator Golden Offers $1000 Reward to Help Find Person Responsible for Acts of Religious Intolerance in Brooklyn

Martin J. Golden

March 23, 2012

Brooklyn – State Senator Martin J. Golden (R-C-I, Brooklyn) today is offering a $1000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the persons involved in the desecration of religious statues at Brooklyn’s Visitation Academy.

Senator Golden stated, “Acts of religious desecration and intolerance have no place within our society, and no one, no matter what faith you follow, approves of such hate. Today, I join with the community in our continued efforts to see justice served in this case and that is why I am posting a $1000 reward for any information that could lead to an arrest.”

Golden continued, “For more than 150 years, Visitation has provided outstanding Catholic education and has housed Sisters in the Monastery who have made our community a better place through their charitable work. This act of religious vandalism is an insult to the tradition of excellence that Visitation holds true, and is a direct attack on the values and teachings of the Catholic Church.”

“I am confident that the 68th Precinct will continue to thoroughly investigate this incident. I remind the faculty, the students and the Sisters of the Visitation to keep their mission alive so that those who have tried to defeat their community will not be successful.”

Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the 68th Precinct at (718) 439-4211 or Senator Golden’s office at (718) 238-6044.

The vandalism, which happened overnight Wednesday, desecrated several statues on the a statue of a lamb was decapitated. Since 1855, the grounds of Visitation house Visitation Academy, a Catholic Girls elementary school, and a Monastery of that houses the Sisters of the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary.