The oldest church in Anchorage was attacked by a vandal on Aug. 13, shattering parts of a historic stained glass window and smashing two others at the church’s nearby St. Paul’s Bookstore.

“It is with much sorrow that I inform you that the Church and Ministry Center were vandalized early this morning,” Father James Moore said in an email to Holy Family Old Cathedral parishioners. “A single individual broke a stained glass window, the 5^th Ave. side sacristy window, and two windows at St. Paul’s.”

He noted that this is the third time in less than a year that the bookstore has been the target of vandalism.

The damaged window depicts the Visitation, wherein the pregnant Virgin Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth, who was pregnant with John the Baptist. It is one of six 135-year-old stained glass windows that were installed in 2016 as part of an extensive parish remodel of the historic downtown church.

Originally crafted in Bavaria, the windows were later purchased around 1891 and installed at Our Lady of the Rosary Church in Philadelphia. When the Philadelphia church shuttered, the windows were rescued by Holy Family and underwent intensive restoration by the studios of Beyer Stained Glass, also in Philadelphia.

Parish surveillance video captured images of the suspected vandal. Fr. Moore said Anchorage Police have a picture of the man and are searching for him. He added that the attack will not impact ongoing activities at the church.

 “Any attack on a Church is disturbing,” he concluded. “Please pray for this disturbed person, that he will show remorse for his actions and turn to God.”

Holy Family parishioners regularly deal with disturbances during Mass, as homeless individuals have shouted amid liturgies, rushed the altar and even attacked priests on church property.

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