Vandalized statue on Columbia Rd.A statue of Jesus outside of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta parish on Columbia Road was destroyed by a vandal on Sunday morning. Rev. Jack Ahern, pastor of the church, said the vandal struck at 3 a.m. Sunday, leaving the statue without a head.

Boston Police are investigating the incident, but say they need help from a mystery witness, who called police to the scene on Sunday and then left before police could speak to them further. Police say they have a potential suspect in the crime, but without the witness' help, they may not be able to make an arrest.

Ahern said the statue had been toppled from its pedestal. The statue had once sat outside St. William Church on Dorchester Ave., but was re-located in 2009 after that church was closed.

It was not the only instance of a vandal targeting a religious statue in the neighborhood this past week.

Lilly Dunleavy, a 70-year-old resident of Rosemont St., looked out onto her front lawn last Wednesday to find her Virgin Mary statue in pieces. She discovered the shattered statue, which was between 32 to 36 inches tall, early Wednesday morning.

The statue has sat on her front lawn for 20 years, Dunleavy said.

“Her body was all broken up in pieces,” she said. “I don’t know why I didn’t hear it.”
Her son attempted to gather up the pieces, but it seems the vandal made off with the statue’s head.

“I can’t find the head,” she told the Reporter. “There was no head.”

In a related development, the executive director of the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts, C.J. Doyle said that he believes the Jan. 22 vandalism is a potential hate crime both because of the exposed location of the church and the force it would’ve taken to vandalize the statue.

“Whomever did this took some risk to themselves," said Doyle, who wrote a letter to Attorney General Martha Coakley to ask that her office investigate the crime.

Doyle said that incidents such as these have become part of a trend in recent years of vandalization and crime against Catholic churches.

“If this was a mosque, synagogue, or African-American church, people would be very aware there would be the potential for a hate crime. We should be treated with the same concern as any other religious institution would be treated,” said Doyle. “We’re hoping that the public authorities will treat this very seriously and consider it an attack upon a church that has served the Dorchester community for the past 100 years.”

The witness in the vandalism is asked to contact Boston Police detectives at 617-343-4742.

Melissa Tabeek contributed to this article.