Photo Caption: The statue of the Risen Christ at Sacred Heart Parish, Rock Island, before and after the vandalism.

By: By Tom Dermody

ROCK ISLAND — A second story of resurrection is playing out at Sacred Heart Parish here this Easter season.

After a vandal pushed over and destroyed the parish’s outdoor statue of the Risen Christ — on the evening of Easter Sunday, no less — the story spread around the region and even the nation, leading to outpourings of support and a promise from Father Steven Loftus, pastor, at Mass last Sunday that the statue will rise again.

“The first option is to fix it if it can be repaired,” Father Loftus told The Catholic Post on Tuesday. The life-size statue has historic value, he explained. Before finding a new home in front of the parish rectory about 15 years ago, the statue stood for decades in the garden of the Sisters of the Visitation at the Villa de Chantal, a former girls’ school in Rock Island.

It is one of the few remaining links to that historic facility, which closed as a Catholic school in 1978 and was destroyed by fire in 2005.

Now that link is in pieces. The welcoming, open arms of the statue separated from the body when knocked over, the body cracked, a shoulder is missing, and many in the parish community are left with broken hearts.

But as Father Loftus explained at Mass on Sunday, quoting from St. Paul’s letter to the Romans, “where sin abounds, grace abounds even more.” And evil can be overcome with good.

“It’s a comparison with the Easter mystery itself,” said Father Loftus of what happened in the days after the vandalism.

Local media coverage went regional, and a small article appeared in USA Today. Offers to help came from stone masons, craftsmen, and people with trucks and cranes. Monetary donations have begun trickling in as well, including from non-Catholics.

“Some feel called to give and others miss seeing the statue, as they saw it each morning on their daily drive past Sacred Heart,” said Chris Mandle, who chairs the parish’s viability committee.

There have been spiritual benefits as well.

“Last weekend we saw numerous new faces back in the pews,” said Mandle, “and I know of a few who said that hearing about the statue for some reason made them think that maybe it was time to get back to church.”

A surveillance video reportedly shows a man approaching the statue at 9:21 p.m. on Easter Sunday. He sets down a bag, climbs onto a brick wall surrounding the statue, and pushes it until it crashes to the ground. So far the man has yet to be identified.

Father Loftus said he believes it was a random, unplanned act. And he adds that if the statue can be repaired, “this time it might be filled with lead.”

Persons interested in donating to the statue repair or replacement fund can send checks to Sacred Heart Parish, 2810 5th Ave., Rock Island, IL 61201. Put “Statue fund” in the memo line. For more information, call the parish at (309) 794-0660.