I've been trying to find more details on this before posting on it, but since I haven't found much I'll put out what there is. As first detailed here, there was a very suspicious fire at Sacred Heart church in Laconia back in May, the damage from which while not catastrophic was rather expensive.
One of Laconia's oldest Catholic churches was the victim of a hate crime.
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Sacred candles were broken, crosses and crucifixes scattered on the ground, and pages were ripped right out of the Bible.
There was also, according to another report, significant damage to the main altar as well. Police have now made an arrest and are indeed charging the woman with arson. As bad as this sounds it's entirely possible the woman was quite simply either insane or possessed as she is said to have spoken of 'devils' in the Catholic Church. The Boston Globe has this:
In court documents, police say when her pastor, Hayes Judkin of St. James Episcopal Church, visited her after the apartment arson charge, she told him there was nothing he could do as long as there were devils in the Sacred Heart Church.
As things develop I'll be sure to post what we find. In the mean time, please pray for those affected by the fire and pray that what looks to be a very beautiful church is properly, beautifully and fully restored.
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