Three churches in Bethesda were vandalized, and two of them were also set on fire over the weekend in incidents that authorities think are connected.
Volunteers from the church worked Saturday to clean up the building, and Sunday services were held as scheduled, Hassler said.
“We are saddened by these destructive acts, and we feel tinges of the heartache and fear that arise in communities of all types when a sacred space is desecrated,” the Rev. Kara Scroggins wrote in an email to The Washington Post. “We cannot know the hurt of the person or people who vandalized churches in our neighborhood, and so we lift their hurt and our own hurt up to God.”
When an investigator was leaving the site, he came across debris, a couple of damaged headstones and some other wood material on the road that investigators think came from the nearby Wildwood Baptist Church, at 10200 Old Georgetown Rd., said Pete Piringer, a spokesman for the county fire and rescue service. He said the church was not set on fire but that the material found appeared to have been the result of vandalism.
About 24 hours later, at approximately 2 a.m. Sunday, the fire and rescue service responded to a call about a fire at St. Jane Frances de Chantal Parish, at 9601 Old Georgetown Rd. — less than a mile from North Bethesda United Methodist Church. That fire damaged several pews but was quickly extinguished, Piringer said, adding that investigators think the fire was set intentionally.
The damage was enough to suspend activities in the main section of the church, and Sunday Mass was moved to another part of the church, Piringer said.
Officials at Wildwood Baptist Church and St. Jane Frances de Chantal Parish did not immediately respond to calls or emails seeking comment.
Piringer said authorities think the three incidents are linked and are continuing their investigation: “We can’t conclusively say right now but certainly by geography, by time of day, and the fact that there are three churches relatively close together, that’s certainly one thing that has not been ruled out yet. ... It’s just one piece of the whole puzzle that we’re trying to put together.”
At North Bethesda United Methodist Church and St. Jane Frances de Chantal Parish, he said, “there were multiple fires either set or attempted to be set in both locations.” Piringer said that both churches were also vandalized but that investigators are not “in a position to release that information at this point.”
The Maryland office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, is calling on law enforcement authorities to investigate a possible bias motive for vandalism and arson in the incidents.
“Because houses of worship were targeted, and because of the increase in bias-motivated incidents impacting faith and minority communities, we urge law enforcement authorities to investigate the possibility of a bias motive for these disturbing incidents,” Zainab Chaudry, director of CAIR’s Maryland office, said in a statement Sunday.
Anyone who may have information is asked to call the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service tip line at 240-777-2263.