The vandalization of a historic Chinatown church in a daylight attack has rattled the local community.

On Monday, September 30, an unidentified male suspect dressed in dark gray clothes and a matching baseball cap threw “a rock the size of a brick” through a stained glass window near the church lobby just after noon, according to the Church of the Transfiguration’s Instagram account. Security camera footage shows the suspect crossing Mosco Street, throwing the object through the window, and then walking away toward Mulberry Street. The church stands at the corner of Mott and Mosco Streets in Manhattan’s Chinatown.

Footage shows a woman inside the church near where the object landed, but no one was injured. A stained glass window of St. Patrick was damaged in the attack. No arrests have been made.

Father Roger Kwan, the pastor of the Church of the Transfiguration along with Saint James-Saint Joseph, expected that fixing the window would likely cost more than the $12,000 in repairs caused last year when it was damaged, that time likely by accident. 

The priest said he is concerned for his parishioners. “We often have a lot of mentally ill people coming in. The only time we keep the church doors open is when we have Mass, and it is not infrequent when someone mentally ill comes in,” Father Kwan told The Good Newsroom in a telephone interview. He advised parishioners and community members, “Be vigilant. Keep your eyes open,” to prevent further incidents.

“It’s sad to see such harm and disrespect directed at the church on a street co-named in honor of legendary photographer and Asian American activist Corky Lee,” said Amy Chin, president of the board of Think!Chinatown, an intergenerational non-profit based there.

Each year, the Church of the Transfiguration holds an annual Assumption procession through the streets of Chinatown and the surrounding neighborhoods, attracting hundreds of participants. The annual event occurs between the Feast of the Transfiguration, the church’s feast day, and the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Assumption, marking when Catholics believe Mary was taken bodily into heaven, is observed on August 15.

The church, established as a German Lutheran congregation in 1801, later served Dutch immigrants before becoming part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York in 1853 under Archbishop John Hughes. As the Chinese-American community grew around Mott Street, the church adapted to serve the local Chinese-American community. It now offers weekend Masses in Cantonese, Mandarin, and English.