Graffiti vandals target Milwaukee church at start of Holy Week

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MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- It’s a disturbing start to Holy Week in Milwaukee.

Vandals drew satanic graffiti on a building at St. Francis of Assisi Roman Catholic Church.

“People’s hearts were heavy. Folks that were coming in for Mass were just really, really sad," said Father Michael Bertram.

Bertram said this happened around 4 a.m. Sunday, March 28.

A few hours later, parishioners found this satanic graffiti before service.

The words and images – unsettling to their spirits.

“It’s a little disturbing when you see 'Demons Control Me 666.' And then the larger letters are a different way of spelling the word psycho," he explained.

He said defacing the building is one thing, but this brick is unique.

It’s unexposed cream-city brick found on the grounds.

“The building is just stunning in terms of its cleanliness and purity of the brick," he said.

Once construction is finished, this site will be a parish center with space open to the community.

Father Mike is working with police to find who’s responsible.

“I certainly don’t expect them to come and confess, but this is something that our neighborhood doesn’t need," he said.

Father Mike said cameras on the construction site did catch hazy images of the taggers.

He said they will be increasing security after this.

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