Video footage shows arsonist setting Canadian Catholic church on fire
Video footage shows an arsonist setting a Catholic church in Canada on fire as houses of worship in the country continue to find themselves as targets for arson and vandalism.
Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Regina, Saskatchewan, posted a video showing the arsonist on its Facebook page Saturday along with the statement, “Someone started a fire at the office entrance” to the church. The church urged anyone with information about the perpetrator to contact Regina Police Services at 306-777-6500 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
The video shared by the church shows the perpetrator wearing a balaclava, dumping gasoline on the porch and swearing before lighting the fire and then running away after the area doused with the flammable liquid begins to burst into flames. A statement released by the Regina Police Service Monday explained that Regina Fire and Protective Services were called to the scene of the fire at 3:40 a.m. Friday morning.
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“Fire crews told police that when they arrived, they found the back door on fire,” the Police Service noted. “Crews were able to quickly extinguish the blaze. Fire investigators determined it was a result of arson and contacted police.”
A statement released by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Regina Friday elaborated on the damage sustained by the church, describing it as “minor.” The Archdiocese expressed gratitude that “no one was hurt.”
“The fire appears to have been confined to the entrance of the rectory,” the Archdiocese added. “Reports from a community representative indicate that while there has been charring to the outer portion of the door and some smoke throughout the rectory, the church appears to have been spared from harm.”
Additionally, the Archdiocese stressed that “no one was home at the time” of the arson and that “there were no further injuries or damage.” An image shared by the Archdiocese shows the area affected by the fire boarded up. While the church was spared major damage, the arson is causing disruptions to the faith community’s Mass schedule.
Blessed Sacrament’s website details how “because of the Arson/Fire and necessary clean-up, there will be no scheduled Eucharist at Blessed Sacrament Church until Wednesday.” Scheduled church services for this past weekend were either canceled or moved to another location as were midday Masses scheduled for Monday and Tuesday.
According to the church’s website, Blessed Sacrament Church is the oldest Catholic faith community and church building in Regina as well as the city’s second oldest church building still in use. The present church building dates back to 1905.
The arson at Blessed Sacrament Church comes as nearly 100 churches in Canada have been vandalized or set on fire in the past three years following debunked reporting asserting that more than 750 bodies belonging to indigenous people were buried under a Catholic-run school in Saskatchewan. The targeted churches belong to multiple Christian denominations, including Catholic, Anglican and Lutheran.
Canadian fire investigators have concluded that 24 of the 33 church fires that have broken out in the past three years were acts of arson. An additional 60 churches located across several different provinces and territories in Western Canada were also vandalized.
Vandals seemed to agree with the narrative suggested by the debunked reporting, that Catholics were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of indigenous Canadians. In many cases, they left behind messages reading “killer” and “racist” in addition to accusing Catholic churches of “murdering” indigenous children.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
