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Church Holiday Displays Desecrated By Vandals

LITTLETON, Colo. (CBS4)- The Christmas season is a sad one for a large Catholic parish in Littleton. Their outdoor holiday displays were desecrated by vandals.

It happened at the Light of the World Roman Catholic Parish, 10316 West Bowles Ave.

Three signs proclaiming "Keep Christ in Christmas" were vandalized.

"The faces of Jesus, Mary and Joseph were cut out of those signs," said World Roman Catholic Parish Operations Administrator Ken Whiteacre. "We've got some lights that were cut. These were definitely cut with some kind of tool because they're pretty smooth."

The damage extended to lighting displays on a dozen trees.

"Looks like maybe a couple thousand dollars worth of damage," said Whiteacre.

Vandals also set fire to a paperback bible and left it on the statue of the Christ child in the straw-packed manger in the nativity scene.

"Had this gone up in flames it would cause caused some pretty serious damage," said Father Michael Pavlakovich.

He said he can only speculate about motive, perhaps the vandals were angry about something.

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(credit: CBS)

"It is hurtful because we go through all that trouble to be that light of the world to the people in our neighborhood, share the beauty of the season and its meaning," said Pavlakovich. "So it moves us more than anything from disappointment to prayer."

The signs with the faces cut out have been removed. The church plans to buy replacements after the holiday.

The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office has been called to investigate the vandalism. No arrests have been made.

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