Vandals target Rio Rancho church

RIO RANCHO, N.M. (KRQE) - Members of a Liberal Catholic Church are wondering why someone is targeting them by breaking out the windows in their church.

Now the search is on for whoever did it.

More than nine windows were smashed out all around the Rio Rancho church and its parish hall.

Monday someone driving by the Lady Queen of Angels Church near Northern and Unser noticed the windows were broken.

Vandals did thousands of dollars in damage, but so far it appears nothing is missing.

The news was shocking to altar server and choir member Cora Carmen and her mother, who toured the damage Wednesday.

"It was awful. It was New Year's Eve, and I can't believe teenagers, most likely, would do something like this," said Carmen. "There's other places they could have vandalized. Not a church near Christmas."

The windows have been boarded up and there is a burglary alarm in place to prevent further damage. There are also warning signs inside warning parishioners about shards of broken glass.

The priest said they are trying to piece everything back together.

"We had mass on Tuesday morning, New Year's Day mass, and we will just continue and pray these people, whoever they were, will be found," said Father Milton Shaw.

The church has been in Rio Rancho for about 15 years. They are not connected to the Vatican like most Catholic churches, but say they follow Catholic tradition.

Our Lady Queen of Angels runs solely off donations, and parishioners said this is a big blow because they only have 125 members.

So far police do not have any leads in the case.