Leaders from the U.S. Bishops’ conference (USCCB) have denounced the recent string of vandalism, arson, and desecration of Catholic sites in the country.

Miami Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski, chairman of the Bishops’ Committee on Religious Liberty, and Oklahoma City Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, chair of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, issued a joint statement in response to reports of repeated incidents of church vandalism and fires.

“In the last few weeks, we have witnessed, among other things, one church rammed with a car and set on fire, as well as statues of Jesus Christ and of the Virgin Mary defaced or even beheaded,” the bishops noted. “An historic mission church has also been badly damaged by fire, and the cause is still under investigation.”

As Breitbart News reported, a 24-year-old man named Stephen Anthony Shields crashed his minivan into the Queen of Peace Church in Ocala, FL on July 11. Mr. Shields then poured gasoline around the church lobby and lit it on fire, causing extensive damage and threatening the faithful gathered in the church at the time.

That same day, a fire thought to have been set by arsonists broke out at Mission San Gabriel Arcángel in Los Angeles, a mission founded by St. Junipero Serra in 1771, destroying the building’s timber roof and sections of the interior and vandals beheaded a statue of the Virgin Mary at Saint Stephen’s Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

“Whether those who committed these acts were troubled individuals crying out for help or agents of hate seeking to intimidate, the attacks are signs of a society in need of healing,” the bishops note in their statement.

“In those incidents where human actions are clear, the motives still are not,” they continue. “As we strain to understand the destruction of these holy symbols of selfless love and devotion, we pray for any who have caused it, and we remain vigilant against more of it.”

The bishops conclude by appealing for an end to the violence and a return to civility.

“Our nation finds itself in an extraordinary hour of cultural conflict. The path forward must be through the compassion and understanding practiced and taught by Jesus and his Holy Mother,” they state. “Let us contemplate, rather than destroy, images of these examples of God’s love.”

“Following the example of Our Lord, we respond to confusion with understanding and to hatred with love,” they declare.