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The Rev. Joseph Genito, the pastor at St. Rita of Cascia Catholic Church and Shrine at Broad and Ellsworth streets in South Philadelphia, has listened to confessions and absolved parishioners of their sins for 35 years.
One person he has not heard a confession from, though, is the individual who vandalized the St. Rita statue that had been displayed outside the church for more than 70 years until last May.
“It was never determined who vandalized the statue,” Genito said. “There were no witnesses. We found St. Rita face down in her grotto early one morning. There wasn’t even any indication why the person did this. It is still a mystery.”
When the person tipped over the heavy concrete statue, it fell onto the concrete below it. St. Rita’s face was shattered.
“We had the statue examined, and it was deemed not reparable,” Genito said. “We were going to replace it with a model that we had in the school building more than 30 years ago. The woman who was looking after that statue had it repaired and refurbished and then donated it back to us. Unfortunately, that statue could not sit outside in the elements.”
Genito decided to have a mold made of that statue instead. When the mold is finished, he will allow a local artist, Anthony Disco, to paint it. Genito said Disco has done a lot of previous artwork in the shrine, so he was a natural choice to paint St. Rita.
In the meantime, Genito said two anonymous benefactors have come forward and offered to repair the grotto that holds the statue. Before the incident happened, the grotto had worn down and chipped in places.
When the new and improved St. Rita statue is ready to take her place in the grotto once again, Genito wants to make sure another seemingly random act of vandalism does not occur.
“We’re not putting the statue back until we’re sure it will be secure,” Genito said. “We’re looking into security systems and what would be both affordable and viable for our parish. Right now, we know that we want to install Plexiglas that cannot be scratched and that does not have a glare and that does not cloud over.”
Genito said he is optimistic that the new statue will be ready by springtime. The church’s goal is May 22, when St. Rita is the saint of the Day.
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