Cary church vandalized

"KKK," "Kill all N******," "F*** Jesus" and similar graffiti was found Sunday morning on a building on the Saint Francis United Methodist Church campus primarily used for Sunday school classes, church officials said. Cars in the parking lot also were damaged.

Rev. Cameron Merrill, associate pastor of the Kildaire Farm Road church, saw three people running from the church property into some nearby woods, discovered the graffiti and called police. Dozens of church members quickly cleaned the graffiti while Sunday services went on inside the church, officials said.

"[T]he unwanted attention we received from these vandals points out two things. The work being done at Saint Francis, particularly our efforts to address matters of race in our church and society as a whole, is being noticed. And unfortunately, we have a lot more work to do," Matt Murphy, chairman of Saint Francis' Staff/Parish Relations Committee, said in a message to church members. "While I am broken-hearted that these hate-fueled messages found their way to our walls today, I am grateful that the Holy Spirit will continue to direct, embolden and prepare us to address the issues in our church and society that divide us from each other and separate us from our loving God."