St. Thomas the Apostle Church, located on Westminster Avenue in West Hempstead, was broken into over the weekend as $16,000 in damage was caused in the attempt to gain access to the church, according to the Nassau County Police Department's Fifth Squad.

Police are searching for suspects who did damage to four doors to the parish as well as a window that was broken. Pastor of the parish Monsignor James LiSante said the incident had to have occurred after midnight on Sunday, June 10.

According to Monsignor LiSante, nothing was taken from the church and nothing was damaged except for four doors and a window he believes the trespassers entered the church from.

Monsignor LiSante said that in the night of the break-in, he was out at a wedding. When he came back on Saturday night June 9, between 11 p.m and midnight, everything was in order. "I'm thinking it was sometime in the deep of the night that it happened," he said.

The trespassers, Monsignor LiSante believes, got into the church through a window in a passageway between the rectory and the church. In the morning, Monsignor LiSante noticed the broken glass in the passageway.

"We think they did get in and were probably disappointed because what we do now is empty the poor boxes on Saturday night so there wasn't money in the church," Monsignor LiSante said. "Maybe they went in thinking they could at least hit the poor boxes and get some money, but there's no money in there on Saturday."

Police say there are no suspects at this time.

Monsignor LiSante said there was severe damage done to four oak doors that was made, he believes, in the attempt to break-in. "It looked like it was beyond a crow bar [that was used]. It almost looked like an ax or a large hammer was used because they knocked off parts of the doors and these are big, heavy, oak doors that have been there for 40 years," he said. "The strange part is they stayed around as long as they did to get in. They obviously worked on each door quite awhile and, in frustration, would work on the next door and they always worked downstairs. They decided they could get in best by breaking a window."

The Monsignor said the doors will probably need to be replaced, perhaps by metal doors, which he is reluctant to use because they don't look as nice.

About a month ago, the church had another break-in where the perpetrator took money from the poor boxes. Monsignor LiSante said it's hard to understand why someone would steal money from the church since the parish would offer help to anyone in need through its outreach office.

The St. Thomas the Apostle pastor said that although he is extremely unhappy with the damage, he is grateful in a way that nothing was damaged in the church itself. "But still, the idea of people violating your sacred space for a few coins is pretty disgusting," he said.

Police ask that anyone with information relating to the incident to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-244-TIPS. All callers will remain anonymous.