A 37-year-old man was arrested on Tuesday after posting explicit threats against St Pius X Parish and its school in suburban Philadelphia, telling police: “You never know when someone is going to randomly come shoot up the place,” while the church was in use for Mass. Cristopher Henderson faces felony terroristic threats charges after writing on social media: “I’m sending all you [expletive] to hell.”

Parishioners reported the posts, prompting police to intercept him while he was driving towards the church. Officers had already questioned him on Sunday after he made similar remarks on the parish grounds, asking them: “Do you come here every Sunday or is this just for me?”

Marple Township Police Chief Brandon Graeff said the swift intervention prevented a potential tragedy. Henderson was charged with felony terroristic threats, held on $500,000 bail and ordered to undergo a psychological evaluation. He is also barred from the township except for court appearances, with a preliminary hearing scheduled for June 25. He has additional pending charges, including aggravated assault and terroristic threats from an incident in April.

St Pius X is one of the larger parishes in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, serving more than 3,300 families with an attached elementary school. Both the church and school were active at the time of the threats. Police maintained a visible presence through the end of the school day on Tuesday.

The incident is the latest in a sustained pattern of hostility directed at Catholic churches and schools across the United States. More than 500 attacks on Catholic sites have been recorded since 2022, according to monitoring groups. Recent cases include the arson of a Catholic school in Missouri in May, where the suspect hoped the fire would destroy the building and complained that the Bible was being forced on people; the desecration of a California church and school in which the tabernacle was overturned and statues of Our Lady damaged; and the 2022 murder of two children at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis.

Catholic institutions have faced shootings, explosive threats and repeated vandalism, often targeting symbols of Marian devotion or the Blessed Sacrament. In Pennsylvania, churches have seen adoration chapels attacked with dynamite and other acts of desecration in recent years. Henderson remains in custody. The parish has continued its normal schedule of Masses and classes under police protection.