Parishioners of Mission鈥檚 St. Joseph鈥檚 Catholic Parish had an unpleasant surprise when they arrived at church on Sunday morning.

Vandals had struck, painting graffiti all over the doors of the building.

Father George Edattukaran said some people were 鈥渞attled鈥� by the sight.

鈥淪omebody had written 666, 666, 666, you know, all over the front in completely big numbers. And then downstairs also on the doors and on the walls, again 666 and 鈥楯udge Me.鈥� So it must be somebody who knows a little bit of scripture,鈥� said Edattukaran.

The number 666 (the number of the beast) is often associated with the devil and is mentioned in the Book of Revelation. Modern movies and literature suggest the number is associated with the Antichrist.

Edattukaran believes the graffiti was placed on the church either late Saturday night or early Sunday morning and while there has been writing on the church like this before, the timing of it makes him think 鈥渢here is a kind of plan鈥� behind it.

He said there have been some people that are 鈥渟howing some kind of hatred鈥� in the world recently and he hopes this incident does not escalate into more serious things

鈥淣owadays there are a lot of things happening all over the world. People feel that they can take a free shot at anybody and anything. It鈥檚 a sad situation.鈥�

At this time, the church has not reported the incident to the Mission RCMP, but are planning to, later today to get the situation on the record.

Other than that, Edattukaran plans to continue as normal.

鈥淲e are not nervous, because we do not get intimidated by these things 鈥� there is no reason for this to be written on private property. We are not causing a problem to anybody.鈥�

St. Joseph鈥檚 Catholic Parish is located at 32550 7th Ave in Mission and is part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Vancouver. The local church serves the needs of about 300 parish families in the area.