Vandalism at a Roman Catholic pastoral center in Palo Alto is being investigated as a hate crime, police said Saturday, Oct. 1.

Sometime between Sept. 18 and 24 someone spray-painted a white racial superiority phrase on a wall at St. Thomas Aquinas Pastoral Center at 3290 Middlefield Road. Someone also spray-painted a statue in the center's garden.

Dispatchers received a report at 4:10 p.m. Friday of the vandalism. The center serves as the administrative offices for three Roman Catholic churches in Palo Alto.

The vandalism was removed by the time a parishioner told police of the crime.