Police are investigating a spate of attacks on churches across Sydney, including two Anglican buildings as church officials consider supposed links with recent race riots.
Violent incidents have been reported at both Macquarie Fields and Auburn.
At approximately 1.30am on Tuesday morning arsonists broke into the St Alban's Anglican church at Macquarie Fields by throwing bricks through the glass doors leading into the hall.
Three Molotov cocktails were thrown, destroying curtains, heavily staining the ceilings and floor and damaging foldaway tables.
Police also found two other incendiary devices that failed to go off, according to acting Rector the Rev Canon Howard Dillon.
Canon Dillon says he "strongly doubts' any connection to the Cronulla riots but suspects the perpetrators were "kids or young people who have seen all the [coverage] on the television and thought they might have a go'.
"I'm not aware of any group or person who has a grudge against the church," he says.
Church officials believe media reports directly linking the firebombing of Macquarie's Field's property to this week's race riots in Cronulla are not based on conclusive evidence.
Under a front page headline "Molotov stash in waiting', News Limited's commuter newspaper MX reported that police are investigating, "the firebombing of a church at Second Ave, Macquarie Fields and the torching of several cars in surrounding streets".
Geoff Kyngdon, Assistant to the Bishop of Wollongong, rejected the connection between the beachside suburban violence and that in Macquarie Fields.
"It's been an unfortunate incident, [but] it's just a different scenario," Mr Kyngdon says.
"Copycats are always going to be a problem, but I'm still convinced it's just a random attack."
"If [the arsonists] had been as well organised as the hit and run gangs in Cronulla, there would be nothing left of the building."
Mr Kyngdon says local Christians need to pray for peace and calm to be restored and to work with the community in which they live.
"One sin does not justify another,” he says.
The attack on the Macquarie Fields church will cost the congregation an estimated $10-$15,000.
Earlier this year Macquarie Fields was rocked by riots by disaffected young people sparked by the deaths of two teenagers in a police chase. However, the area is not known for racial tensions.
A second inquiry into the Macquarie Fields riots began yesterday.
Auburn Christians attacked in another night of violence
Meanwhile Sydney's violent race attacks continued last night with attacks on Christian churches in the multicultural suburb of Auburn.
At approximately 1.10am this morning ten windows were broken at St Thomas' Anglican Church, which is around the corner from a Uniting Church hall that was burnt to the ground at around 1.45pm.
The cause of the blaze and the window attack is unknown but police are treating both as suspicious.
The attacks follow racial violence in the Sutherland Shire, which culminated in Sunday's riots and retribution attacks this week.
More than 450 police were in place across Sydney's south and west in all suburbs after two nights of unruly and anti-social behaviour.
A police spokeswoman said a number of people had gone to the St Thomas' church armed with "a variety of weapons', including a golf club.
Flemington Police are working with investigators of a strike force set up to deal with the racial violence.
"Police are investigating the possibility of a link. We don't have any evidence but we're not ruling it out," the spokeswoman said.
Bishop of Western Sydney Ivan Lee said "you don't feel you can complain too much' about the broken windows when the church around the corner was burnt to the ground.
He said the attack is "alarming, a discouragement and a bit of a shock' to the congregation, adding that arsonists has set fire to the building a few years ago.
"The congregation has had their fair share of problems," he said.
"It's a reminder that we live in a broken world, and a symptom of a problem that needs to be addressed. We need to work harder on relationships and not pretend the problem is not there."
Last night gunshots were fired at a Catholic primary school in the suburb, prompting an angry response from Catholic Cardinal George Pell.
Cardinal Pell said the Auburn school community was “predominantly Lebanese, with Filipinos, Chinese and Anglo families also represented” and the attack was “as unacceptable as the violence perpetrated by Anglo elements on Sunday at Cronulla”.
The Archbishop of Sydney Dr Peter Jensen joined community and religious leaders in deploring the recent violence.
"It is quite clear that tension has been building under a surface of apparent community harmony for some time," Dr Jensen said.
"We must look to the root causes of this social disharmony, seek authentic information about them, and deal with those matters."
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
