“Every Sunday, when we gather together with long-time members and newcomers alike, we are welcomed with this phrase: ‘No matter who you are, or where you are in your journey of life and faith, you are welcome here,” the Rev. Michele Bagby Allan, pastor at First Congregational Church Norwood, wrote Friday afternoon in a Facebook post.

Last Sunday, worshippers at a morning service in Norwood discovered welcome flags with rainbow designs had been yanked down, multi-colored Adirondack chairs symbolizing the church’s support for the LGBTQ community had been rearranged, and a rainbow banner reading “Be the Church” had been covered with a black banner, her post said.

Similar scenes unfolded at Christ Lutheran Church and First Congregational Church of Natick, First Congregational Church of Sharon, and St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Framingham, according to the Massachusetts Council of Churches.

At the churches in Sharon and Natick, vandals left a Christian flag and banner reading, “Jesus is King,” according to public statements by the congregation’s religious leaders.

At St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Framingham, a Pride flag displayed outside the sanctuary was removed and replaced with a Christian flag, the Rev. Susan F. Sprowls, the interim rector, said Saturday in an email. A two-page flyer of material offering a “narrow, anti-LGBTQ+ view of scripture passages” was left at the church’s welcome banner, Sprowls wrote.

“We replaced the Pride flag immediately to reflect that St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church remains steadfast in its commitment to proclaiming the love of God for ALL people,” she said.

In Natick, people gathered Thursday evening outside the First Congregational Church to show support for the LGBTQ community, according to the church’s website.

On Friday, the Massachusetts Council of Churches and several other local religious leaders published letters calling attention to the crimes, offering prayers to people who were harmed and the perpetrators, and vowing continued support for the LGBTQ community.

“Sadly, the persons responsible for these attacks left materials indicating they were done in the name of Christ,” said a letter signed by leaders of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, Southern New England Conference of The United Church of Christ, and New England Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

“In response, we declare our unequivocal and unwavering commitment to living out Christ’s welcome to people of every sexual orientation and gender identity and celebrating their full participation and inclusion in our denominations,” they wrote.

Their letter said they have been working with the FBI and local authorities. On Saturday, a FBI spokesperson declined to comment, and messages seeking comment from police in Framingham, Natick, and Norwood weren’t returned. A Sharon police official said no one was available Saturday to comment.

The ADL’s Center on Extremism and GLAAD, a leading advocacy organization for the LGBTQ community, has been tracking a “rising number of attacks against affirming religious institutions.”

In February, the organizations published findings documenting at least 66 incidents nationwide in which religious institutions were targeted over “their perceived support for and inclusion of LGBTQ people.”

The incidents occurred between June 2022 and January of this year, and included vandalism at First Baptist Church in Jamaica Plain.

Last June, the church on Centre Street was defaced with graffiti that said members of the LGBTQ community “should die.” The phrase, “God does not love you,” was written on the base of the steeple area, the Rev. Ashlee Wiest-Laird told the Globe last year.

About three months later, the doors at Tabernacle Congregational Church in Salem were vandalized with anti-LGBTQ graffiti and other symbols of gay pride were defaced in the city.

Police arrested Mohammed S. Rajab, 26, of Beverly, and filed vandalism and hate crime charges against him. The case is pending and Rajab has pleaded not guilty, court records show.

Between July 2022 and last November, there were 38 anti-LGBTQ incidents in Massachusetts, including instances of harassment, vandalism, and an assault, according to ADL data. More than two-thirds of the incidents were harassment, the figures show.

In a statement on its website, First Congregational Church of Sharon said it is reaffirming its commitment to being a “welcoming, open, affirming, and loving church to all people.”

“We will not be bullied into changing who we are and what we believe,” the statement said. “And now more than ever, we will continue to proclaim the Good News of God’s unconditional love for all people, which we see reflected in God’s Rainbow.”

Laura Crimaldi can be reached at laura.crimaldi@globe.com. Follow her @lauracrimaldi.

More than 1,000 employees are set to be laid off when Steward Health Care closes two of its Massachusetts hospitals at the end of the month, the bankrupt Dallas-based company told the state.

When Carney Hospital in Dorchester and Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer close on or around Aug. 31, roughly 1,243 employees at the two healthcare facilities will be out of work, according to a notice Steward filed with the state on Friday.

Some 753 employees at Carney are anticipated to lose their jobs, while 490 at Nashoba Valley will also be impacted, according to the notice mandated by the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act.

With the closures in sight, after a Texas-based federal bankruptcy judge decided last week to allow the debt-ridden Steward to proceed, current and former patients are being notified to file proofs of claim.

The deadline to file proofs of claims against the debtors is Aug. 23 at 6 p.m.

“Although you are receiving this notice it does not mean you have a claim or need to file a proof of claim,” the document from bankruptcy court states. “You do not need to file a proof of claim for any refund arising in the ordinary course of business that the debtors have been previously authorized to pay by order of the court.”

“The debtors and their advisors are unable to provide you with any legal advice,” it adds. “To the extent you seek legal or other professional advice, please consult with your own lawyer or advisor.”

Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez said federal bankruptcy laws left him little choice but to allow the hospitals to close.

“Closing one hospital is real — it’s affecting the lives of people who are in there right now,” he said. “The importance of every individual weighs on me, when I’m told there could be life decisions… but from a legal standpoint, the debtors have the authority to close.”

Inside Ayer Town Hall last Tuesday, officials called on Gov. Maura Healey to require Steward to follow state law that forces healthcare entities planning to shutter services to notify the Department of Public Health at least 120 days in advance.

Healey had told reporters earlier last week there was nothing she could do to prevent Steward from shuttering Nashoba Valley, Carney, or any other facility. But, on Thursday, the governor said she is pressing Steward to adhere to the state Department of Public Health regulation.

“I’ve been clear with Steward, they need to stay open for 120 days. We need to have a smooth transition. Steward made the call to close those two hospitals,” Healey told reporters. “We have been hard at work looking to secure a deal that will ensure a smooth transition of ownership away from Steward to a responsible operator.”

Nashoba Valley and Carney did not receive qualified bids for purchase during an auction held on July 15, while Steward’s five other operational hospitals did.

Those facilities include Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton, Holy Family Hospitals in Haverhill and Methuen, Morton Hospital in Taunton, Saint Anne’s Hospital in Fall River, and St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Brighton.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu wrote a letter to the owners of Dorchester’s Carney Hospital on Thursday, demanding that the property must be used only for healthcare purposes in the future. If not, the owners could face retribution from Wu’s office, the mayor warned.

“Our community is rightly concerned that your companies, not satisfied with the hundreds of millions in value already extracted from Steward hospitals, hope to capitalize on the closure of Carney Hospital by redeveloping the property,” Wu wrote. “I would like to be absolutely clear that my Administration will oppose any effort by ownership to rezone the property for uses other than the provision of health care. “

Last week, Governor Maura Healey announced a new policy that will drastically limit children’s and families’ access to Emergency Assistance shelters and state-funded overflow shelters. Under the policy, which went into effect Aug. 1, many families with children who are experiencing homelessness will be faced with a stark choice. Eligible families can choose to stay for five days in an overflow shelter (with very limited opportunities for short-term extensions) or remain unsheltered and hope that they quickly come up to the top of the waiting list for a longer term Emergency Assistance shelter placement.

If a family stays five days in an overflow shelter, they not only will have to leave rapidly (almost by definition before they have regained stability) but they also will be deemed ineligible for Emergency Assistance shelter for at least six months. Anyone who lives in Massachusetts knows that it will be impossible for most families who have nowhere else to go to find a safe place to live within five days.

The dramatic decisions by the administration to discourage families from accessing overflow shelters and to abruptly limit the stays of families who do choose that option are particularly punitive as the only families who have been able to access overflow shelters are those who state officials have deemed eligible for Emergency Assistance shelter after a rigorous application process and who the Commonwealth has placed on the waiting list due to state-imposed capacity constraints.

Last October, Healey instituted a cap of 7,500 families in the Emergency Assistance program, the first such limit in the program’s 40-year history. In November, the state Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities began placing eligible families on a waiting list for longer-term shelter. Recognizing the dangers of unsheltered homelessness and the state’s obligations under the Commonwealth’s landmark 1983 right-to-shelter law, the Legislature intervened last December to require the administration to establish overflow shelters for families on the Emergency Assistance waiting list.

While the capacity of overflow shelters has never been to scale, these sites have been a lifesaving layer in the state’s response to family homelessness over the past year, keeping children and parents off the streets during the freezing cold nights of winter, through summer heat waves, and on the days in between. Indeed, there is never a good time to experience unsheltered homelessness in the Commonwealth. This can be attested to by the hundreds of children and parents who slept on the floor of Logan Airport for months until the administration worked to place those families in overflow shelters while barring additional families and individuals from accessing Logan as a place of last resort starting in July.

Before the Commonwealth terminates the first families from the overflow shelters next week, the governor should use the intervening days to reconsider and rescind this harmful policy. Healey should commit to having a dialogue with the families who will be most directly impacted and engage advocates, providers, and key legislators about alternatives that truly center the safety and dignity of children and families experiencing homelessness.

The Legislature should intercede to uphold the spirit of the state’s landmark 1983 right-to-shelter law by securing access to shelter for all eligible families, committing to providing the needed funding to keep the doors of shelters open, and making bold investments in the homelessness prevention resources, long-term housing, and supportive services that children, families, and communities need and deserve.

Families should not have to resort to sleeping in hospital emergency rooms, bus stations, train stations, airports, cars, and other places not meant for human habitation.

While state lawmakers continue to pressure federal officials to reform the nation’s immigration system and better support immigrants, refugees, and children and adults seeking asylum, the state must simultaneously stabilize rents, uplift communities, eliminate inequities, and uphold the basic human rights of shelter and housing for everyone who calls Massachusetts home.

Kelly Turley is associate director of Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless.