BOSTON -- Police are investigating a report of a burned cross outside of a church in Duxbury.

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On Monday at 6:30 a.m., Monsignor William Glynn said he found a burned, 8-foot cross leaning against the exterior of the Holy Family Church on Tremont Street.

Police said sometime between 10:30 p.m. Sunday and 6:30 a.m. Monday, someone left the cross against the building and lit it on fire. The fire extinguished itself and caused some minor damage to the front door.

"It was leaning here, and the canister of gasoline was down below," the Rev. William Glenn said. "I didn't want to believe it, but we haven't had hate mail or anything like that."

Another, smaller cross was left on the front lawn of a home near the church. That cross was never lit, but the homeowners are parishioners at Holy Family.

"We are treating this as a hate crime and as arson. We have the state fire marshal involved. They are conducting the investigation," Duxbury Police Department Chief Mark Deluca said.

"I think it's going to hurt everybody in town. This town doesn't have any problems. It is a small, quiet town," parishioner Normand Tougas said.

"It's a very uneasy feeling. It would be comforting to understand the motivation behind this. At least if some people had some issues of some kind, they could be dealt with. We have no idea is this is related to anything going on with regards to the church crisis as a whole. This parish has no history of any kind of problem," parishioner Ed Sentvany said.

Duxbury officials and the state Fire Marshall's Office is investigating the incident.