(CNN) A Catholic priest was beaten while praying at his church in Merrillville, Indiana, and authorities are investigating the attack as a hate crime.

The Rev. Basil John Hutsko told police he was attacked Monday morning inside the St. Michaels Byzantine Catholic Church as he was praying in the sacristy.

The attacker "grabbed him by the neck, threw him down on the floor and immediately started slamming his head against the floor. Both sides, front and back," Merrillville Police Chief Joseph Petruch told CNN affiliate WBBM

The assailant left Hutsko battered, bruised and unconscious. And during the assault the attacker yelled, "'This is for all the little kids,'" Petruch said.

It was an apparent reference to the clergy sex abuse scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church in recent years. Just last week an explosive grand jury report out of Pennsylvania detailed decades of abuse of children by more than 300 priests in that state.

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