Posted on 03/31/2016 3:59:39 PM PDT by Morgana
NORWOOD, Mass. (ChurchMilitant.com) - On Good Friday a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary at a Massachusetts parish was vandalized with spray paint — and now the Catholic Action League (CAL) is calling for a hate crime investigation.
According to an email news release by the CAL, the statue of Mary, which stands just outside the parish school, was spray painted and marked with graffiti, and may be beyond repair.
The CAL is calling on the Norwood Police to investigate the vandalism as a hate crime, calling the it "brazen and malicious."
Saint Catherine pastor Fr. Stephen Donohoe asked parishioners to "pray for the person or persons who did this." Father Donohoe says the parish is trying to have the statue restored.
Norwood police are asking for assistance in tracking down the culprits.
Since the Good Friday vandalism, more statues have been desecrated. Burlington Police are investigating St. Margaret parish just 28 miles north of St. Catherine, where three statues were smashed this week.
Reports say two the statues' heads were smashed, while a third statue of the Blessed Virgin had both its head and arms removed.
The targeting of specifically Catholic statues by vandals is becoming more common. Last December St. Colette Parish in Livonia, Michigan suffered a vandalism attack. The vandal(s) spray painted a statue of St. Colette red and the message "Rome Will Fall" on church doors.
"Considering what they wrote, it appears to be a fundamentalist or extremist Christian group," Fr. Gary Michaelik told ChurchMilitant.com at the time. Father Michaelik also speculated that the vandalism might be connected to the recent Las Vegas Mass disruptions by protestants shouting "Pope, Mary's statue and idols gonna' send you to Hell!"
On the same evening, not three miles south, at the Franciscan Felician Sisters' Motherhouse, the sidewalk was also painted with red messages that said "Pope is False Prophet," "No Idols," "Repent," "Jesus is Lord," "Jesus is coming," and an ambiguous message about "Mystery Babylon."
Catholic Action League Executive Director C.J. Doyle noted in his statement that New England in particular has been a target of multiple recent vandalism attacks, including bricks hurled through stained glass windows at St. Edith Stein Parish in Brockton and damaged nativity scenes in Norwood.
Doyle insists that police conduct a full investigation, saying Catholics have "a constitutional right to observe Holy Week and celebrate Easter without being the target of destructive depredations at the hands of lawless thugs."
Not a Catholic myself, but I would guess a combination of “refugees” and leftists are responsible.
Some years back we had some Mormon Missionaries do some damage to a Colorado Parish. Did not even know it until the kids posted their own evidence online. Like how stupid right? So really it could be anyone.
I’m sure 0bama will be on the TV any second now lecturing us about such hateful things.
I saw an Arab man at Mass a few months ago, right before Christmas. It was packed and he was standing in the back scowling with his arms crossed. He did not go up for communion. I whispered this to my husband, and he whispered back that he’d already seen him. Hubby was packing and so were several others, but still. I hate having to judge somebody in church, but these are the times in which we live.
These Muslims do not belong here. Thomas Jefferson was wise to them. However, others are committing religious crimes too.
There are many innocent reasons he was there and looked the way he did. I just can’t afford to give him the benefit of the doubt. I had a really hard time leaving the kids in the pew for communion that day.
I’ve long suggested that the Catholics need to create an organization to defend them from attack. There are lots of former military Catholics, and many wealthy Catholics to fund it.
Knights Templar?
Defeat them with love.
Hmmm...I can come up with at least 3 names of people I think may have done this, lol!!!
There are Arab Christians. Usually they are eastern rite, not always. Why “ he was standing in the back scowling with his arms crossed” could be a million things.
If you have concerns by all means tell someone in your church or the police! Don’t wait for “something to happen”.
As far as paint on the statue is concerned, a good coat of polyurethane before you mount the statue helps immensely in protecting it from elements and vandals.
bfl
Jihad
No one stands up for Christians. Christians have to do the job themselves. The law does not care and is no longer enforced equally (w/o regard to Nation of origin, sex or religion) anymore.
Not really. The KT were a military organization fighting for the church as its militant wing. Instead I am thinking of an organization that provides advice and assistance to oppressed Catholics around the world, as to how to best protect themselves from those who would destroy them.
Their art would use their military experience to teach and craft solutions that cost little but provided a lot of protection. Often this involves not doing things that make them an easy target. Most would be uncommon, common sense.
There are as many different solutions as there are different problems. For example, this situation is to protect against vicious, hate crime vandalism. Since it is a criminal offense, and the police will react to it, protection could be as simple as detaining the vandal for the police, then identifying and shaming them, before suing them for damages.
If the authorities are unwilling to give them an appropriate punishment, part of their detention could be to treat them like shoplifters, taking their picture and even fingerprints. Again, whatever is appropriate for the situation, which varies a lot.
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