Free Republic

Churchgoers thwarted a teenager armed with a rifle from entering a Louisiana church full of children Saturday in a service that was being livestreamed, authorities said. Police were called to St. Mary Magdalen Church in Abbeville, 20 miles south of Lafayette, at 10:35 a.m. when the 16-year-old suspect tried to get in via the back door.

St. William Catholic Church in Cashion, Arizona, was destroyed in an overnight fire May 1. The fire broke out just before 1 a.m. Local station Fox 10 Phoenix reported that firefighters arrived and found flames coming from the attic of the church. The roof of the church ultimately collapsed as firefighters fought the flames. "This is a devastating loss to this community," Avondale Fire Battalion Chief Steve Mayhew said. "This church is a pillar of this community, so definitely a lot of heartbreak this morning." "I also run the pantry here at St. Williams — that's gone," Gonzalo Ortiz, a...

The sentencing trial of Whitney Durant, who goes by Soren Monroe, took place today, and I’d like to say this is a win for the pro-life movement and scream from the rooftops, “Justice served!” But I can’t. The blatant hypocrisy regarding how the Department of Justice treats pro-life “crimes” and crimes from pro-abortion zealots is an unignorable blot in the justice system. Let me explain. Durant, a former Bowling Green State University (BGSU) student, vandalized the Bowling Green Pregnancy Center last year. SFLA wrote two articles on this case last year. See the damage for yourself: ***IMAGE ON LINK*** Durant...

The FBI is investigating after a suspicious letter was found at a church in Benton Monday morning (Feb. 19). The letter was found at Cypress Baptist Church on Palmetto Road in Benton and contained a white powder, the FBI says. Deputies with the Bossier Parish Sheriff’s Office first responded to the scene. However, BPSO says Louisiana State Police has taken over the investigation. LSP says the investigation has now been turned over to the FBI. The FBI says field tests conducted on the powder were negative. More testing will be performed at a local lab. The FBI says “even sending...

As radical abortion activists promote Issue 1, which would allow abortions up to birth, they have also been targeting churches that are opposing it. Catholic schools, churches and cemeteries across the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, for example, have posted in recent weeks that they have been victims of vandalism and attacks. Pro-abortion extremists have stolen, defaced or damages No on Issue 1 signs at pro-life business that are displaying them. And pro-life residents have experienced the same sorta of vandalism of their lawn signs on private residences. Here’s more on what the churches have been facing: Incarnation Catholic Church in Centerville...

Boston police confirmed to Boston 25 News officers took a suspect into custody for allegedly breaking the arms off a statue of Jesus Christ on a crucifix outside the Cathedral of the Holy Cross Tuesday night. A bystander had a camera handy to record the vandalism. Video shows a figure dressed in green climbing the statue and attempting to pry the body off the cross by swinging from the hanging torso. The Archdiocese and Cathedral are now reportedly looking to replace the statue. The Cathedral of the Holy Cross did not immediately respond to a request or comment from The...

“Democracy Dies in Darkness” is the (sometimes ironic) slogan of The Washington Post. But it’s also a fair description of what’s happening in Tennessee, as the state Legislature is being called to a special session even as local and federal officials withhold information that might be critical to its decision-making. Gov. Bill Lee ordered the special session to begin Aug. 21 in response to a March 27 mass shooting in which three adults and three children at the Covenant School, a Christian school in Nashville’s Green Hills neighborhood, were killed. The Nashville Tennessean article refers only to “a shooter.” The...

CV NEWS FEED // A suspect is in custody for causing the fire that ravaged St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Salem, Oregon, this week. What began as a dumpster fire in the early hours of the morning of August 31 soon escalated, spreading to the roof of the church building. On the same day, the Salem Police Department announced the arrest of a suspect, Billy James Sweeten, in a statement shared with CatholicVote. “Due to the suspicious circumstances of the fire, arson detectives from the Salem Police Felony Crimes Unit responded to the scene for the investigation, resulting in the...

In silence, firefighters rested in the pews of St. Joseph Catholic Church Thursday morning, watching smoke drift from a pile of charred debris that had fallen onto the altar. . . . . The fire began in a dumpster on church property around 2:30 a.m. Thursday and spread to the building’s roof. It quickly grew to a five-alarm blaze requiring about 20 vehicles and 40 firefighters to get under control. Nobody was injured.Police said Thursday afternoon they had arrested a suspect, 48-year-old Billy James Sweeten, on first-degree arson charges. Sweeten is lodged at the Marion County Jail, police said.

TAKOMA PARK, Maryland (LifeSiteNews) — An 83-year-old pro-life woman was physically attacked by a much younger woman as she prayerfully protested outside an abortion facility in a suburb of Washington, D.C. The unprovoked, brutal assault on Olga Fairfax occurred at a busy intersection on Saturday morning, July 8, in front of a Takoma Park office building housing the Silver Spring Gynecology and Family Planning. This business offers medical and surgical abortions. Longtime pro-life warrior Olga Fairfax had stationed herself and her 4’ x 6’ sign depicting an aborted child when, despite heavy traffic, a woman stopped her car in the...

A college student has been charged under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act for allegedly vandalizing a pregnancy resource center in Ohio in April, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio announced. The federal misdemeanor charge was filed against 20-year-old Bowling Green State University student Whitney M. Durant, who goes by Soren Monroe. Officials alleged Durant “intentionally damaged” the property of HerChoice, a pregnancy care center located minutes from the university campus, “by defacing the clinic’s building with spray paint because the clinic provides reproductive health services.” The vandalism included messages saying, “fund abortion,”...

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has issued a warning of “a heightened threat environment,” including possible attacks against such institutions as churches and the police, as the 2024 election draws closer. Just The News reports that the Memorial Day bulletin issued by the DHS also warned of political violence that could be sparked by “legislative or judicial decisions pertaining to sociopolitical issues.” “The United States remains in a heightened threat environment,” the bulletin declares. “Lone offenders and small groups motivated by a range of ideological beliefs and personal grievances continue to pose a persistent and lethal threat to the...

Virginia Roque-Fermin is charged with one felony count of arson in connection with starting a fire that caused tens of thousands of dollars in damages to The Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Des Plaines, Illinois, May 23, 2023. | Credit: Des Plaines Police DepartmentBoston, Mass., May 24, 2023 / 14:00 pm A 41-year-old woman has been arrested and charged in connection with causing more than $78,000 in damages in a Tuesday arson attack at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Des Plaines, Illinois. The 60-acre shrine, which receives hundreds of thousands of pilgrims each year and...

The second pregnancy help organization to be firebombed by abortion extremists in response to the Supreme Court Dobbs decision has prevailed after six months of litigation, and video of Jane’s Revenge terrorists setting fire to the pregnancy medical clinic with Molotov cocktails has finally been made public in full. Rev. Jim Harden, CEO with CompassCare Pregnancy Services in Buffalo, New York, released the video via Twitter last Friday. In doing so Harden addressed the still present threat against pregnancy help centers, how law enforcement is dragging its feet in the matter, and the fact that pregnancy help will continue regardless...

Angry pro-abortion students at the University of Arizona in Tucson pelted a pro-life organization with eggs Wednesday for exposing the violent reality of abortion. Abra Singleton, southwest regional director for the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform, said three pro-life volunteers were hit with eggs, including her 72-year-old father, and they contacted police about pressing charges. Singleton told LifeNews that they set up their Genocide Awareness Project display on campus Wednesday to show images of aborted babies and victims of other genocides, such as the Holocaust and the Rwandan Genocide. “Our goals is to show that abortion dismembers and decapitates little human...

Travis Ross, 32, was arrested April 6 by the Otoe County Sheriff’s Office in connection with the vandalism at St. Paulinus Catholic Church in Syracuse, Nebraska. | Otoe County Sheriff’s OfficeBoston, Mass., Apr 10, 2023 / 13:45 pm An arrest has been made in connection with the vandalism of St. Paulinus Catholic Church in Syracuse, Nebraska, that occurred on Palm Sunday weekend. Travis Ross, 32, was arrested April 6 by the Otoe County Sheriff’s Office after video evidence and witnesses led authorities to name him a suspect. Father Ryan Salisbury, St. Paulinus’ pastor, told CNA April 3 that when he...

The Department of Justice recommended zero jail time for a transgender individual who vandalized the St. Louise Catholic Church in Bellevue, Wash. Maeve Nota, 31, a male who identifies as a woman, admitted to vandalizing the church last summer, smashing two glass doors and spray-painting a number of profane messages, including “F*** Catholics,” “rot in your fake hell,” “kid groomers,” and “woman haters.” Nota also admitted to destroying a statue of the Virgin Mary, assaulting a church worker, and resisting arrest. According to filings from early March, reviewed by Fox News, the DOJ charged Nota with misdemeanor destruction of religious...

CNA Newsroom, Apr 6, 2023 / 13:00 pm A statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe was smashed in half at Corpus Christi Catholic Church in Corona, California, on April 1. “It was very heartbreaking, especially coming at the beginning of Holy Week,” Maria Bravo, the parish office manager, told CNA in a statement Thursday. “A lot of parishioners were very emotional about it. They brought flowers. Many offered to help in whatever way they could,” she said. The vandalism occurred at about 11:30 p.m. on the Saturday on the eve of Palm Sunday. The vandal, a male, was caught on...

Boston, Mass., Apr 4, 2023 / 16:42 pm Two more individuals have been indicted for violating the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act in connection with a string of pro-abortion attacks against pro-life pregnancy centers in Florida. The FACE Act prohibits “violent, threatening, damaging, and obstructive conduct intended to injure, intimidate, or interfere with the right to seek, obtain, or provide reproductive health services.” Earlier this year, the Department of Justice brought FACE Act charges against two Floridians, 27-year-old Caleb Freestone and 23-year-old Amber Smith-Stewart, for spray-painting threats on a pro-life clinic in Winter Haven, Florida; an...

A Wisconsin man was identified from DNA pulled from a partially eaten burrito and arrested in the firebombing of an anti-abortion lobbying group’s office last year, prosecutors said. The man, Hridindu Sankar Roychowdhury, 29, of Madison, Wis., was arrested at Logan International Airport in Boston on Tuesday, according to the office of the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin in Madison. He was charged with one felony count of attempting to cause damage by means of fire or an explosive. “According to the complaint, Mr. Roychowdhury used an incendiary device in violation of federal law in connection with...