U.S. Catholic officials are saying they now need to be as vigilant as their Jewish counterparts with regards to vandalism following a spate of attacks at churches amid the ongoing protests and riots over the death of a Black man in police custody in Minneapolis.
More than a half a dozen attacks were noted at Catholic churches from Boston to Florida during the week of July 10-16, The Wall Street Journal reported, while still others occurred over the past weekend in New York and Illinois, various media outlets reported.
“We have to be very vigilant in making sure that this doesn’t get legs and continue,” the Journal quoted Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami, chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops committee for religious liberty. “We have to be as vigilant as our Jewish brothers are vigilant against instances of anti-Semitism.”
The attacks have come along with Black Lives Matter protests and disturbances, which have included the destruction and vandalism of statues and monuments of Confederate, Revolutionary War and even entertainment figures.
It also comes after Black Lives Matter activist Shaun King on June 22 called for – in a fairly widely publicized claim – that “statues of the white European they claim is Jesus should also come down.” He called them “a form of white supremacy.”
The Journal said the most serious violence occurred on July 11 at the Queen of Peace Church in Ocala, Florida, about 75 miles northwest of Orlando, where a man drove a van into the front doors of the church where parishioners were preparing for morning Mass.
He put 10 gallons of gasoline on the floor, set it on fire and fled. A 24-year-old man was arrested and charged with attempted murder, arson and other offenses.
Much of the artwork at the church was damaged and will have to be replaced.
In Miami, four days later, a statue of Jesus Christ was decapitated at Good Shepherd Church, which came after statues of the Virgin Mary were attacked in New York, Massachusetts, Tennessee and Colorado.
Additionally, anarchist and and satanic symbols were painted on the door of the 100-year-old St. Joseph’s Church in New Haven, Connecticut, on July 15.
“The underlying motive of these sacrilegious attacks is clear: to intimidate and instill fear in the hearts of those who worship Christ,” the Archdiocese of Hartford said in a statement. “However, our cherished Catholic faith has survived for 2,000 years in the faces of many different oppressors, and it is not about to yield now.”
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