Posted on 03/27/2008 1:40:41 AM PDT by markomalley
| Houston, Mar 27, 2008 / 02:22 am (CNA).- During Holy Week a Catholic church in Houston was targeted by iconoclastic vandals who in separate incidents damaged two statues of the Virgin Mary and sprayed an anti-Catholic slur on the church building. One vandal painted an apparent threat expressing a belief that Catholics worship idols. The incidents took place during services on Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday at All Saints Catholic Church, the Houston Chronicle reports.
After the 12:30 p.m. Palm Sunday Mass parishioners noticed that a four-foot tall marble statue of Our Lady of Lourdes had been pulled from its pedestal during the service. Since 1945 the statue had been displayed at the front of the church in the parish grotto, which was dedicated to veterans of World War II. It had been closed for renovation. Pastoral assistant Cary Ann Nunn told the Houston Chronicle that, the statue is now missing fingers and part of its face and back. It was likely struck with an object. After the vandalism, parish pastor Monsignor Adam McClosky secured the statue in storage while it awaits a costly restoration. He then replaced the statue with a 3-foot-tall statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe. During the Easter sunrise Mass at 6:30 a.m., the replacement statue was placed on its head and streaked with black paint. The vandals also painted slurs on the wall of a handicap ramp. "Don't let them worship idols," the vandals painted in black. In red paint, they painted the words “You are warned.”
"Everybody is so angry," Nunn said. "It is very hurtful." Nunn continued saying, "We don't worship idols at all." "It is like a picture of your mother.” This reflects the Catholic belief saints only act as intercessors before God and that it is in fact God, not the saint, who answers their prayers. A police spokesman said it was not known if the incidents were related. He said the vandalism was not yet being treated as a hate crime, but officers were trying to determine if people were specifically targeted because of their religion. |
"Nothing to see here, folks, move along."
“He said the vandalism was not yet being treated as a hate crime”
Would it be possible to heap enough scorn on his head?
Who's working the case, Inspector Clouseau?
> Who’s working the case, Inspector Clouseau?
At least Clouseau would be able to determine that a crime had indeed taken place.
From the article, the message, “You have been warned,” does not sound like something from pranksters or skinheads or even KKK.
It sounds more like a message from the local proselytes of the pedophile polygamist pirate, Mahomet.
Houston has a large and aggressive Muslim population, and the “warning” makes it sound like their approach.
On the other hand, it could have been Protestants. There are a lot of wacky fundamentalist groups in Texas and the South in general. We have had passing fundamentalist types, who seem to travel around causing trouble, leaflet our church with screeds about “idolatry” and stand up and scream things at Mass.
“On the other hand, it could have been Protestants.”
Precisely. We all see the exact same thing, but verbal, right here on FR on a regular basis. One of the most base insults we’ve received is that we worship a stump but there seem to be endless variations on that theme.
Given the position of Panagia among the Mohammedans, I’d think it far more likely that this was the work of Protestants.
It must be terrible to be a victim
The frustrating part is that if it were a "black" church, a mosque, a synagogue, a hindu temple, or anything else, it would be instantly deemed a "hate crime" and get widespread coverage on the national news.
Here, the only citation for this series of crimes is from a Catholic news source.
You do the math.
You launch the thread by discounting the outrage non-Catholics would have toward this shameless vandalism? Bad form, Mark.
That was what I thought, too. Muslims are scared of the Blessed Virgin and would probably not do anything to her statue.
To tell the truth, I hadn’t realized how widespread and virulent hatred of Catholics is until I started reading some of the posts here. I always thought it was limited to people who lived in their vans and were too dumb to use the Internet, but apparently that’s not the case.
“It must be terrible to be a victim”
It is; its just terrible. Guys like livius and me spend most of our time in tears!
Unfortunately, this does have "Proddie" written all over it. I've had many a verbal scuffle with my colleagues over this and several other key misunderstandings about Catholics and from those encounters I can say that this thinking is common.
How's that?
I launched the thread with this comment:
Of course, since it's a Catholic church, there's no problem."Nothing to see here, folks, move along."
I didn't launch the thread saying:
Of course, I know many of our "separated brethren" will be rejoicing at the news
The second would be flame-baiting.
But I don't see how the first could be construed as flame-baiting. My comment was the non-coverage by the secular MSM...wasn't a piece of Protestant flame-bait.
So explain what you mean, please.
Thanx
It appears Houston police officers are not the sharpest socks in the middle drawer.
Although, to be fair, this seems to be a case of statues' being targeted, rather than people ...
Really? I guess I missed that while hanging out on celebrity gossip threads and telling stories about my catz. There are obviously advantages to being frivolous ... low blood pressure, no wrinkles ...
Cheer up, Acts 5:41.
;)
This happens to Protestant churches every day. We don’t even get a story on it.
Grafitti on their statues? Every day?
There are hundreds of Protestant churches in my area, but I don't recall a single one with statues out front, let alone grafitti every day.
Never seen a Proddie church with a statue of Blessed Mary out front...
Muslims? nah, the rich white man did it.
Vandalism. I never thought to think it was because we were protestant.
Check the local Mormon Missionaries for paint on their hands.
We won't be holding our breath waiting to read any expressions of that outrage from the usual suspect cabal who prowl this forum.
“Cheer up, Acts 5:41.”
Its hard to read through the tears.... :)
Good to see you here, E!
“...celebrity gossip threads....”
How do I get on a ping list. I only get in trouble on those involving anything even remotely serious.
First it's "stock" (or in my case, convertible debentures - I had a little extra so I went right by the hard-top.)
Second, you guys are probably safe because you just worship a picture of a stump, uh, stock.
Well, that's another possibility.
I've never figured out how people think that stuff like this is going to attract anyone to their position. We have a travelling nutcase who comes to town a few times a year and parks his van, covered with raving messages about the "Whore of Babylon," in front of the door of the Cathedral so that people have to see it when they come out of Mass. One of his attractive messages is "The Lord Kills." Yeah, that's really going to get converts!
IMHO it only has "crazy loonie" written all over it. I'm not going to lay this at the feet of Protestantism. It's just wackos. Wackos everywhere. Somebody was shooting up our nearby interstate last night. Wackos, that's all.
It makes them feel like they have special knowledge. That makes them feel significant. We have a guy that protests a local non-denomination church. We keep trying to get him to protest our church for the publicity.
The current pope is always the anti-Christ. When he dies, the next guy is definitely the anti-Christ. When he dies, it’s a sure thing that the next guy ..... lather rinse repeat
Perdogg, Kolokotronis would like to be on your celebrity gossip ping list.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1971511/posts
And here’s the current Undead Thread, K., for ongoing cat stories and Weird Pat News.
Any Confederate graves in your cemetery? Probably just your local high school dropout idiots, messing up your facility because you don't have all-night security.
“First it’s “stock” (or in my case, convertible debentures - I had a little extra so I went right by the hard-top.)
Second, you guys are probably safe because you just worship a picture of a stump, uh, stock.”
Really? I thought it was a stump of a tree. Its a stock of a tree? Is a stock of a tree a good thing? Is it better than a stump of a tree? Are pictures of one better than of the other? At the Akathist, when I chant and swing the thurible tomorrow night before the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, will I be worshiping the picture of a stump or a stock? Even better, when I do metanoias before it and kiss it, will that count as worshiping stumps or stocks? If I come home smelling of spikenard or Tsaritsa or Imperial Rose incense (I like to experiment), will that be a dead giveaway that I’ve been out worshiping stumps or stocks?
You broke a Commandment! Now I'm going to kill you!
Anoreth says that people who smell like incense and mumble in foreign languages are marijuana users. They wear chains and spikes, too. One can, she says, smell them coming from around the corner, giving one time to get out of their way.
“And here’s the current Undead Thread, K., for ongoing cat stories and Weird Pat News.”
I like Weird Pat news as it is one of the very few sources of news about Greek speaking people on Jupiter. In fact, it was on a Weird Pat news outlet that I discovered that Methodists do not speak Greek and the serious spiritual ramifications of that. Cats are not my favorites, but as you know, I do like goats, especially Cretan Kri-Kri.
Is a stock of a tree a good thing?
I don't follow that sector. Weyerhauser? Georgia Pacific? I bet they're slumping right now. Probably a good buy for the long term. Construction and housing WILL come back.
If I come home smelling of spikenard or Tsaritsa or Imperial Rose incense
No, honestly, honey, it's just incense, I swear! (You heard how papertyger's wife rejected his advances because he had peeps on his breath after the vigil. Shocking, just shocking. I worry so much about the children, you know...)
(I like to experiment)
First "spikenard" and now this! WAY too much information. We got voting class unsecured securities of a tree, we got SPIKEnard, we got experiments. Where Elliot Spitzer? This was MADE for him!
Where's my do-it-yourself flagellum? I feel funny.
(I wonder what he charges per transaction.)
When we get the Weird Pat Podcast from the Zeus Colony going, I’ll make sure you get the feed. (Like my techno-jargon? I have no idea what I just said :-).
When some bonehead spraypaints swastikas and vulgarities on a Synagogue is he targeting a building, or the people who use it?
Discount broker, probably.
It’s a funny book, try your library. Everything Chris Buckley writes is smart and amusing.
Interesting philosophical and legal question.
Is this a good time to buy stock in spraypaint companies?
With the political conventions coming up, I'd say yes! Also buy stock in sandblasting firms.
From my cold, sticky fingers ....
In some places, they won’t sell spraypaint to minors.
“First “spikenard” and now this! WAY too much information. We got voting class unsecured securities of a tree, we got SPIKEnard, we got experiments. Where Elliot Spitzer? This was MADE for him!”
And twelve bells on the theemeeatoe (thurible)representing the twelve apostles! I’m working on the “round the world” swing, the trick being, of course, to get a smooth 360 without the coal and incense flying out and setting the stock certificates on fire. Can’t chant “Let my Prayer arise as incense before Thee” etc. without bells on the theemeeatoe!
For all their faults, Muslims hold "Maryam" in high regard. In the Qu'ran, no woman is given more attention than Mary. There are interesting evangelical and theological issues which arise from that, not related to this thread, but what it means I think, is that we can't hang this one on Islam.
Nor while the alarms are going off and the Fire Department is spraying the sanctuary.
A child set the carpet on fire at our church in San Antonio, but Father was wearing his cowboy boots and stomped it right out.
Any hate crime charges?
Yet?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.