Catholic Shrine Vandalized Twice, Parish Vows to Rebuild ‘a Thousand Times’ [Rockford, IL)

LifeSite News ^ | 7/28/20 | Martin Burger

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The parish asked for prayers for 'the person or persons who have been destroying our shrine,' who 'are certainly poor in faith[.]'

ROCKFORD, Illinois, July 28, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — A roadside shrine in the Catholic parish of Saint Bernadette in Rockford, Illinois has been vandalized and destroyed twice within three weeks — but the community is determined to rebuild it “a thousand times,” if necessary.

The little shrine with the message “Jesus loves you” houses a crucifix and is located close to a bus stop in front of the church.

On July 5 or 6, the first act of vandalism took place, as reported by The Observer, the newspaper of the local diocese. “Parish staff member Kevin Rilott had recently restained the wood of the shrine, which has been in place on the parish campus for about five years. He says he could tell from marks on the wood that the corpus statue was destroyed by a hammer.”

Rilott speculated that the shrine was vandalized “in imitation of the destruction perpetrated the past several weeks against statues, including religious statues, around the country.”

On July 24, “someone took a sledgehammer to our rebuilt shrine and destroyed it again,” the parish announced via Flocknote, a popular tool parishes use to communicate with the faithful. “We will rebuild it again.”

Instead of destroying the crucifix, the pole on which the shrine rested was broken in half.

“This shrine is an image of the love of God in giving His life on the Cross for each one of us — it is a sign of faith, hope, and love for our community,” wrote the parish. “So how could it possibly be good news that it was destroyed again?”