Posted on 07/22/2020 6:39:37 PM PDT by ebb tide
<
SAN GABRIEL, Calif. (ChurchMilitant.com) - A spokesperson for California's San Gabriel Arcángel Mission reportedly told a fellow Catholic that it's "justified" to attack churches and statues if they're deemed offensive.
The remark was made July 11 to Beatrice Cardenas, former Republican congressional candidate for California's 27th district, as she was surveying fire damage at the historic mission.
According to Cardenas, San Gabriel Mission communications director Terry Huerta told her the religious outpost, founded in 1771 by St. Junípero Serra, "represented pain to a lot of people."
Beatrice Cardenas
When Cardenas countered that didn't give anyone a right to set a church or a building on fire, Huerta responded, "Yes, it does. You and I also have the right to do that if we wanted to because this is a free country."
The conversation took place amid "a very emotional scene," said Cardenas, who described many people gathered at the smoldering remnants of the church as hugging and crying.
Firefighters on site "were very choked up," Cardenas said. Capt. Antonio Negrete, public information officer for the San Gabriel Fire Department, called the scene "heartbreaking," NBC Los Angeles reported.
Though no definite cause for the blaze has been determined, arson has been identified as a possibility.
Based on Cardenas' conversations with the people gathered she said, "I can tell you that everyone is fed up already and strongly suspect this was an arson attack against the Church, against this nation, and against freedom."
Cardenas explained to Church Militant that the "beloved and holy" San Gabriel Mission — and the rest of the archdiocese — has fallen into the current cultural mindset that our great nation was built on hatred and oppression that needs correction.
The "rock-solid catechesis of the Catholic Church" is being attacked by a destructive force from within, by "members of the community who value social change above truth," she said.
You and I also have the right to do that if we wanted to because this is a free country.Tweet
"California has become so 'progressive' that our clergy has tried to appease this movement by allowing concessions from political pressures," she said. We look to the archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles "for cues and many look to him for direction."
But his comments show that "he is willing to bend a knee to the demands of those who seek to destroy the Church and its legacy" she said, adding, "We need bishops to be steadfast and unapologetic about our history."
Cardenas referred to a letter Gomez wrote late last month in which he explained he has "come to understand how the image of Fr. Serra and the missions evokes painful memories for some people."
But, "the truth is uglier than that," she says. The official story the archdiocese gave the public was that the statute of St. Serra at the San Gabriel mission was placed in secure storage for safekeeping. But according to Cardenas, "The archbishop José Gomez decided to remove it because it brings painful moments to many people," says Cardenas on her Facebook page, "per Ms. Huerta."
There have been multiple attacks on Catholic churches throughout the country over the last two months in the wake of the Black Lives Matter/Antifa riots.
The truth is that St. Junípero risked his life to bring God to the North American natives and even confronted his own government about their treatment. The smears against him are nothing short of a blood libel.Tweet
The devastating July 11 fire at San Gabriel Mission was preceded by the toppling of statues of St. Junípero Serra in Sacramento, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Saint Serra is a "specific target" of the Left, maintains John Nolte of Breitbart News, "as a result of the lies going around about his treatment of missionary Indians at the time."
Abp. Gomez of Los Angeles
"The truth is that St. Junipero risked his life to bring God to the North American natives and even confronted his own government about their treatment. The smears against him are nothing short of a blood libel," Nolte said.
Cardenas told Church Militant she is invested in protecting the mission on multiple levels.
On a personal level, she said, "I am deeply committed to advocating and fighting for implementation of procedures to protect the Mission of San Gabriel Arcángel — from hiring 24/7 private security to exploring change of ownership of the Mission."
As a mother, she said: "[M]y daughter's ancestors are buried at this Mission and were Spanish soldiers who accompanied Fr. Serra on his first trip to what was to become Alta, California, so as mother I also have an added interest in protecting the Missions and the rich legacy of once Spanish Catholic California."
As a Congressional candidate in this district she feels "the need to fight for this community and to win this seat in Congress because we don't have enough people fighting to preserve our history and our Christian faith — despite how liberal my district is," she adds.
Cardenas said reflectively, "So now you know why the Church is not defending itself against these attacks. It feels it is making reparations. It is only a matter of time before the existence of every Christian church is considered an error that must be corrected."
"We are in deep trouble, folks," she warned.
"California has become so 'progressive' that our clergy has tried to appease this movement by allowing concessions from political pressures," she said. We look to the archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles "for cues and many look to him for direction."
But his comments show that "he is willing to bend a knee to the demands of those who seek to destroy the Church and its legacy" she said, adding, "We need bishops to be steadfast and unapologetic about our history."
Ping
Nothing compared with the pain caused by Mohamed.
"You and I also have the right to do that if we wanted to because this is a free country."
SO...open season on mosques?
Well, I find most democRAT politicians offensive.
“... the image of Fr. Serra and the missions evokes painful memories for some people”
Hmmmm....using the doll, show where Father Pena hurt you...
So, I guess it would be fine to set a person on fire if he were offensive then? Would that be justified?
That is no leap for Leftists. They do that as easily as a fish breathing water.
Everyone focuses on the political aspects of these “demonstrations”.
The true target is the Christian faith. Our way of life wouldn’t have existed without it.
Destroy Christianity, destroy Western civilization.
There are NO “North American natives.”
There ancestors came from Asia.
They are First Peoples.
Free does not mean lawless, you numbskull. You're free to do what you want as long as you don't impinge on the rights and property of others. This was not yours, or anyone else's to destroy. Tearing down monuments and statutes is also wrong for the same reason. Finally, just because you don't like something in the past doesn't give you the right to destroy it today. You're suppose to read history to learn from it, whether you like it or not. Either way, it's not yours to destroy.
Wow. There are traitors, or cowards, everywhere.
“... the image of Fr. Serra and the missions evokes painful memories for some people”
The Catholic Church is not scoring points with the faithless who have abandoned them and need to return.
Mosques?
On Mission Road?
Yes, 428 S. Mission Road.
“It is only a matter of time before the existence of every Christian church is considered an error that must be corrected.”
Exactly right. They are first going to burn every single mission in California. San Gabriel was the first.
Every church in the country needs 24x7 security details.
Better yet, some executions of Marxist, anarchist, community organizers, antifa, and rabble rousers will put an end to this.
“..“It is only a matter of time before the existence of every Christian church is considered an error that must be corrected.”
Exactly right. They are first going to burn every single mission in California. San Gabriel was the first.
Every church in the country needs 24x7 security details.
Better yet, some executions of Marxist, anarchist, community organizers, antifa, and rabble rousers will put an end to this....”
Yep. Just posted this on another thread:
IF, God forbid, OldPedoJoe wins and the Senate flips, within 10-12 months, there won’t be a single church of synagogue left open in the nation. They will become illegal, banned and most of em will be burned/torn down.
This virus BS was just a communist test run to see how far they could push it, and they’ve succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.
Evangelicals, especially the women, who think Trump is just too mean, nasty, etc. etc. to be POTUS need to dig their collective righteous heads out of their holy azzes and THINK about that for awhile before going into the voting booth.
Arson is bad. It might not be a literal commandment, but I think arson is one of those crimes where its just assumed it illegal and bad. Everywhere.
People are still holding onto their Normalcy Bias. The destruction is still far away and distant from most people.
My own daughter and boyfriend are looking at moving to Portland in a few years. She said “it’s ok, the problem is downtown.” People don’t have a clue how fast it will move to the suburbs and surrounding towns. There is hardly a police force in the country authorized to stop the mobs. Then the city will decay like Detroit, Newark, Watts and Compton and never come back. Who needs suburbs when all the businesses leave?
. . . . and then they remember that the cops are on the side of sedition
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.