Archbishop Cordileone Commends Prosecution of Serra Statue Vandals for Working Justice

Catholic News Agency ^ | 2/22/21 | Jonah McKeown

[marshmallow]

Denver Newsroom, Feb 22, 2021 / 07:01 pm MT (CNA).- Amid calls from California activists to drop vandalism charges against five assailants who destroyed a statue of St. Junipero Serra last year, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco warned that doing so would set a dangerous precedent.

“If a crime caught on videotape and witnessed by the police were not to have been prosecuted, it would have sent a profoundly disturbing message to the hundreds of thousands of people of faith in Marin County: churches, synagogues, mosques and temples are at the mercy of small mobs,” Cordileone said in a Feb. 19 statement.

“Even more, this would set an extremely troubling precedent in that no one could be secure that those who perpetrate crimes against them will be prosecuted for their wrongdoing.”

On Oct. 12, 2020— Indigenous People’s Day in California— a group of activists defaced and pulled down a statue of St. Junipero Serra on private property at Mission San Rafael Arcángel in San Rafael, about 20 miles north of San Francisco.

Serra, an 18th-century Franciscan priest and missionary, is viewed by some activists as a symbol of colonialism and of the abuses that many Native Americans suffered after contact with Europeans. However, historians say the missionary protested abuses and sought to fight colonial oppression.

Though Serra himself did not found Mission San Rafael, it owes its existence to Serra’s legacy, as he founded the first nine missions in what would become California.

[HighSierra5]

To hell with those “activists”.

[T.B. Yoits]

Spray paint the activists gold and have them stand out on the sidewalk as street performer statues every day until passersby give them enough money to replace the statue they destroyed. If it takes years, so be it.

[Tadhg]

Corlione is a conservative Catholic in a brutal location. I have met him several times - he unconditionally supports life.

[Slyfox]

When the prog-commies claim the saint treated the natives badly, this was a priest who could have stayed in Spain teaching at a prestigious university.

Instead, he accepts the role of leading the back-breaking mission work where his job was to build up all the missions from San Diego to San Francisco and to protect the natives from the Spanish soldiers who tended to treat the natives badly.

On the last month of his life he was seen sitting with the native women helping them cut fabric to sew clothes for the children of the mission.

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

Prosecute them! Give the vandals the max sentence available. Maybe some of the “stupids” vandals will learn a lesson. Otherwise, some may end up being shot as “home invaders or arsonists”.

Our heighborhood houses of worship have police officers who live near them and will do just that. We also have law enforcement people in our congregations. “Blue is Good; Armed is Better”.

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

So 55,000 people supposedly signed a petition to have the charges dropped against these vandals and trespasser. OK. Let’s play their game.

Demand that their names be made public and then post them all over the place, esp. the internet.

Let everyone know who the supporters of vandalism and terrorist are. “Shaming” can be played by our side too”.

New adage for the “culture, religious and western civilization” game, “Stand Your Ground and Expose the Enemy”.