Posted on 04/14/2009 6:12:09 AM PDT by NYer
CALIFORNIA AVE. — Santa Monica Police are investigating an alleged hate crime after officials with St. Monica Catholic Church discovered a statue of the Virgin Mary beheaded shortly before Easter services commenced.
A priest found the 55-year-old marble statue, which stands on the corner of Seventh Street and California Avenue, decapitated around 5:45 a.m. on Sunday, spotting the head on the ground just a few feet away. The top of the statue was covered with a white plastic bag before service began.
“Even though it was a sad event, it didn’t take away from the joy of Easter and celebrating Christ’s resurrection,” Jason Farmer, the church spokesman, said. “The joy was still sustained and celebrated throughout the day.”
Police have not identified any suspects.
“Anytime a church or school is targeted, we look at it as a possible hate crime,” SMPD Lt. Darrell Lowe said. “In this case, since the vandalism was of a very important figure within the Catholic religion, we’re classifying it and investigating it as a hate crime.”
Authorities said they are not sure how the head was removed, but Farmer said that the top is not detachable.
The statue, which stands at about 5.5 feet tall and is mounted on a 3.5-foot-tall pedestal, was dedicated in 1954 in memory of Monsignor N. Conneally, who was the head of the church from 1923-1949.
The statue was vandalized in 2002 when both hands were taken off. The perpetrator was never caught, Farmer said.
The statue will be repaired and restored, Farmer said. A cost estimate was not available at presstime.
“The church considers it to be sad and there are certainly questions about why this was done,” Farmer said. “But our sadness is brief, especially in the celebration of Easter.
He said the church considers the incident as a challenge to be more welcoming and caring to those who are struggling or hurting in the community.
“What has happened to the statue is an invitation for us to live out a deeper, more profound love for others,” he said.
Anyone with information is urged to contacted the SMPD at (310) 458-8419.
melodyh@smdp.com
Perhaps if this were 1789, and not 2009.
Your mind for sure, but perhaps not everyone else’s.
Gosh - it would be a leftist anti-religious hater, would it?
An “honer beheading”?
25: And it came to pass the same night, that the LORD said unto him, Take thy father’s young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove that is by it:
26: And build an altar unto the LORD thy God upon the top of this rock, in the ordered place, and take the second bullock, and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the grove which thou shalt cut down.
27: Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the LORD had said unto him: and so it was, because he feared his father’s household, and the men of the city, that he could not do it by day, that he did it by night.
28: And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was cast down, and the grove was cut down that was by it, and the second bullock was offered upon the altar that was built.
29: And they said one to another, Who hath done this thing? - Judges 6:25
An iconoclast did it.
>It’s a wonder the crucifix in the church hasn’t fallen down by now.
They probably got tiered of being burned by the Holy water...
No, clearly not “everyone”.
But you should educate yourself by checking just this tiny thread for people’s natural inclinations these days.
the only ones attacking the Catholic church these days are the radical homosexuals.....just a thought.
Yeah, it seems that a bunch here on this thread don’t think it was the work of Muslims, just punks or vandals.
And another “bunch” think it was Muslims.
So?
YOU are the one who constructed the “everyone” straw man.
I never said that.
More likely they were GAY instead of ROP.
“Not sure I want to see the mother of Christ in a bondage scene.”
Me neither. Mary was the mother of the earthly, Adamic body of Jesus, and the scripture indeed honors her as such Luke 1:41-48.
Nevertheless, when Jesus arose, he had a new, heavenly body, solid flesh with bones and no Adamic blood, that Mary had nothing to do with, and thus he reigns at the right hand of Father, his sacrifice completed once for all who believe.
Mary is not “the mother of God”. She was an ordinary saint among the 120 who waited in the upper room behind locked doors for the descent of the Holy Ghost.
In all the gospels, Jesus never once exalted her. He referred to her as “woman”, in such phrases as, “Woman, what have I to do with thee? My time is not yet come” and “Who are my mother and brothers and sisters? Those who do the will of my Father in Heaven. These are my mother and my brothers and sisters.”.
When the Church was at it’s strongest in the first century, Christians who were so strong in theHoly Spirit that they were were glad to be thrown to the lions for their faith, never prayed to Mary, but to the only mediator between God and men, the Man, Christ Jesus (I Tim. 2:5). Praying to Mary came along when the Christian Church was Catholicised in the fourth century.
“They probably got tiered of being burned by the Holy water?”
huh?
“Mary is not “the mother of God”. “
Are you a Unitarian? Just asking because you deny the Trinity with this statement.
Last I looked most Christians believe Jesus is God.
You might find it interesting to look at Luke sometime. “ALL generations will call you[Mary] Blessed.” It didnt’ say, “all generations, except those who deny the Trinity, will call you blessed.”
““Mary is not “the mother of God”. “
Are you a Unitarian? Just asking because you deny the Trinity with this statement.
Last I looked most Christians believe Jesus is God.
You might find it interesting to look at Luke sometime. “ALL generations will call you[Mary] Blessed.” It didnt’ say, “all generations, except those who deny the Trinity, will call you blessed.”
“
Um - - - where did I deny the Trinity? Mary isn’t part of the Trinity. The Trinity consists of Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
“look at Luke sometime.”
I just quoted the passagein Luke that you’re talking about, chapter and verse!
“ALL generations will call you[Mary] Blessed.”
Blessed, not worshipped, venerated or prayed to.
I affirm the Trinity. But it doesn’t contain Mary.
OK
Make sure you mention your disputation of Scripture with Almighty God, St. Elizabeth, St. Matthew, St. Luke, St. Cyril the Bishop of Alexandria, the Council of Ephesus and the Fathers of the Church during your particular judgment.
"Behold a virgin shall be with child, and bring forth a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us." Matthew 1:23
"And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?" Luke 1:43
Praying to Mary came along when the Christian Church was Catholicised(sic) in the fourth century.
"Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude [of the people] also be; even as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church." Ignatius of Antioch, The Epistle of Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans, Chapter 8, 107 AD.
You'd be better served by keeping your ignorance of both Scripture and the history of the Church private.
>>“They probably got tiered of being burned by the Holy water?”
>
>huh?
Unholy creatures of darkness, like vampires, zombies, and democrats. ;)
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