Several Catholic churches were burned or vandalized over the weekend, as religious people across the country face crossfire in a war over the public use of Christian symbols.
In two cases, authorities found two statues of the Blessed Virgin Mary mutilated outside Catholic parishes. The first, a stone statue in New York City, was vandalized late Friday night with the word “IDOL.” Witnesses told police that a masked woman fled the scene after spray painting the word lengthwise down the statue.
James Kuroly, the rector of Cathedral Preparatory School and Seminary, where the statue is located, called the incident “an act of hatred” in a statement.
In the second case, a statue of Mary set up to honor World War II soldiers in Boston was found burned Sunday morning. The Boston police said they are investigating the incident as arson.
“I was shocked,” said John Curran, the pastor of the church. “The image of Our Lady is so important for us and our faith. It’s such a contradiction to her love. Mary would never desecrate anyone, never hurt anyone, only offer them the peace and love of Jesus.”
The two incidents occurred against growing national tensions between religious people and activists blaming certain sects of Christianity for racial injustice. The debate has addressed everything from the legitimacy of statues to whether or not depictions of Jesus as a white man are racist.
All throughout the weekend, the two groups competed for attention in front of a statue of King Louis IX in St. Louis. The statue, which honors the city’s namesake, has been a point of controversy for nearly a month now, with many people calling for it to be torn down.
On Sunday, police arrested seven people as they attempted to clear the protesters away from the statue. Catholics nearby gathered to pray the rosary for peace in the city later that evening.
In the most dramatic clashes over statues, protesters in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Sacramento have toppled statues of Junipero Serra, a Spanish missionary priest credited with the conversion of many Native Americans.
Defenders of Serra, who is a canonized saint, say that he combated the cruelties inflicted upon Native Americans by the Spanish in the 18th century. His detractors say that, as a Spaniard Christian, Serra and memorials to Serra helped to construct systems of racism in which many Native Americans are still oppressed.
Early Saturday morning, a church founded by Serra in 1771 was severely damaged in a fire. Much of the roof and the building’s interior was destroyed, according to firefighters on the scene. Because of the structural damage done to the building, police have not yet been able to determine whether or not the fire was set intentionally.
Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez, who previously defended statues of Serra after they were torn down, in a statement called the fire “terribly sad,” especially as in his view, it is “a shining expression of the beautiful diversity that God intends for his human family.”
Around the same time that fire was set, a man in Ocala, Florida, set fire to a church where people were preparing for mass. He intentionally crashed a minivan into the front doors of the church, got out of his car, and poured gas all over the ground before lighting it on fire, according to police reports.
Police apprehended him shortly afterward. No one was injured in the incident. The man later told police that he knew burning the church was “wrong” but felt compelled to do it anyway because of his disagreements with the Catholic Church, according to the Ocala News.
