The desecrated statue was discovered on July 15 by the Reverend Edivaldo da Silva. The church has now hired an overnight security guard. The Director of Communications for the Archdiocese of Miami, Mary Ross Agosta, told Fox News that the Archbishop is asking for the incident to be investigated as a hate crime.
The church said in a statement that the parish community was saddened by the incident, adding that they condemned the behavior and invited their community to pray for peace.
Florida Catholic Church set on fire with parishioners inside
The incident came on the heels of a far more violent one directed at Christians when 24-year-old Steven Anthony Shields slammed his car into the Queen of Peace Church, a Catholic Church in Ocala, Florida, and then set it on fire while the parishioners inside were getting ready for mass.
Shields is now facing several charges, including attempted murder, arson and evading arrest. An arrest affidavit says the man laughed while admitting to starting the fire. He reportedly told police that he is opposed to the Catholic Church and called his actions ”awesome.”
In California, a fire recently broke out at the 249-year-old San Gabriel mission. The origin of the fire is still being investigated, but it’s worth noting that it occurred just days after the mission had moved a statue of Father Junipero Serra out of public view following the toppling of other statues of the missionary in the state in recent weeks. Indigenous activists consider Serra, the founder of the California mission system, a symbol of oppression.
Meanwhile, a pastor at St. Stephen Catholic Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee, found a decapitated statue of the Virgin Mary. According to the Catholic News Agency, its head has yet to be located. The diocese of Knoxville's Director of Communications, Jim Wogan, said in a statement that they're not sure if the incident was a targeted desecration or simply a prank.
Statues of the Virgin Mary have also been vandalized recently in New York City and Boston. In New Haven, Connecticut, an incident is under investigation in which satanic and anarchist symbols were painted on the doors of St. Joseph Church.
When angry leftist mobs first started vandalizing statues across the nation representing white historical figures, far left activist Shaun King called for statues and images depicting Jesus as a "white European" to be removed because he considers them a form of white supremacy. He called for all imagery to be removed, including “murals and stained glass windows of white Jesus, and his European mother, and their white friends.”
Where is the mainstream media?
There are a few disturbing aspects to what is going on with the rising anti-Christian attacks across the country. The first, of course, is the fact that people are directing so much anger toward those who believe in God. Our nation was founded on the belief that all of us were created equally and have been endowed by our creator with the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. These are not just attacks on God; they’re attacks on America itself.
However, another troubling dimension is the fact that the national mainstream media isn't giving the string of anti-Catholic incidents very much airtime. Just imagine how much coverage they would have given these incidents if they were directed toward a Black Lives Matter protest or an abortion clinic. You’ll see story after story about white people going on “racist rants,” but somehow a church being burned down with people inside of it isn’t deemed newsworthy.
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