A statue of Jesus Christ was decapitated and knocked down a pedestal in a Catholic church in Florida, another in a series of similar incidents across the country.
Reverend Edivaldo da Silva, a three-year-old pastor at Good Shepherd Catholic Church in southwest Miami-Dade, discovered the desecrated representation of Christ on July 15. The police are now investigating.
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“This incident has saddened the parish community,” Good Shepherd said in a statement. “It is too early to reach a conclusion, but we have seen other shattered churches across the country. We totally condemn this action. We invite our community to pray for peace.”
A statue of Jesus Christ at the Good Shepherd Catholic Church in southwest Miami-Dade was found decapitated and knocked down a pedestal early Wednesday morning.
(Archdiocese of Miami)
The church has hired a security guard overnight.
“Archbishop Thomas Wenski requests that this investigation be considered a hate crime,” Mary Ross Agosta, communications director for the Archdiocese of Miami, told Fox News. “The statue, located outside the church, was on private and sacred property.”
In a separate incident, a Catholic congregation in Ocala, several hours north of Miami, was attacked Saturday morning while preparing for mass. Steven Anthony Shields, 24, is accused of hitting his vehicle against the church before setting it on fire. He was arrested and faces various charges, including the attempted murder. Police said Shields told them he was on a mission and that he opposed the Catholic Church.
In another act of violence, the pastor of St. Stephen Catholic Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee, found a statue of the decapitated Mary on Saturday and has not located the head of the statue, reports the Catholic News Agency.
“We don’t know if this was the selective desecration of a sacred statue and our Catholic faith, or some kind of wrong joke, but it hurts,” said Jim Wogan, communications director for the Diocese of Knoxville, in a statement. “For some reason, we are living in a very chaotic moment, and anger seems to be the default scenario for people.”
Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, R-Tennessee, called it a “disturbing attack on Catholicism and religion” in a tweet on Wednesday: “I hope the perpetrators are brought to justice, but I also pray that they find their way to God. ” too.”
The statues of the Virgin Mary were also smashed in Boston and New York over the weekend.
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A 249-year-old Catholic church in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles caught fire on Saturday morning. Captain Antonio Negrete of the San Gabriel Fire Department told local Fox 11 that the recent destruction of monuments to Junipero Serra, the founder of the California mission system, whom indigenous activists see as a symbol of oppression, It will be a factor in the investigation.
After the police-related death of George Floyd in May, Black Lives Matter leaders and protesters called for the collapse of the statues, from Confederate symbols to former American presidents and abolitionists. Activist Shaun King called for all images depicting Jesus as a “white European” and his mother to be shot down because they are forms of “white supremacy” and “racist propaganda.”
Meanwhile, people on social media point to the lack of general coverage of recent anti-Catholic incidents.
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“The churches are burning to the ground. What?” Mike Cernovich, a controversial right-wing author, said in a video on Twitter. “Why is this not the biggest story of the day?”
Sean Feucht, a California worship leader and pastor, commenting on the incidents asked, “Where’s the outrage?”
