Archives

Christ Statue Vandalized at Florida Church Among Latest Attacks on Statues

MIAMI (CNS) — The beheading of a statue of Christ at a Catholic church in the Miami Archdiocese has saddened the parish community of Good Shepherd Church and prompted Miami Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski to call on law enforcement to investigate the incident as a hate crime.

On July 15, the statue at Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Southwest Miami-Dade was found with its head chopped off and knocked from its pedestal.

“It is too soon to arrive to any conclusion, but we have seen other churches vandalized around the country. We totally ‘condemn’ this action. We invite our community to pray for peace,” parish officials said in a statement.

“The statue, located outside the church, was on private and sacred property,” said Mary Ross Agosta, director of communications for the Archdiocese of Miami. She told the local Fox News affiliate Archbishop Wenski requested investigators consider the vandalism “a hate crime.”

The Department of Homeland Security is among the agencies investigating the case.

In recent weeks around the country, angry mobs have toppled statues of figures such as St. Junipero Serra, a Franciscan priest from Spain who founded several missions in California. Statues of historical figures, like Christopher Columbus, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and Frederick Douglass, also have been knocked down and heavily damaged.

A wave of recent attacks on Catholic statues includes an unidentified person using red paint to deface a statue of Mary in front of St. Mary’s Cathedral in downtown Colorado Springs, Colorado, July 15.

“It does look like a graffiti tag more than anything else,” Father David Price, the cathedral’s rector, told local reporters. “I’m not sure there was any sense or meaning behind it.”

In the Diocese of Knoxville, Tennessee, Father Manuel Perez, pastor of St. Stephen Catholic Church in Chattanooga, found a statue of Mary on the parish grounds knocked over and beheaded. News reports said the 5-foot-tall statue was worth $2,000. The missing head has not been found.

As in Florida, the Department of Homeland Security is looking into the incident as a possible hate crime.

“Anytime something like this happens it is disappointing and concerning,” said Diocese of Knoxville diocesan spokesman Jim Wogan in a statement. “We don’t know if this was the targeted desecration of a sacred statue, or some kind of misguided prank, but it hurts.

“For whatever reason we are living in a very chaotic time and anger seems to be the default setting for people,” he added. “Our bishop has asked that we live by the example set in the Gospel of Matthew, to treat others as we ourselves would want to be treated.”

Knoxville Bishop Richard F. Stika tweeted about the incident July 13, saying “what a strange time” we live in. “Over the weekend, an outdoor statue of the Blessed Mother was beheaded at St. Stephen Parish in Chattanooga. This is occurring at various spots throughout the United States.”

A statue of Mary was found defaced July 10 on the grounds of Cathedral Prep School and Seminary in the Diocese of Brooklyn, New York.

Father James Kuroly, Cathedral Prep’s rector and president, called the incident “an act of hatred.”

“Obviously, this tragedy saddens us deeply,” he said in a statement, “but it also renews our hope and faith in the Lord as he has shown his goodness in the many people who have already reached out to us.” He urged prayers “for those who committed this act of vandalism and hatred toward Our Lady and the church.”

Police in Boston were likewise investigating a fire that damaged a statue of Mary outside St. Peter Church the evening of July 11. News reports said flowers in Mary’s hands were set on fire, causing damage from her arms up to her face.

Fire also claimed much of two Catholic churches, one in Florida and one in California.

In the Diocese of Orlando, Florida, a man crashed his van through the doors of Our Lady Queen of Peace Church in Ocala early in the morning July 11. Once inside, he set the interior of the church ablaze. There were no injuries reported.

Police later apprehended the suspect who had fled the scene, identified as Anthony Steven Shields, 24, who was charged with several felonies, including attempted second-degree murder, arson to a structure and felony fleeing or attempting to elude.

In Los Angeles a fire ravaged Mission San Gabriel Arcangel church in the predawn hours of July 11. Investigators have not yet determined what started the blaze that gutted the 230-year-old church.

Currents News full broadcast for Mon, 7/20/20 (Catholic news)

Currents News reports secular and religious news from the Catholic perspective.

Some of the top stories on this newscast:

A shooting surge in the so called “safest big city in the U.S.” What’s a parish’s role in stopping the violence? Pastors in the Brooklyn Diocese say the recent crime surge is a pro-life issue.

A woman defaced three Black Lives Matter murals and says she’s proud she did it.

The latest Catholic Church to go up in flames is in France. It could have been done on purpose.

In a bullet proof vest, Kanye West talks abortion at his first campaign event.

Bevelyn Beatty Says She Defaced NYC’s Black Lives Matter Murals Because ‘Jesus Matters’

Currents News Staff

Bevelyn Beatty’s latest video on her YouTube page has been viewed more than 83,000 times –  it’s a video where the woman shares why she live-streamed the defacing of the Black Lives Mural in Manhattan.

It all started July 18 when Beatty and others spilled black paint and then smeared it all over the Black Lives Matter mural outside of Trump Tower. She was eventually arrested but hours later, she re-emerged in Harlem and then Brooklyn.

“For anything else to matter, Jesus has to matter,” Beatty said. 

According to her biography on social media, Bevelyn is co-founder and evangelist of “At The Well Ministries.” Instead of “Black Lives Matter, she uses the hashtag “Jesus Matters.”

Witnesses yelled at her while sitting in the trunk of a car.

“Black Lives Matter does not speak about the Black cop that dies,” Bevelyn said. ”Black Lives Matter doesn’t speak about the Black man who dies due to Black-on-Black crime … Black Lives Matter doesn’t address the baby in the womb who’s murdered…”

Beatty also supports police and the work they do and opposes defunding police departments. 

“We were the voice that they couldn’t have,” she said. “We were the stand that they couldn’t take.”

While there were people opposing her as she painted over the murals, she also has her supporters.

“A lot of people thought I was being a hero for doing what I did, but I wasn’t being a hero. I was being an American,” Bevelyn said. “I was being an American, but more than that, I was being a Christian … This is what Christians do – we turn tables.”

And she says she’s not done turning tables or painting streets.

“God is good. It was victorious you guys, and we’re gonna keep going,” she said.

Brooklyn Diocese Pastors Say Recent Crime Surge is a Pro-Life Issue

By Jessica Easthope

This year there have been more than 600 shootings in the streets of New York, crime the city hasn’t seen since the 1980s.

“This proves more and more that what we need in this world is some real real real faith,” said Father Frank Black the pastor of St. Matthew’s Catholic Church in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.

Father Black says he barely recognized his parish neighborhood. Crown Heights has seen nearly a dozen shootings just this month.

“Breaking into people’s businesses, shooting other people, drive-by shootings, that’s not pro life,” said Father Black.

Violence is fundamentally at odds with church teaching. To be pro-life is to respect all stages of life from conception to natural death, something Father Black says is not happening in New York right now.

In July alone, 239 shooting incidents have been reported, a 210 percent increase from last year.

The shootings surge comes as the NYPD disbanded its Anti-Crime Unit, a plainclothes group of officers that worked to keep illegal guns off the streets but had a large number of complaints.

Another area hard hit by gun violence is Bedford-Stuyvesant.

“The violence in our community has to come to an end especially for our young people for them to grow in a place where they can walk the streets of the community in a peaceful manner is important,” said Father Alonzo Cox the pastor of St. Martin de Porres church.

Father Cox says the church needs to focus on young people if it ever wants to help curb violence and fulfill its role in the community.

“What we have to do is be an example to our youth and those who we want to guide and it’s our responsibility to be those leaders and those examples,” said Father Cox.

Father Cox has been holding virtual forums for the youth of his parish, allowing them to express their frustrations as well as their hopes for the future of their city.

“Trying our best through the gift of social media to reach out to our youth, our young people here at the parish want to see peace, they want an end to this violence and they want to get out into the community,” said Father Cox.

At a time when a swirl of violence is moving rapidly through the city, pastors say the power of prayer and peace can be much stronger.

Pope Francis Calls For International Ceasefire in Order to Help Pandemic Victims With Humanitarian Aid

Currents News Staff 

According to Johns Hopkins University, the number of global coronavirus deaths already exceeds 600,000 people. Thus, Pope Francis insisted on the proposal for a global ceasefire by the United Nations to help care for the sick and prevent the spread of the virus. 

“I renew the call for an immediate and global ceasefire that will allow the peace and security that is essential for the necessary humanitarian assistance to be given,” Pope Francis said.

The pontiff is also concerned about a conflict that has been reactivated these days in the Caucasus Mountains. Armenia and Azerbaijan have resumed armed conflict for control of the Nagorno Karabakh region and have caused more than a dozen deaths.

“I hope that, with the effort of the international community and through dialogue and the good will of the parties, a lasting peaceful solution can be reached,” Pope Francis said.

In Italy, although there is greater freedom of movement, crowding is still prohibited to avoid contagions. That means the Vatican is far more emptier than usual, with fewer pilgrims this summer in St. Peter’s Square.

Pope Francis addressed his concerns after the daily Angelus prayer in Rome.

“Dear brothers and sisters, in this time, when the pandemic does not seem to be stopping, I want to assure my closeness to all those facing the disease and its economic and social consequences,” he said. 

Archdiocese of Madrid Builds Burial Structure for Coronavirus Victims’ Remains

Currents News Staff 

In record time — only 15 days — the  “Túmulo del Recuerdo” or Tumulus of Memory was created and opened in Madrid. It’s a seven-and-a-half-foot-tall hexagonal structure that will hold the ashes of more than a thousand people who died from the coronavirus.

“Like all priests, the archbishop must respond to the needs of the faithful,” said Father Nelson Nájera, chaplain of the San Justo Cemetery where the structure is located. “The archbishop, aware of this need, opened this tumulus of memory where the ashes of around 1,900 people will be deposited for families who don’t have a place to put them. It’s a way to say there is a place for them.”

The structure was developed by the Sacramental de San Justo Foundation. The designers included a marble finish to the structure that will be covered by a canopy, according to Sacramental de San Justo’s architect Licinio Rivero.

“A canopy is a structure with an altar or coffin inside, so it’s perfect,” Rivero said. “That way, even if it doesn’t cover the whole interior, when you look at it, you can clearly see the silhouette of a temple.” 

Families who were affected by the health and economic crises will now have a final resting place for their loved ones.

“They were counting on being able to choose what to do with the ashes of their loved ones, but they were left without options and without the possibility of burying them,” said Francisco Belmonte, from Sacramental de San Justo.

The “Túmulo del Recuerdo” is ready for use. Cardinal Carlos Osoro blessed it. It’s yet another example of the Church in Madrid’s closeness to the people amid the pain and crisis sparked by the coronavirus.

This American Priest Wants to Make the Church a ‘Field Hospital for Mercy’

By Melissa Butz

In 2016, During the Jubilee Year of Mercy called for by Pope Francis, 1,071 priests were sent out as Missionaries of Mercy. They were given the special grace to forgive sins that hold penalties only the Apostolic See can lift.

“In this case we speak of the five sins reserved to the Holy See. Only the Missionaries of Mercy can absolve from such sins, no other,” said 2016 Jubilee organizer Monsignor Rino Fishichella.

Even though the Jubilee year ended, this ministry continues. Father Jeffrey Kirby is one of the most recent to be nominated as a Missionary of Mercy at his parish in Charleston, South Carolina.

“The Holy Father appoints the priest and then the local bishop gives the decree. That’s what’s happened in my case. My bishop encouraged, he’s promoted me,” Fr. Jeffrey explained. “I was given the appointment by the pope and now the bishop is presenting me with this decree.”

As an author, he said his writings on mercy could be a reason why he was selected. In 2016, he wrote a study called Doors of Mercy and then another on how Maria Goretti is a witness of mercy.

“Throughout my writings or different talks that I’ve done, I’ve always tried to accentuate that message of mercy because I think of all the messages the world is hearing – hate, intolerance – it seems we are told everything’s permissible, but nothing is forgivable,” he said. “I think it’s so important in our world today that the message of mercy be the predominant, emphasized message, especially from the Church.”

Fr. Jeffrey explained his mission will be carried out in his parish, with his parishioners. His goal is for his Charleston church to become a “field hospital for mercy,” as Pope Francis has asked, and for an overflowing of mercy throughout the world.

Civil Rights Leader Rep. John Lewis Dead at 80

Currents News Staff

Civil rights activist and U.S. Representative John Lewis has died at the age of 80.

Lewis announced in December that he had stage four pancreatic cancer. Throughout his life he was a leader –  first as a civil rights activist and then as a long-time congressman. 

Throughout his life, John Lewis stood for people’s rights. Born on an Alabama cotton farm into a segregated America, he would not only live to see an African-American elected president, he would be a major part of making it happen.

“Tonight, tonight, we gather here in this magnificent stadium in Denver because we still have a dream,” Lewis said. “We still have a dream. “

Lewis growing up was angered by the unfairness of the Jim Crow south. He credited Martin Luther King Jr., for inspiring him to join the civil rights movement. Eventually Lewis would become one of its most prominent leaders.

As a student, he organized sit-ins at lunch counters. In the early 1960s, he was a freedom rider challenging segregation at interstate bus terminals across the south. He was the embodiment of non-violence and frequently suffered beatings by angry mobs.

Lewis, 23-years-old at the time, was the youngest speaker at the 1963 March on Washington when he said that “we do not want our freedom gradually, but we want to be free now.”

Then two years later, he led a march for voting rights in Selma. On the Edmund Pettus Bridge, he and the other marchers were met by heavily armed state and local police. They were sat upon and beaten and Lewis suffered from a fractured skull. It would be forever remembered as “Bloody Sunday”.

The images of brutality shocked the nation, galvanizing support for the Voting Rights Act signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson. Lewis never lost his young activist spirit, taking it from protests to politics, standing up for what he believed was right and he was arrested more than 40 times by police, according to his congressional office.

“I’m on my way, and we’re going to win this race,” he said.

He was elected to city council in Atlanta, then to Congress in Washington, representing Georgia’s 5th district fighting against poverty and for healthcare while working to help younger generations by improving education.

He reached out to young people in other ways, co-writing a series of graphic novels about the civil rights movement, which won him a national book award.

In a life filled with so many moments and great achievements, it was the achievement of another, in 2008 that perhaps meant the most – the election of President Barack Obama – a dream Lewis admits was too impossible to consider decades before, even as he fought to forge its foundation.

“This is a unbelievable period in our history,” Lewis said. Martin Luther King Jr. would be very pleased to see what is happening in America. This is a long way from the March on Washington. It’’s a great distance from marching across the bridge on Selma in 1965 for the right to vote.”  

In 2011, after more than 50 years on the front lines of civil rights, Lewis received the nation’s highest civilian honor – the presidential medal of freedom, which was placed around his neck by America’s first Black president.

Lewis wasn’t content to just making history, he was also dedicated to preserving it. Consider the impetus for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African-American History and Culture.

He never stopped stirring up “good trouble” as he liked to call it: boycotting the inauguration of George W. Bush after the contested 2000 election and vocally opposing Donald Trump in 2017 – citing suspicions of Russian election meddling.

At a protest against President Trump’s immigration policy, the congressman, by then an elder statesman of the Democratic party,  riled up the crowd by words he had lived by  as an activist, lawmaker and leader.

“We must never, ever give up,” Lewis said. “We must be brave, bold and courageous.”

 

Currents News full broadcast for Fri, 7/17/20 (Catholic news)

Currents News reports secular and religious news from the Catholic perspective.

Some of the top stories on this newscast:

Multiple churches now crime scenes across America. The Blessed Virgin, vandalized.

A California Mission nearly burnt to the ground with no explanation.

And in Florida, a church set on fire with people inside.

Are Catholics targets, and is hate behind it?