Catholic church's statues vandalized over weekend

[Ian David]

Catholic church's statues vandalized over weekend
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
By RON COLQUITT
Staff Reporter

Mobile police are investigating two vandalized and one stolen religious statue at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church and school in the Tillman's Corner area of south Mobile County.

<snip>

He said the head of a statue of St. Vincent de Paul near the entrance to the church's sanctuary was knocked off with a wooden sawhorse and the head was taken by the person who vandalized the statue. According to the pastor, the statue, which was made of Italian marble, will cost $15,000 to replace.

<snip>

In addition, an almost life-size, cast cement statue of Our Lady of Grace (Mary, the mother of Christ) valued at $300 also was decapitated Sunday. That head was also taken away, Sofie said.

<snip>

"For Catholics, sacred images, such as these statues, are a reminder of the heroes of our faith. In this case, St. Vincent de Paul is our patron, and Our Lady is the queen of all saints. To attack the images is tantamount to attacking the (real) person, so we take it very personally," the priest said.

More:
http://www.al.com/news/press-register/index.ssf?/base/news/118526888872730.xml&coll=3&thispage=2

[King Coal]

1. That is pretty sick.

[zbdent]

5. Sicker report from Akron Ohio this morning

a 17-year-old and a 19-year-old were arrested for assaulting homeless people, including throwing rocks at them ... one set a pile of clothes on fire (a bit of a change from setting the actual homeless person on fire) using lighter fluid ...

Sounds like Repuke family values to me ... people who attack the "dregs of society who do nothing but drain resources and are constantly drunk" ...

[porphyrian]

2. Anyone else see the irony in a $15,000 statue of St. Vincent de Paul? - n/t

[bleedingheart]

3. Yes, however people generally donate these things

our church just got a brand new altar...courtesy of a wealthy group of citizens.

[porphyrian]

4. I'm sure that altar helps the community better than feeding the homeless, say.

Being Catholic must be kind of like worshiping at a bank.

[bleedingheart]

8. Actually Catholic charities do a great deal to help folks in the community

and like Edward's haircut they can't exactly tell wealthy donors how to spend their money...it is more a reflection on the donor, not the church...folks want their name to live on...

Carnegie, Frick, Mellon...all of them robber barons but because they donated and established large institutions...they are lauded...yet they screwed over their workers, they even hired people to kill them if necessary...and today it is largely forgotten that every Carnegie Library in this country was built off the blood, sweat and sometimes the deaths of poorly paid workers...

[porphyrian]

9. Catholic charities don't justify the avarice of the church.

It can refuse donations, you know, or ask that they be in another form. That a justification.

I don't know who you hear lauding the robber barons around here, but that's not what I hear.

You're making excuses.

[bleedingheart]

10. well it applies to every church and every religion...

so before you pick on just the Catholic church...look around....

I have driven through the poorest communities and see pristine little churches of various faiths....all taken care of and clearly flush with cash...yet the folks in that community didn't have much...

[porphyrian]

11. I agree, and do apply that criticism to every church. But we're talking about the Catholic church.

And they've been around the longest.

[LanternWaste]

12. Should that same criticism be applied to all progressive individuals, also?

Should that same criticism be applied to all progressive individuals, also? For example, if one is a progressive and holds poverty as the number one thing wrong in this world, yet that same person owns non-essential goods such as a DVD player, CD's or a console gaming system which cost money that could have been used to donate food, does your criticism still apply? If not, what are the precise and relevant differences?

:shrug:

[DemBones DemBones]

16. Excellent point, which I see has not been answered

by the poster who so dislikes the Catholic Church.

[porphyrian]

22. Yeah, I don't live on here, smartass.

And I don't dislike the Catholic church, I hate it's blatant self-righteous hypocrisy.

[porphyrian]

21. Not unless the individual claims to speak for God.

You don't really think you're making a fair correlation, do you? Both would be hypocritical, but the degree is vastly different.

[KiraBS]

13. deleted

deleted

[Ian David]

6. There is THAT, too. n/t

[porphyrian]

7. It made me chuckle. - n/t

[DemBones DemBones]

17. All religions believe it is important to honor God with beauty and

worship in beautiful spaces.

Look at the ornate designs and/or sculptures in Buddhist, Hindu, and Shinto temples, mosques, synagogues.

At the opposite extreme are the simple wooden churches painted white and rather bare inside favored by Primitive Baptists, Quakers, and other sects who see beauty in simplicity.

I think that everyone is able to see beauty in simplicity and that the more ornate churches, temples, mosques, and synagogues reflect an attempt to make the worship space like Heaven itself as well as an attempt to honor God with beauty. That was definitely the intent of Catholic churches throughout the ages until Vatican II when many churches were remade in a boring Protestantized style. In earlier times, the churches and cathedrals were built to be as glorious as Heaven and also to teach the faithful through frescoes, stained glass windows, and other illustrations of Bible stories. In the many centuries when the majority of people were unable to read books, and couldn't have afforded them, anyway, before the advent of the printing press, people read the imagery of the church, inside and out.

[porphyrian]

19. Beauty doesn't cost a dime, that's an excuse for wealth-hording. - n/t

[NeedleCast]

18. I was thinking the same thing

Surely the church has something better to spend 15,000 dollars on that Italian marble.

[porphyrian]

20. It's even more ironic if you look into who Vincent de Paul was...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_de_Paul_(saint)

[AspenRose]

14. Fifty bucks says the person(s) who did this read Chick Tracks.

Or distribute them.

[Bluebear]

15. Spot on. nt