Greetings in Christ! I am afraid I have some rather sad news.
I am typing this article on Wednesday, August 23rd. I need to tell you that two people visited our Church in the dead of the night and walked all through our buildings and property, committing acts of vandalism and desecration. They do not appear to have been able to get into the school.
By vandalism, I mean the intentional breaking or mistreating of non-sacred things. By desecration or sacrilege, I am referring to acts where sacred things are intentionally broken or mistreated.
As to why they did this, I have no idea. Since the Supreme Court decided that abortion is a state issue and not a right guaranteed in the constitution of the United States, the desecrations and vandalisms of Catholic Churches have risen at an astounding rate. Catholic Churches are being vandalized and desecrated at a rate that exceeds anything in American History since shortly before the American Civil War. It could be this.
It may also simply be an outburst that is completely unrelated to our faith. We really don’t know and won’t unless the perpetrators tell us. So, what do we do? First, our property is pretty much totally covered by security cameras and we now have pictures of the perpetrators in the act of vandalizing. The Police now have those as well and will do what they always do: their best to help.
It is a custom in the Catholic Church that a Mass of Reparation is a good response to Sacrilege or Desecration so the second thing we did was to pray that Mass on Friday of this week.
Third, we will pray for those who did these things and we will love them. Whatever their motives, if they even had any, these people are our patients, not our enemies and it is our duty as lovers of Jesus to act like Jesus did.
To be clear, I must remind us all that this is not an option Jesus offers us. This is a command He gives us.
We will bury the Sacred Objects that were broken and we will buy new ones.
We will fix the non-Sacred things that are broken and replace the ones we cannot repair.
We will love the people who did this with all our heart. We will forgive them and if they seek to reconcile with us, we will welcome them with open arms.
I’m sorry that this happened. By God’s grace, we have worked hard to worship Him as He deserves, to grow in love and knowledge of Him, to care for those in need and to invite others to join us in doing so. This is why we exist and nothing that happened or will happen can stop us except ourselves.
I love you all and I’m so terribly blessed to be your priest.
Fjk