I was just in Toledo… not Ohio. While I was in the glorious cathedral, and I heard that it had been the site of a mosque after the Visigothic church was torn down, it occurred to me that there are whole lot of people who would gladly destroy the present building and all of its treasures and any trace of why the cathedral exists in the first place
Via CNA:
Vandals Attack Churches in France and Belgium
ARIS — In recent weeks, Catholics in France and Belgium — countries still recovering from brutal ISIS attacks — have been hit with numerous acts of violence and aggression, including fires set in churches, an assault on a priest, the desecration of a tabernacle and the hacking of more than 100 Catholic websites.
In the French periodical La Provence, local priest Father Benoît Delabre reported that two weeks ago, the altar at the Church of St. Madeleine-de-l’Île was set on fire in Martigues, about 800 kilometers south of Paris.
“The altar … is marble, which prevented the fire from spreading. I can’t imagine what would have happened with a wooden altar. The consequences for our church would have been tragic.”
He also said that, on May 15, another unknown person desecrated the tabernacle that contained the consecrated Hosts in the church at Jonquières in the same region. Additionally, Father Delabre himself was attacked last Sunday, by a man he caught at the church door who appeared to be “trying to steal something.”
“We know just how serious these attacks are on signs and persons because of their faith. … The Catholic faith, its symbols and those that profess it deserve to be respected just like every kind of religious expression that does not disturb the public order,” he said.
Gaby Charroux, the mayor of Martigues, said in a statement that “thefts of every kind in churches in France are more and more frequent” and promised the police will curb the attacks.
The publication La Croix reported that, in April, more than 100 websites of churches and congregations were hacked by suspected Tunisian cyber-jihadists who call themselves the Fallaga Team.
In Belgium, on the afternoon of May 24, two fires considerably damaged the church in Mont-Sainte-Geneviève, which dates from the 16th century. The first one began in the sacristy. The firefighters had barely left the scene, after managing to control that fire, when another much bigger fire in the church roof was reported.
The police from Hainut, 37 miles southeast of Brussels, are looking for the culprits.
I can think of two groups who would want to desecrate or destroy Catholic Churches. And the “Olympian Middle”, along with the Fishwrap types, are aiding them.
Get ready!
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Father, article aside (which is indeed tragic and sad, btw), since you mentioned that you were in the Toledo Cathedral, did you get a chance to witness the Mozarabic Rite?
It’s baffling that with all the graces France has received, post French Revolution (LaSallette, Lourdes, Miraculous Medial, St. John Vianney) the country seems to get more and more secular each year with the exception of the musloids invading the country. All we can do at this point is pray for God’s Mercy and for the destruction of both freemasonry and islam.
Your mention of the Visigoth church that was destroyed by the Muslins prompts me to remind people to use your Amazon link to purchase The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise by Dario Fernandez Morera. I learned from it that there were many Visigoth churches in Spain that were leveled by the invading Muslims, their materials used to construct mosques. It was said that they were very beautiful, but we will never know.
The attacks are obviously by radical Muslims…..
ISIS is calling for attacks on Europe and the US. It would make sense that
churches and Catholic churches in particular would be some of the targets.
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/islamic-state-threatens-terror-attacks-u-s-europe/
We have no idea how many ISIS members or sympathizers have already come across our open border nor how many will be brought in because we have been told that they cannot be properly vetted.
Thank you for posting this Father Z. I had not heard or read anything about this previously
in the US media.
Thank you also for the information majuscule.
My computer was hacked in 2011 in Malta and there it is considered an international crime, so a kind Maltese contact took me to the police station. There I learned that most of the hacking in that area comes from Africa.
Now, I am very careful when abroad using sites. Most of the airports, some trains and even some buses have wifi, as well as the cafes in Europe. There are also hotspots. One learns which ones are trustworthy. Sadly, too many institutions are behind in their maleware, and the internet thugs seem to be one step ahead.
That the Church is under attack is not shocking given all the enemies, but it would be nice if a group of men took turns staying in churches and not letting these be without guards. In some places, this is so. It seems even smaller and less well-known churches need such guarding now.
Given that most of the vandalized churches are Catholic and in rural areas and Muslims tend to be concentrated in more urban areas, I would suspect secularists more.
That said, my limited experience with Mass-going French Catholics was that they were very Catholic and very protective of their churches, and their priests.
I’m glad you appreciated Toledo cathedral, I hope you liked the city too.El Greco’s burial of Count Orgaz was a favourite of my mother. To anyone sated with Italy Spain may seem smalllish beer?For all, see it while you may, even were the secularists and the others quiet as mice, little of Spain or anywhere else, the church included, will survive much longer at 1,1 births per fertile woman ,the modern birthrate.
In Hanford, California, last Sunday night May 29, a man, now under arrest, attempted to destroy the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church. Statues were turned to face walls, some pictures torn apart, candles thrown down, wiring ripped out, windows smashed, and vestments used as kindling to set the Church ablaze. KMPH Fresno reported that the man somehow picked up the tabernacle and threw it over a fence into a neighbor’s yard. Surveillance video indicates that the man was not in a wild rage, as his movements appear slow and deliberate.
In an unusual non-Church attack, on June 1 FOX5 Atlanta reported that:
“Amina Ahra, 30, was arrested on two counts of simple battery after being accused of attacking a mother and daughter at their home.
“Dami Arno told police she was in the garage talking with her daughter when she said Ahra came out of the woods wearing a full Burka, grabbed the flag from off the mailbox and charged at them.
“She said she still cannot believe it all happened on American soil.
““A lady walked out of our woods in a full Burka, full attire, stares at us for a minute, then grabs my American flag off of my mailbox and charges towards us with it, just swinging it with all her might,“ the wife and mother said.
“When she came charging , it was kinda like momma bear instincts kicked in. She had to protect her children,” daughter Brittany Arno said.
“Arno said when Ahra grabbed the flag; the two women began to fight. That is when Arno’s 17-year-old daughter jumped in and her 14-year-old son grabbed the family gun.
“Neighbors also ran to help and held Ahra down until Lawrenceville Police arrived.”
There is a parish in my town, recently wreckovated, that has a statue of an angel with long, shaggy hair playing a stratocaster. Why can’t the vandals ever come for things like that?
. . . my limited experience with Mass-going French Catholics was that they were very Catholic and very protective of their churches, and their priests.
That jibes with my own limited experience—at French parishes that offer the traditional Mass. At exclusively Novus Ordo parishes in France, “Catholicity” or protectiveness seems no more or less intense than at the average Novus Ordo parish in these USA.
Conclusions based on small sample sizes are by definition reckless. But worshiping at parishes that cherish their patrimony is a boost to my morale and my faith, whether at home or abroad.
An angel with a Stratocaster kithara? Really?
But where does he plug in the extension cord and the speaker?