Cardinal Dolan denounces an epidemic of attacks. Where does this violence come from?
by Daniela Bovolenta
On July 17, a woman attacked and vandalized statues of the Virgin Mary and of St. Therese the Little Flower outside Our Lady of Mercy Roman Catholic Church in Forest Hills, Queens. The statues are popular with the local Catholics, and have been there since the 1930s.
This was not an isolated incident. In the last three months, Catholic statues have ben often targeted. At St. Adalbert Church in Elmhurst a 130-year-old statue of the Virgin Mary was smashed and cut into two pieces.
A crucifix was attacked outside St. Athanasius Roman Catholic Church in Bensonhurst in Brooklyn, which led to an impromptu prayer vigil by the parishioners.
In this case, surveillance videos led to the arrest of the perpetrator, 29-year-old Ali Alaheri. He is an ultra-fundamentalist Muslim extremist, and police has also connected him with setting fire to a yeshiva and a synagogue in Brooklyn.
Outside Our Lady of Mount Carmel-St. Benedicta-St. Mary of the Assumption parish on Staten Island, a vandal destroyed statues of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Cardinal Dolan of New York came to pray in reparation of the offense. A suspect was arrested.
Why this epidemic? “We preach love! Why do some hate us?” asked Cardinal Dolan after the Staten Island incident.
Motivations can be different, from ultra-fundamentalism Islam in the case of Bensonhurst to misguided attempts to replicate the attacks on churches in Canada in protest of the Catholic cooperation with the government’s program of boarding schools for First Nation children. In general, anti-religious and, particularly, anti-Catholic feelings fueled by some media led to a rampant anti-clericalism and, unavoidably, to violence.
“When people attack religion, faith, the churches, mosques, synagogues, or, worse, persons, Cardinal Dolan said, our entire culture, society, and common good are weakened and threatened.”
“These disturbed people of hate are shrewd, Dolan added. Nihilists and anarchists know that to wreck civilization, it is effective to target those who nobly advocate for the dignity of the human person and the sacredness of all human life—and that means people of faith and their houses of worship. While we pray for these culprits, we condemn their acts.”
