Prosecute statue vandals

Richard A. Sokerka

Earlier this year, vandals ran amuck across the nation tearing down statues of religious and historic figures with impunity.

Very few political leaders called for these vandals to be prosecuted according to the law for their random acts of violence. When asked about the vandalism of statues earlier this year, Democrat Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi of California, a Catholic whose district includes San Francisco, said, “People will do what people will do.”

However, her bishop thinks otherwise.

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco is standing up to the vandals. He has asked the Marin County district attorney to prosecute those arrested after an Oct. 12 riot at a mission church to the “full extent of the law,” after rioters defaced and pulled to the ground a statue of St. Junipero Serra.

“This attack on a cherished religious symbol on our own church property is not a minor property crime, but an attack on Catholics as a people,” Archbishop Cordileone wrote in his letter to the district attorney.

“If the perpetrators of this crime are not brought to justice, small mobs will be able to decide what religious symbols all people of faith may display on their own property to further their faith, and they will continue to inflict considerable spiritual suffering on ordinary Catholic people who would see our sacred spaces as unprotected by law.”

The riot that led to the statue’s destruction took place Oct. 12 at Mission San Rafael Arcángel in San Rafael, north of San Francisco. During the protest, several masked people threw red paint at the statue’s face. At least five people are seen pulling on the statue’s head with nylon cords and ropes, pulling it to the ground.

Catholics rallied in a peaceful prayer demonstration the day after the riot, with Father Kyle Faller, parochial vicar at the mission, leading a rosary and urging the crowd of people to persevere in prayer, and offering a reflection on Jesus’ forgiveness in the face of persecution.

The archbishop performed an exorcism at the site of the statue Oct. 17, calling the statue’s destruction an “act of blasphemy.”

The San Rafael Police Department said that six women were arrested and that the cases were forwarded to the district attorney’s office for prosecution.

Archbishop Cordileone seconded the San Rafael Police Department’s request that all be charged with — in addition to trespassing and conspiracy — felony vandalism and vandalism in a house of worship — a hate crime.

The archbishop said, “I would like, on behalf of thousands of Catholics in the Bay Area and around this country, to thank the San Rafael Police both for arresting the miscreants and for being the first lawful civil authority to recognize that this crime they witnessed is a serious assault against a whole people’s right to display the religious symbols they wish on their own property,” he said.

We applaud the courage of the Arch­bishop of San Francisco for doing what our elected officials have failed to do — protect our First Amendment religious rights, protect the Church’s holy grounds from violent attacks and prosecute those who do these demonic acts to the fullest extent the law allows.