I am venturing into Clemente Lisi territory with this post, and I know that. However, there are questions about the national wave of attacks on Catholic churches and sacred sites that have started to bother me. Maybe this is a test case of how the post-American Model of the Press marketplace is really going to work? Just how biased is the acceptable bias going to get?
Let’s start here: If bad people attack African-American sanctuariess, is this a news story? The answer, of course, is “Yes.” Everyone agrees, with the exception of unrepentant racists.
Now, if bad people attack Roman Catholic churches, is that a news story? The answer appears to be “No.” This is news for “Catholic,” “religious” and “conservative” newsrooms. It appears to be a minor story, zip code by zip code, in local news. This violent trend is not news for elite, national-level media.
Why is that? Possible answers include: (a) These attacks are being done by people who are “good” in the eyes of journalists because their cause is just. (b) These are bad Catholic churches (they do not fly Pride flags, etc.). (c) There are just too many of these attacks for them to be considered “news.”
Finally, (d) if these attacks were news, public officials would have to ponder whether they are “hate crimes.” This would violate the unspoken law that it’s impossible to commit a hate crime against a group that has not been declared “oppressed” by The New York Times, National Public Radio, Yale Law School and others.
Would this trend be a story if the world’s second most famous Catholic delivered an Oval Office address on the subject? Maybe we will see, if President Joe Biden sees trouble brewing in New Hampshire.
Oh well, whatever, nevermind. Here is yet another one of those “local” stories: “Cross cut down at Santiago Retreat Center in Silverado Canyon, investigators looking for suspect.” The familiar details:
A 14-foot wooden cross at the Santiago Retreat Center was sawed down this week, leaving staff and counselors shocked while Orange County sheriff’s officials try to identify a suspect, authorities said. …
Staff arriving at the 500-acre Christian retreat center in Silverado Canyon … found that the cross, which had recently been dedicated during a retreat the Friday and Saturday before Father’s Day, had been vandalized during the first week of a vacation Bible camp hosting kids from kindergarten through the 8th grade, Mark McElrath, executive director of the center said in a statement. …
Officials called the Orange County Sheriff’s Department sometime Thursday afternoon, Sgt. Frank Gonzalez said. … Gonzalez said investigators were still looking into the matter as a possible hate crime, “but we’re still working on leads.”
“It’s still a mystery why an apparently hateful person destroyed the cross using a chain saw,” McElrath said in the statement.
Oh, by the way — this is a Catholic camp, even though the Orange County Register story never mentions that. Thus, I looked up the camp. Why not mention this rather relevant fact? The story notes:
Father Glenn Baaten, chaplain of the Santiago Retreat Center, said he was saddened, “but perhaps not surprised in this day and age,” upon learning of the vandalism. “We are praying for the soul of this person who cut down our cross,” he said.
The title “father” is used among the Eastern Orthodox and in Anglican settings, as well. Again, what is the journalism reason for failing to mention that this is a Catholic camp? Think about that.
Meanwhile, let me end with some material from a Spectator think piece on this topic — written by Catholic sociologist Anne Hendershott. The provocative headline: “War on Catholics Continues: Churches and Crucifixes Desecrated — They are complicit in their own persecution.”
Hold that thought. Here is a major block of summary material from Hendershott:
Most often, acts of vandalism against Catholic sites are not charged as hate crimes. In fact, in some of the most heinous attacks, felony vandalism charges are downgraded to misdemeanors, with the vandals paying little or no price for their vicious destruction of Catholic sacred objects. This is exactly what has happened in the aftermath of the Oct. 12, 2020, destruction of the St. Junípero Serra statue on the grounds of Mission San Rafael Arcángel, the present-day home of St. Rafael Church in Marin County, California. In November 2020, the Marin County District Attorney’s Office filed felony vandalism charges against the five defendants — none of them juveniles. But after outcry against the “harsh” charges, the office reversed its decision by reducing the felony charges to misdemeanors.
Ah, misdemeanors. What to do?
… The Marin County District Attorney’s Office announced “a solution” to the 2020 charges, claiming that the vandalism of the sacred statue was “resolved through an innovative restorative justice solution,” which required the perpetrators to complete 50 hours of volunteer work and pay an undisclosed sum to be determined by Marin’s Probation Department. The five vandals will also have the opportunity to participate in a community forum to have a “meaningful dialogue” with a “credible historian” who will give all stakeholders a chance to have a discussion about Fr. Serra.
It’s crucial, apparently, that the vandals would have the opportunity to “ present their side of the debate over the value of the contributions of St. Junípero.”
Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone said this gesture signaled that authorities thought that, well, maybe these attacks could continue. Saith the archbishop (a conservative one, of course):
It is clear to me that this course of action would not have been taken with anyone else. In fact, if the same kind of offense had been committed against another religious congregation or group, it most certainly would have been prosecuted as a hate crime…. Now, with this decision, the Marin County district attorney has given the signal that attacks on Catholic houses of worship and sacred objects may continue without serious legal consequences.
Hendershott noted that President Biden has made it clear that attacks on oppressed religious minorities will not be tolerated. But, who is “oppressed” and who is not?
Some Catholics have protested the president’s silence on the anti-Catholic violence. But many Catholics have remained silent.
This fact leads to what I think is an interesting news story. And this brings us to those strong words at the end of the Spectator headline.
In fact, in some ways, Catholics have become complicit in their own attacks by participating in anti-Catholic sentiments.
Statues of St. Junípero — a beloved saint who was canonized in 2015 by Pope Francis — have been removed from many Catholic campuses and churches throughout California. One of those Catholic campuses is the University of San Diego, whose president has kept the statue of St. Junípero Serra stored away for more than three years now.
Are statues of St. Junipero coming down?
I would argue that this is news in California, for sure, and I would say that the topic is worthy of national-media attention.
If reporters need a national hook, they can ask this question: What is the status of the statue of this California saint that stands in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.? Is it “just a matter of time” before California officials remove it?
Stay tuned.
FIRST IMAGE: Vandalized Catholic church in Boulder, Colorado. Image via Youtube screenshot.