Over the last few years, there’s been a tremendous surge in the number of desecrations of Catholic churches, statues and cemeteries.
This is taking place here in the USA, for sure, but it is also taking place in many other countries throughout the world. Venezuela has been especially hard hit.
The latest run of desecrations of Catholic churches and statues in the USA has taken place in New Jersey. A friend who works in that state told me that 26 churches had recently been attacked, and that many statues of Our Lady and the saints had been toppled and smashed.
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If we rewind the clock to 1566, we see that the same thing happened then: a mob of Calvinist heretics desecrated the Catholic cathedral of Antwerp.
(Statues beheaded in Utrecht.)
They started their work of desecration by smashing a beautiful statue of Our Lady. Stained glass windows and holy chalices followed.
Next, they beheaded statues of Our Lord and the saints.
A magnificent old crucifix was also hacked to pieces, although the heretics the statues of the two thieves in the same ensemble was left untouched.
Historians tell us that this type of blasphemy terrorism spread across all the Protestant parts of Europe, although it was very violent in Holland.
In Antwerp alone more than twenty five Catholic churches were devastated in one night.
Sounds like New Jersey in 2011. But it is also unlike New Jersey in 2011.
There is a major difference in the way heretics went about desecrating Catholic churches in 1566 from the way it is being done today.
The heretics of 1566 pillaged and gutted Catholic churches in an openly defiant manner, publicly expressing their hatred for Our Lord, Our Lady, the saints and the sacraments of Holy Mother Church.
Today’s desecrators are a different breed of people. They are largely anonymous. They operate in the dark, usually smashing statues at night. They usually do not target the most important churches for desecration, but chose less known ones.
Their motives are usually unspoken.
They are called “vandals” by the press.
What is a “vandal’? Is a vandal a drunk teenager out for warped fun, or Satanist who deeply hates God?
These “vandals” desecrate the churches of a certain area for a few nights, then suddenly stop and seemingly disappear.
Weeks later, desecrations start happening in another city, in another state. They seem to follow a similar pattern. But no one knows or explains if there is any link between the desecrations.
The Threat to the Catholic Faithful
Although blasphemy terrorism is not new to history, it represents a terrible offense against God.
It is also very grave threat to the faith of the average Catholic.
Why?
Because this blasphemy terrorism goes on and on and there seems to be no solution in sight to stop it.
The temptation, therefore, is for the faithful to start shrugging off these desecrations.
The person may have an initial burst of emotional disgust. But for many reasons, they do not take the time to study this terrible phenomenon of blasphemy terrorism and to reject it with sufficient outrage.
The risk is that souls become callous to the sins of blasphemy and sacrilege.
That’s why I call it blasphemous terrorism.
The remedy is to fight the temptation to apathy with every fiber of our souls, by:
1) Studying the deeper reasons why the sins of blasphemy offend God
2) Organizing a regular group of reparation to console Our Lord and Our Lady for such sins
3) Organizing a public act of reparation for every blasphemy that is done
4) Contacting the police and insisting that justice be done in each and every case where the law has been broken
5) Above, we must for the grace of holy indignation to fill our souls against these abominations
If our souls are filled with holy indignation, there will be no room for the callous and indifferent spirit that reigns in so many lax souls today.
If we do not react with the appropriate degree of indignation that the circumstances require, we will slowly slip into luke-warmness.
And in no way do we want to become lukewarm, because of this type of person, Our Lord said:
“But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, not hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth.”
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Photo by Arktos
Cathedral of Saint Martin, Utrecht.
Permission to reuse this file granted under under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license.
Why can't these statues protect themselves? Because they are falsehoods. God hates idols. That should be a sign to let it be known that He hates them since He let them get smashed. Why do you teach people to venerate images when the Bible speaks against it?
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