California Catholics Under Attack – Archdiocese of San Francisco
Our nation is now struggling to come to terms with its history of racism. Yet universally ignored is its long, deep and sordid history of anti-Catholicism. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops reports that at least 260 incidents attacks on church property have occurred across 43 states and the District of Columbia since May 2020. The behavior runs the gamut, from arson to spray-painting, beheading and toppling statues, to defacing gravestones with swastikas and anti-Catholic messages. Arrests in these cases, and especially prosecutions, have been extremely rare.
In October 2020, protesters trespassed onto the property of Mission San Rafael carrying paint, tools and rope with the intention of desecrating and destroying a beloved statue of St. Junípero Serra. Five perpetrators were later charged with felony vandalism.
Yet on May 25, the Marin County district attorney s office decided to resolve the case through an innovative restorative justice solution reducing the charges to a misdemeanor if the defendants were willing to say I m sorry and pay an unspecified sum toward restitution, along with other minor stipulations. In other words: Mea culpa, nothing else to see here.
Catholics believe in contrition, but we also believe in justice. This is neither. These five committed a felony, which was witnessed, recorded and widely publicized. Damage to the saint s statue which was sprayed with red paint and dragged to the ground is estimated as high as $40,000, the parish told me.
Worse yet, officers from the San Rafael Police Department saw the crime in real time and decided to observe the demonstration and not intervene for fear of escalation. Never mind that what transpired was hardly a demonstration. Parish leaders told me that the police violated a promise they made with the church to step up if protesters trespassed on the property.
Family lore has it that the KKK burned a cross on my mother’s girlhood home back in the 1920’s. My mother denied it, but she frequently denied things that were embarrassing yet true. My Dad affirmed that it had happened, but it was a long time ago. I grew in a sheltered environment and didn’t realize there was such a thing as anti-Catholic bigotry until I was well into my twenties. Naturally, my first real encounter with it was when I went on the academic job market for the first time. Didn’t these people know it was the 1980’s?
You may have noticed racism is making a big comeback in the USA. I had thought we were leaving behind – you know, because of “progress.” Anti-racism is just one of the new forms of racism, not that the old forms are entirely discredited. In any event, racism and its close cousin, bigotry, are especially flourishing here in California.