Catholic archdioceses experience vandalism amid political con icts

Controversial policy decisions spark animosity toward religion

BY CONNOR RYAN NEWS EDITOR

Over the past few years, the melding of politics and the church has become inescapable, especially for those whose political ideologies clash with the ideals of a religious group.

“At least 239 incidents have occurred across 42 states and the District of Columbia since May 2020. Incidents include arson, statues beheaded, limbs cut, smashed, and painted, gravestones defaced with swastikas and anti-Catholic language and American flags next to them burned, and other destruction and vandalism,” according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops website. The number of incidents has increased, with the number in 2022 being nearly triple that of 2020.

“In 2018, there were 50 incidences of hostility against churches; in 2019, there were 83, in 2020 there were 54; in 2021 there were 96; and between January and September 2022, there were 137,” according to a report by the Family Research Council.

With the increasingly volatile political climate in the U.S., archdioceses across the country have been targeted for a variety of reasons.

Local faith leaders said the Catholic church has recently faced opposition from progressive groups who disagree with the Christian belief that life begins at conception.

Deacon John De Gano of St. Catherine of Alexandria Catholic Church in Riverside said the overturning of Roe v. Wade caused his church’s leadership to worry for their safety.

“We’re across the street from Planned Parenthood,” De Gano said. “If there was some kind of a rally, it’s likely we would be the focus of their attention because we’re so close.”

Though De Gano’s church has only experienced occasional gra ti, the Queen of Angels Church in Riverside was not so lucky. Reverend Beni Leu, the pastor of Queen of Angels Church, said that an unknown individual destroyed the church’s mailbox sometime in January.

This is not the first time they have experienced vandalism.

A few years ago, Leu said, someone sprayed various profanities along the outside of the building with gra ti.

De Gano also referenced an incident at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles, where a group of people dressed up as characters from the Hulu show “The Handmaid’s Tale” and interrupted mass.

“The Handmaid’s Tale,” based on Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel, is about a totalitarian society that tries to control women’s fertility, implying that these individuals blamed the Catholic Church for state abortion laws.

“There are also those who like to stir the pot like to cause trouble, and so they will create opportunities to put down faith or religion,” De Gano said.

Sarah Mandzok, sophomore pre-nursing student and a