Pro-Life Monument at Catholic Church Vandalized 7th Time

State   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Jul 26, 2005   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Pro-Life Monument at Catholic Church Vandalized 7th Time Email this article
Printer friendly page

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
July 26, 2005

Bristol, Rhode Island (LifeNews.com) — A pro-life monument at a local Catholic church mourning the loss of life to abortion has been vandalized for the seventh time. Now, officials at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church are looking for ways to protect the monument from perpetrators.

The words "In Loving Memory of All Innocent Victims of Abortion" are etched in stone on the monument, and that’s apparently offensive to someone or a group of people in the area who have toppled it seven times since May.

"When it’s the seventh time, I question whether this is some sort of desecration or hate crime," Father Henry Zinno told the Providence Journal newspaper.

"When it’s constant, obviously someone is making an effort to knock it down. By the seventh time there is a clear message," he said.

Zinno has called the police each time and asked the 1,600 families to worship there to pay close attention any time they drive by. He’s also had metal bars installed on the front and back of the memorial to protect it, but it keeps getting knocked down.

"We keep putting it back up and calling the police," Zinno said, adding that it takes three or four men to lift the four foot monument each time. "There’s not much we can do."

Zinno told the newspaper that parishioners are getting upset and have paid to install a motion sensor light nearby and are considering putting in iron rods in the memorial to make it impossible to move.

The memorial has been outside the church for five years, but the vandalism started only recently.