Archbishop Condemns Hundreds of Attacks on Churches: Take Them Seriously or They Will Get Worse

National   |   Micaiah Bilger   |   Jun 5, 2023   |   12:42PM   |   Washington, DC

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone urged America’s leaders to start taking attacks on churches more seriously after a local prosecutor reduced charges for five individuals accused of vandalizing a Catholic mission.

Writing at the Wall Street Journal on June 1, Cordileone said the “long, deep and sordid history of anti-Catholicism” has been ignored for far too long in America, and attacks will continue unless action is taken.

At least 260 attacks on Catholic churches have occurred since May 2020, including arson, vandalism and other property damage, according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. LifeNews, the Family Research Council and others also have tracked a rise in violence against other Christian churches and pro-life organizations in the same time period.

Cordileone expressed frustration that the attacks are not being treated more seriously and perpetrators are getting off easy, noting incidents “from arson to spray-painting, beheading and toppling statues, to defacing gravestones with swastikas and anti-Catholic messages.”

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He pointed to an example in his archdiocese where a statue of St. Junípero Serra at the Mission San Rafael in San Francisco was vandalized and five individuals initially were charged with felonies. Late last month, however, Marin County District Attorney Lori Frugoli, a Democrat, reduced the charges to misdemeanors because she said the defendants’ participated in “restorative justice” classes and agreed to pay restitution.

Cordileone said the reduced charges sends the message that “attacks on our houses of worship and sacred images may continue without serious legal consequence.”

“Catholics believe in contrition, but we also believe in justice. This is neither,” the archbishop said. “These five committed a felony, which was witnessed, recorded and widely publicized. History teaches that when we don’t treat religiously or racially motivated crime seriously, we will see more and worse aggression.”

Increasingly, churches and pro-life advocates have become targets of vandalism and violence. LifeNews counted about 250 attacks in 2022, including ten arson/attempted arson attacks. Last fall, an older pro-life woman was shot while campaigning for the election in Michigan, and two pro-life sidewalk counselors were brutally assaulted late last month in Maryland.
Many pro-life organizations are increasing security and Republican lawmakers are demanding action from the Biden administration to crack down on the growing pro-abortion domestic terrorism. But, while the Biden administration has been aggressively working to expand the killing of unborn babies in abortions, it has done little to stop the hostilities directed at pro-life advocates and churches.

Frustrated by the inaction, a New York pregnancy resource center recently launched its own private investigation into a June 2022 arson attack that caused more than half a million dollars in damage and injured two firefighters.

Many have accused the Biden administration of using the Department of Justice, FBI and other agencies as a weapon against its political opponents. Peaceful pro-life advocates have had their homes raided by FBI agents, while arson attacks, property damage and vandalisms of pro-life organizations go unpunished.

Then, in May, government documents uncovered by the Media Research Center exposed how the Biden administration is giving “anti-terrorism” grants to university programs that actually appear to promote terrorism against pro-life advocates and conservatives. In one taxpayer-funded program, a professor and self-proclaimed member of Antifa admitted that “a lot of things we’re doing are illegal” and “a lot of it involves breaking the law,” according to the documents.