Protesters desecrated St. Patrick’s Cathedral with graffiti Saturday, staining stairs and spewing hatred on two walls.
The graffiti on one wall on Fifth Avenue and 51st Street read “F–k F–k” in red letters. On an adjacent wall, vandals scrawled “BLM” — for Black Lives Matter — along with “NYPDK” in red letters and “No justice no peace” in black letters.
One of the stairs was spray-painted with “George Floyd” in black letters.
A Post reporter spotted the vandalism at around 6:30 p.m. Police at the scene declined immediate comment.
The sacrilegious scrawl was more than likely etched while protesters marched down Fifth Avenue past the Cathedral earlier Saturday.
And from Minneapolis, there’s this report from CNA:
The nation’s first basilica sustained fire damage amid the Minneapolis riots that have crippled the city after the death of George Floyd, a black man who was killed by a police officer May 25.
“The Basilica of Saint Mary did withstand minor damage yesterday. No one was injured in the incident. At the time we pray for peace and healing in our city,” a spokesperson for the basilica said in a statement issued May 30.
The basilica church was dedicated in 1914, as a pro-cathedral for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. It was designated a minor basilica by Pope Pius XI in 1926, the first church in the country to be so designated.
Photos posted on social media purport to show several fire damaged pews inside the basilica. While the photos do seem to match the appearance of the church’s interior, a basilica spokeswoman told CNA she could not comment on the photos or verify their authenticity.
Mae Desaire, communications director at the basilica, told CNA that the church is focused on praying for the city.
“Our damage in comparison to what is going in the city is really just minimal, and we’d really like to focus on that,” Desaire told CNA.
Also, The Dallas Morning News reported Saturday that the doors of the St. Jude Chapel in downtown Dallas were smashed by protestors Friday night.
In the midst of this, on Friday the United States bishops released a statement:
Seven U.S. bishop chairmen of committees within the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a statement on May 29 in the wake of the death of George Floyd and the protests which have broken out in Minneapolis and in other cities in the United States.
Bishop Shelton J. Fabre of Houma-Thibodaux, chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism; Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez of Philadelphia, chairman of the Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church; Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, chairman of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development; Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City in Kansas, chairman of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities; Bishop Joseph C. Bambera of Scranton, chairman of the Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs; Bishop David G. O’Connell, auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles, chairman of the Subcommittee on the Catholic Campaign for Human Development; and Bishop Joseph N. Perry, auxiliary bishop of Chicago, chairman of the Subcommittee on African American Affairs have issued the following statement:
“We are broken-hearted, sickened, and outraged to watch another video of an African American man being killed before our very eyes. What’s more astounding is that this is happening within mere weeks of several other such occurrences. This is the latest wake-up call that needs to be answered by each of us in a spirit of determined conversion.
“Racism is not a thing of the past or simply a throwaway political issue to be bandied about when convenient. It is a real and present danger that must be met head on. As members of the Church, we must stand for the more difficult right and just actions instead of the easy wrongs of indifference. We cannot turn a blind eye to these atrocities and yet still try to profess to respect every human life. We serve a God of love, mercy, and justice.
“While it is expected that we will plead for peaceful non-violent protests, and we certainly do, we also stand in passionate support of communities that are understandably outraged. Too many communities around this country feel their voices are not being heard, their complaints about racist treatment are unheeded, and we are not doing enough to point out that this deadly treatment is antithetical to the Gospel of Life.
