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Bisbee's avatar

You mention a protestant church and an Orthodox Jewish congregation...what about a mosque?

When a local protestant church was vandalized the whole community rallied together to repair the building, not so when windows were broken and outer walls spray painted at a Catholic church nearby.

When the Jewish temple De Hirsch Sinai in Seattle was vandalized in 2023 the police tripped over themselves to find the culprits, a special task force was formed.

The mayor said "anti semitism will not be tolerated in Seattle."

When the Seattle Cathedral and two other Catholic churches were vandalized in 2021 the investigation halted because there were just "no leads" (despite cctv footage).

Do you believe that there would not be hell to pay for the ones who desecrate a mosque?

Not only would the civil authorities be right on it, but depending on the members and persuasions of said mosque so would the congregants. Muslims have and at times are prone to taking "matters into their own hands." We have seen this when mosques were attacked in the "no go" zones of Paris, Cologne and Britain.

Also, let's not forget the holy martyrdom of the French priest Jacques Hamel, 85 and those with him, randomly murdered for an alleged attack on a mosque in 2016.

Or the martyrdom of the beatified Algerian Trappist monks of the monastery of Our Lady of Atlas in Tibihirine in 1996 for some imagined slight against Islam. These monks lived in peace with their Muslim neighbors for years.

Or the Four Mother Teresa Missionaries of Charity and those with them, slaughtered in Aden in 2016 for caring for the aged regardless of religion.

Pope Francis in addressing the situation said that the Sisters were martyred by their attackers and "the globalization of indifference."

IMO, your dismissal as "victim mentality" when the Church property or persons expresses this indifference.

What are those who are attacked or their property vandalized of but "victims?"

According to the etymology of the word "victim" these people were "sacrificed" as was the property destroyed. Theirs was not a voluntary victimization, it was forced on them.

Should we just stay quiet about victimization?

How is the valid use of the word "victim" "corrosive." What is being "corroded?"

In reality maybe the rights of Catholics and other groups, are being corroded?

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David Hittle's avatar

I don't agree with the archbishop's assertion that if "the same kind of offense had been committed against another religious congregation or group, it would almost certainly have been prosecuted as a hate crime."

First, I don't think it's true. An evanglical Protestant Christian or orthodox Jewish congregation likely would have been treated no better.

Second, it's emblematic of the growing ease within Catholic circles to too-easily identify ourselves as victims. The victim mentality, when it takes root, even in a genuinely marginalized group, is a corrosive one.

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