right here in houston 'A challenge to our faith' Three times in recent months, statues of the Virgin Mary at All Saints Catholic Church have been defiled or destroyed By BILL MURPHY Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle RESOURCES In a shady grotto filled with plants, lilacs and daffodils, parishioners at All Saints Catholic Church would sometimes stop to pray and reflect before an Our Lady of Lourdes statue. It was a tranquil scene — until Palm Sunday when the statue was knocked down and broken. Two replacement statues, both of Our Lady of Guadalupe, have since been defaced or destroyed. The latest incident happened outside the church on East 10th in the Heights late Friday or early Saturday. A spray-painted message left on a church sidewalk in March during the second incident — "You have been warned. Don't worship idols." — has parish officials worried that they are being subjected to anti-Catholic hate crimes, not mere vandalism. "It sounds like that," said Dan Schwieterman, All Saints director of religious education. "It may have deeper roots than vandalism. It may be a fanatic." Houston police view the first two incidents as hate crimes. Investigators will decide whether the latest attack was a hate crime after completing their probe, said HPD spokesman Victor Senties. Investigators, he said, don't have any suspects. The attacks on the statues have caused consternation among church officials and parishioners. When Monsignor Adam McClosky informed churchgoers of the latest incident during services Saturday, many attendees groaned in dismay. Others shook their heads. Cary Ann Nunn, a parish pastoral assistant, said the attacks might be less disconcerting if juvenile delinquents were carrying them out. But the possibility that one or more people might be knocking down the statutes for theological reasons has parishioners upset. "It really bothers everyone," Nunn said. "It is disturbing — it is a challenge to our faith." Tony Gutierrez, president of the Guadalupanos, a parish group named after Our Lady of Guadalupe, said, "I feel bad about the damage, but not just the damage to the statue, but the damage to the community. They're harming the people." During adult religious classes, Schwieterman addresses why some Catholics, including Hispanics, leave the faith for evangelical churches. Some of these churches believe that Catholics worship false idols, including statues, photos and paintings of saints and religious medallions, he said. But Schwieterman tells parishioners that Catholics don't worship the statues and photos, but rely on them to remind them of the tenets of their faith. He said he is worried that someone who views such reliance on religious symbols as idolatrous could be behind the attacks. The Our Lady of Lourdes statue and grotto were added at All Saints in the mid-1940s. Catholics believe that the Virgin Mary — Our Lady of Lourdes — appeared before a peasant girl from Lourdes, France, in 1858. "People gather at the grotto every day and put flowers there," Schwieterman said. "It's a quiet little niche where people can reflect." During the Palm Sunday attack, the head was broken off the 4-foot statue, and it was damaged elsewhere. Parish officials are looking into whether it can be repaired. Upset by the attack, members of the Guadalupanos bought a 3-foot statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe and installed it in the grotto before Easter. Many Catholics believe that the Virgin Mary — Our Lady of Guadalupe — appeared on a hill near Mexico City in 1531. After the Our Lady of Guadalupe statue was spray-painted on Easter, parishioners replaced it. Schwieterman said church officials are reluctant to put up a fourth statue until the culprits have been caught or the church has added security features to the grotto. The Our Lady of Lourdes statue was stolen in September 1999. A man who had heard news reports about the theft spotted it at a Pasadena trash dump in February 2000, and brought it to the church, according to a book recounting the church's history. Those with information about the attacks may call HPD at 713-308-8700 or Crime Stoppers of Houston at 713-222-TIPS.
I'm no expert on hate crimes but my understanding is that it is a crime that involves targetting a specific group, or symbols of that group, with the motive of an innate bias against them and as a means to intimidate the group.
