Today, the Marin County District Attorney’s office announced that they have reduced the charges against the vandals who desecrated and destroyed the statue of St. Junipero Serra on the property of St. Raphael parish from a felony to a misdemeanor.
This comes after the Archdiocese of San Francisco and Archbishop Cordileone have been left out of restorative justice conversations with the perpetrators.
On May 24, 2023, Archbishop Cordileone wrote a letter to the Marin County District Attorney and Deputy District Attorney objecting to the pending decision, raising questions about failure to include the Archdiocese in discussions, and the potential consequences of perpetuating discrimination and violence against the Catholic Church.
Responding to the action today, Archbishop Cordileone said,
“It is clear to me that this course of action would not have been taken with anyone else. In fact, 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. There have been more than 100 attacks on Catholic Church property across the nation, including in the Archdiocese of San Francisco, one of which was someone firing a bullet into our Cathedral. Anti-Catholicism has a long and ugly history in this country. Now, with this decision, the Marin County District Attorney has given the signal that attacks on Catholic houses of worship and sacred objects may continue without serious legal consequence.”
The Serra statue on the property of St. Rafael parish was destroyed by vandals in October of 2020. Read more about the incident here.
Original story from Archdiocese of San Francisco.
Had this been a mosque…
No link in the last sentence.
Fixed- thanks for pointing out.
This is further evidence that it’s now open season on Catholics. Lenient treatment and minimal prosecution of those who perpetrate crimes against Catholics, and the targeting of Catholics and Pro-Lifers by the US Department of Justice, are examples of the persecution that awaits us, as Jesus Himself predicted. This is why we have the Sacrament of Confirmation. Gird your loins, and get ready!
Is this not the revenge of the Marin County District Attorney’s office for the Church’s pro-life mission and resistance to wokeism?
Lori Frugoli, Marin County District Attorney, promotes bigotry against Catholics by not prosecuting hate crimes.
If someone had vandalized a public or private gay rainbow flag in SF, he’d get a very severe hate crime conviction that included prison time. Desecrating a public statue of Fr. Serra? Yawn from the gay and leftist SF city elites.
It wasn’t in SF.
San Rafael is in the SF Archdiocese.
The “Lady of Justice” is no longer blindfolded or balanced. We have a two-tiered system: one for liberals and one for conservatives.
The progressive mind hive is characterized by double standards and contradiction. What is so breathtaking about it is that they are completely oblivious to the breadth and depth of just how much they so unapologetically and brazenly contradict themselves.
Stark reality causes such disturbing cognitive dissonance within them they avoid it at all costs. Really, the psychological spectacle is truly spectacular.
“The archdiocese was shut out of the conversation, and the mediator was treating the perpetrators as if they were the victims,” the archbishop said.
A case of Restorative Justice coming home to roost. Cordileone is simply getting his face rubbed in it. Fun times.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254433/archbishop-cordileone-on-serra-statue-case-prosecutor-signaled-attacks-against-catholics-go-unpunished
How is this a case of Restorative Justice?
According to the DA, in addition to the misdemeanor charges, each of the defendants also agreed to:
Pay monetary restitution, an amount determined by the Marin County Probation Department, to the church for the repair or replacement of the statue.
Complete 50 hours of volunteer work.
Apologize in writing as part of the official court record.
Participate in a community forum to be held in the coming months with a credible historian who will give stakeholders a chance to have a meaningful dialogue about the issue.
Stay off the church property.
The article also stated that church members were involved in this restorative justice program. Restorative justice focuses on the criminals making restoration for their crimes rather than just being punished
Thanks for this, San Rafael news. Do you also know if it includes an expungement after everything is complete so that a mistake early in life doesn’t condemn them to a life of underemployment?
It did not say that.
The women were age 25-40.
https://www.marincounty.org/main/county-press-releases/press-releases/2023/da-serra-statue-052525
Excerpt from CNA article:
⦁ He [Cordileone] lamented that San Rafael Police Department officers stood by and watched the vandals commit the crime when the parish had an agreement with the department that the police would intervene if the protesters trespassed onto parish property. Cordileone wondered whether the officers stood by based on orders from their superiors.
⦁ “Do you understand the significance of this, and how it makes us feel?” Cordileone asked the district attorney. “Who gave the order to the police officers not to do their sworn duty, for which they put their lives on the line every day? Why has there been no investigation? Why has the person responsible for this injustice not been held accountable?”
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254433/archbishop-cordileone-on-serra-statue-case-prosecutor-signaled-attacks-against-catholics-go-unpunished
I think this statement should be reconsidered.
If they knocked the real St. Junipero Serra down, he would forgive them.
What does Jesus say?
Your only real enemy is Satan.
Serra wasn’t a fool, neither was Jesus Christ. Forgiveness must be as an adult for a child, along with a stern warning not to do it again. The Archbishop has it right. We are not immature, permissive, liberal-leftist, “Left Coast” New Agers, believing there is no such thing as good and evil, right and wrong, Christian virtue, and sin, punishment, and repentance.
I think you need a better education in the Saints, the virtues and the Lord.
You seem to have a babyish view of the saints. To forgive others means that you forgive them for their sins. Next, you preach the Gospel– calling the sinner to repentance of sin — and to follow Christ.
This was a teaching opportunity that he missed and an opportunity to show the love of Christ that was not taken.
No. It was an opportunity to call sinners to repentance and follow Christ. And to rightfully demand justice for offenses committed against Our Lord.
2 Corinthians 5 19-21 God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
So we are ambassadors for Christ, as if God were appealing through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.
i hope the Archbishop will take more time to learn how the nations of the West Coast of what came to be known of America were victimized. Even if not by Junipero Serra, by others.
So far the US government has not made a religious code forbidding Catholics to practice their religion and culture. It did do that to the native nations.
The Archbishop does not need to “take more time” (etc.) to learn how some California Indians’ ancestors were victimized, possibly by members of his Church, centuries ago. Nonsense! He knows the entire history behind all of this! These modern people who claim to be Native Americans, willfully vandalized and destroyed others’ sacred religious property! That is against the law! They all need to grow up and act like mature, responsible adults. They should apologize to the Archbishop, and willingly take responsibility for their antu-Catholic “hate crime.” The Marin County D.A. should do her job correctly, prosecute these people, and see to it that they are punished for this crime– just like all other crimes handled at the D.A.’s office. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., would be appalled at these immature, so-called “Indian victims'” and their totally irresponsible behavior, and lack of common decency, and lack of a moral conscience. This is not the way to solve your problems. You do not go vandalize and destroy a Black Southern Baptist church, a mosque, a Jewish synagogue, or a Catholic holy religious statue of a Saint, committing an anti-religious “hate crime,” just because you “personally feel” that members of this religion probably victimized your ancestors, centuries ago.
Catholics were severely victimized and ostracized, in the American colonies, and afterwards, in the new country of America! Some of the colonies passed laws, forbidding Catholic settlers. Massachusetts passed laws in 1647 and 1700, forbidding Catholic priests to reside there, under pain of imprisonment and execution. Most of the New England colonies and the Carolinas prohibited Catholics from holding office. Catholic priests were arrested if they entered Virginia. All of the colonies banned Catholic schools except Pennsylvania. Maryland and Pennsylvania were the only colonies where Catholics could safely settle. Catholics were unwanted in England, severely persecuted after King Henry VIII broke ties with the Pope.
Reply to: Catholics have had very many instances of prejudice and bigotry and persecution. If you know the history of Europe and the Church, then you know why.
We don’t have to do it to others.
You need a far broader view of history. And to live today, in your own era, that God put you on earth for. You have nothing to do with the past actions of any bad Catholics– how about the first sinful Christian– Judas– betrayer of Christ, and a criminal? All races, all religions, all through history, have done great things– and horrible things. Our own great Church has apologized for those members who have done wrong, centuries ago. Our Catholic religion, given to us by Jesus Christ, is very holy. No one should ever dare go to a church and desecrate a statue, or any other sacred item. The Jews have been the most persecuted religious group in America. It is totally ignorant and wrong, to desecrate their religious temples and synagogues, too.
The Catholic Church is crashing and burning all over America. The Church is largely becoming irrelevant and viewed as a group of kooks by a majority of younger Americans. Sort of like how people mostly view Indians who dress up in feathers and dance around totem poles for historical ceremonies. Nobody takes Indian culture or religion seriously. Or the Hawaiians. Nobody cares about Hawaiian culture except they enjoy luaus and mai tais when they vacation on the islands. Catholicism is enjoyed for movie and TV scenes in churches with candles. For a majority of Americans, Cordileone and this website complaining about a Serra statue being toppled is about as important as some Hawaiians or Indians complaining that a new hotel is being built on an ancient burial ground. Nobody really cares about their complaints, and the hotel is going to get built.
Want to know the future of the Church in America? It’s about the level of esteem that Indians and Hawaiians have in the minds of Americans.
Pray to the Holy Spirit
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254439/on-pentecost-pope-francis-says-holy-spirit-can-bring-harmony-to-a-polarized-church
The Church survived the Romans, the Barbarian hordes, the French Revolution, the Nazis and the Communists, and we will survive and eventually thrive after this crisis.
You have no right to destroy anyone’s property. You should especially respect religious statues and property that belongs to a church, regardless of your beliefs about them. Respect for others and adult behavior is a must in society.
thought a lot about this comment…not entirely wrong…actually a fairly creative point of view. A big problem with it though is that Catholicism is not the only expression of Christianity globally. And over the millennia, Catholicism has had multiple modifications in it’s material expression, unlike the native American groups you cite. The biggest problem with the assertion is that there has never been in recorded history the impact of global civilization that Catholicism has had by any other entity/organization….ever. That is because of it’s witness to the fullness of truth whether people want to admit that or not…it is demonstrably the case. Native American culture and society had some elements of truth that are identifiable in global Catholicism, but it is completely compartmentalized to a narrow time and region with no appreciable effect on global culture except maybe for appropriated interior decorations/trends…
A person or cultures worth is not determined by global impact.
Native American cultures and societies had the seeds of the Gospel.
We have to continually teach the Truth and live the Faith. It is not one and done.
We should not be acting as if the statue was an idol.
We should acknowledge the history of the Native nations.
This is not the same as attacks on Catholic Churches because of other reasons.
This was pulling down a statue of a figure associated with the decimation of some native nations.
The truth and falsity will be determined when representatives of the Church acknowledge the plight of those peoples and hear their grievance and own up to any part that they contributed to, if there is one.
We can’t be so defensive and narcissistic that we won’t hear the other side.
Whatever persecution Catholics have suffered in the United States pales in comparison to what was done to the peoples who lived here before the Church arrived.
You are so wrong, so very wrong. Today millions of young people sang “Veni, Creator, Spiritus” or a version of it in other languages. The same hymn the nuns sang as they went to their death at the guillotine during the French Revolution. Robespierre didn’t win. His reign of terror ended with his own death.
Pope Francis is certainly right about one thing — the Holy Spirit unites us. Look at all the churches in Hawaii. Hawaii is packed with churches on every block, most singing praises to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Holy Ghost) no matter their denomination. The Doxology.
Well, the least we can say is that you don’t care– that is very obvious. It might be dangerous for you to stand as an authority and spokesman for modern culture. But suppose you are. From your soapbox, you say: “The Church is largely becoming irrelevant and viewed as a group of kooks by a majority of younger Americans. ” You raise a very important point, no doubt, and a great challenge. But given what seems to be the moral, spiritual, and intellectual quagmire of the majority of younger Americans, you have succeeded, at least in my eyes, in complimenting the Church, and for this I thank you.
You might wanna have a conversation with astronomers in Hawaii.
Besides, wouldn’t a true religion expected to have more survival than a false one?
Blessed Pentecost everyone
When I was growing up the way you knew a person was a good Catholic was that they never said anything bad about anyone.
They shut down the gossips and the backbiters by saying “Well, they are not here to defend themselves.”
Maybe you learned wrong.e
It comes from the Bible. James chapter 3
Everybody does not need to go to their corners and come out fighting. It is OK to listen to people that you disagree with and not fight with them.
Tell that to the iconoclasts.
A large group of Catholics will gather at Mission San Rafael Archangel, 1104 Fifth Ave., San Rafael, CA, on May 30th at 4pm, to make a peaceful protest regarding the spineless D.A.’s lack of proper prosecution of the five criminals who committed a felony “hate” crime at the Mission, vandalizing and destroying the statue of St. Junipero Serra, on the grounds of the church.
A big uproar has now erupted at Kohl’s Dept. Store, over the store’s promoting LGBTQ+ clothing items for babies and children– even for newborns. Would love to see a big bonfire, with Kohl’s employees and company execs throwing all of this LGBTQ+ baby and children’s clothing into the
roaring bonfire. Satanic kids’ clothing from Hell. There ought to be stern laws passed, against doing such evils, to innocent little babies and children.
I don’t see a problem if you sign petitions about something you care about as long as it is a good and holy cause.
Spreading these things on the internet may be something you would want to get advice from a spiritual director about.
Especially if it is not from the Church and may be coming from someone who makes money by doing this.
Get involved with other good, responsible parents, and tell Target and Kohl’s and other stores that are wrongfully peddling inappropriate, pervert LGBT clothes for babies and children. I recommend making a complaint to the management. And likewise– you had better notify your local grocery store, if they are carrying a product that is contaminated, and sent family members to the hospital. You are an adult– do sign all good petitions against all evils– they do help tremendously. Church members have been out there, asking people to sign petitions after Masses, against such things as abortion pills at local pharmacies, the LGBT children’s clothing scandals, marijuana shops located nearby, etc. As a good Catholic, you definitely should sign these.
You must pray over whether your intentions are really just lust for power.
You must pray and act on your intentions. Never be cowardly.
I believe in God and I seek His Will-not the will of someone making $100,000 a month by keeping people stirred up about things that are none of their business.
Here is my opinion-if I see a baby wearing LGBT clothing, I pray for the baby. Without the clothing I would pray for the baby but differently.
Think about how children of LGBTQ parents are helped or hurt by your actions. Ask God to show you His Will.
You are an adult. You have a big responsibility to protect children from Evil. That is a big part of your commitment to Christ as a Catholic– fighting Evil, protecting innocent children. Go do it!:
Who told you that?
Reply to Reply to Pray fir: We are trying to protect YOU from Evil.
That’s why you are getting pushback about your own practice of the Christian faith. Clothes are clothes. Making so much out of so little stirs up unnecessary animosity and hatred, whether it is on our side or their side. These children have parents to protect them. They don’t need Mommy #2.
Anyone who is cowardly and refuses to stand up for Christ is not His follower. Look at Jimmy Lai and Cardinal Zen. They unselfishly and heroically suffer for Our Lord. That is every Christian’s calling. No exceptions.
I am standing up for Christ. It seems like you are trying to exploit my faith in Christ for your own ends.
Nobody is “exploiting” you. You are cowardly, you stand up for nobody.
So silly.
The devil doesn’t care about baby clothes.
He cares about robbing people of their salvation by making Christians look like hateful people that no one would want to associate with.
We need prayers and true, sincere and committed Christians that really care about what God (not people on social media) wants them to do.
Read the Bible. Pray the Rosary. Pray for the conversion of sinners.
Consecrate yourself to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary.
God let me know Thy Will and give me the grace to do it.
Arise O Lord and let Thy enemies be scattered.
Consecrate yourself– you must sincerely consecrate yourself to Christ, and strongly fight for Him against the Devil’s Culture of Death. It is not silly. It is very evil. Yes, the Devil is inducing the Death Culture to force massive corruption and sin on children and families. Join the Culture of Life in fighting and destroying forever, the Devil’s death culture– and helping Jesus Christ to establish His Culture of Life.
Please get a spiritual director. I think you have been misled.
You are obviously not Catholic and know nothing at all about spiritual direction.
The devil is very tricky.
Please see a priest.
Looks like the Devil has tricked you into being cowardly, afraid to stand up for what is right, and defend Christ.
“for what is right”. The right speaks with much arrogance about what it thinks is “right”. You have no support in the teaching of the Church for saying that matters at this level are right or wrong. You speak with high minded authority about what the devil does and wants and so on, and You are entitled to your opinion, but please, pretend for a moment that you could be mistaken.
Just because someone doesn’t care much about a statue being toppled doesn’t mean he’s cowardly. People don’t have to do what you think they should do.
So “Reply”, if you want your words about the culture of life to be taken seriously, you should embrace the totality of the Church’s teachings about life-issues. The totality includes the Church’s teaching against the death penalty, which Pope St. John Paul II has identified as part of the culture of death. The entire Magisterium is against the death penalty. All the hosts of angels is against it. Therefore, unless you yourself embrace the totality of the Church’s teaching on this, and not merely picking and choosing what you want to believe, your words loses its force and authenticity. Listen to the living Magisterium. Respect life.
It is very difficult to be part of the Culture of Life, as you well know.
The side of darkness always wants to destroy.
They want to control and diminish and ostracize.
They think they are pro-life but not really.
All good things worth doing are difficult, and require maturity, courage, and commitment. Remember, you are never alone. Christ is there to help everyone. And He will conquer and triumph over Satan and his evils.
All good things require faith, hope and love and above all love.
The Theological Virtues of Faith,
Hope and Love require courage and commitment. Especially in difficult times.
The commenter never said anything about capital punishment.
The person who replied to the commenter loves to bring up the death penalty and chastise others for perceived offenses against papal teaching.
Dissent against the Magisterium of the Church must indeed be called out, especially in a Catholic website.
jon, you fall into error by insisting pro-life posters fail to merit serious consideration if they post against abortion but not against the death penalty. It is virtuous to defend innocent pre-born human life in and of itself without regard to any other cause or question. And this being so, the virtue is not diminished, not the arguments weakened, if the cause is restricted to defending the innocent unborn. If I feed a needy man, the virtue of the act is not lost if someone else gives him shelter, or clothes him.
“Dan” and the other posters up there are wrong, as usual. It is the interior assent that I am writing about here, not the act of posting a comment. “Reply” is being reminded by me to embrace the “totality” of the Church’s teachings on life-issues, otherwise her/his words about the culture of life are not authentic. I am addressing the need to give religious submission of mind and will to the totality of the Church’s teachings on life which includes the death penalty. Otherwise your words about the “culture of life” are hollow. Listen to the living Magisterium. Respect life.
The Antichrist’s deception already begins to take shape in the world every time the claim is made to realize within history that messianic hope which can only be realized beyond history through the eschatological judgment. The Church has rejected even modified forms of this falsification of the kingdom to come under the name of millenarianism, especially the “intrinsically perverse” political form of a secular messianism.
ccc 676
Christ asks us daily, to help Him in His work– to fight to defeat Evil, and eventually, establish His Kingdom on earth. This is not a “political” Kingdom, it is a Kingdom full of good people who obey Him, and live according to His teachings. That is also known as the Culture of Life. “Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.”
Is this something you are being told in emails? Is there someone in your family that could review them with you?
Are you giving money to places? (Not my business and you don’t have to answer but people especially elderly people can be very vulnerable to these things?
This is a Catholic website. If you want to become a Catholic and contribute an intelligent comment, then do so.
Ok.
Raising children to wear LGBT clothes and encouraging them to be LGBT should be viewed as child abuse, like pregnant women smoking or drinking alcohol.
Why are the thumbs rigged?