A historic Catholic Church in the heart of downtown San Jose was vandalized Sunday morning, hours before congregants gathered to participate in Sunday mass.
Satanic and anti-semitic graffiti spray were scrawled against the church’s outside walls, alongside taunting drawings of a ghoulishly painted smile below two windows and a two-toned colored pentagram.
Church officials from the Cathedral Basilica of St. Joseph confirmed on Tuesday that they are working with police, who are investigating the incident.
“The Diocese of San Jose is aware of the incident and is working with San Jose police to apprehend the culprits,” said spokesperson Liz Sullivan in a statement.
The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Joseph — a religious flagship in Santa Clara County — has been home to the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Jose for more than a hundred years. The church is listed as a historic landmark in California and also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Full story at The San Jose Spotlight.
Tragically, both anti-Jewish and anti-Christian acts are on the increase. Let us pray that those who disagree learn to dialog, rather than attack.
The first part of the second paragraph is unclear to me. . ‘sprawled against Church walls’? Painted on the walls themselves? Or painted on some other surface and leaned against the walls?
Mike M., I am not sure what it said before you posted, but the title and the second paragraph now say “scrawled” not “sprawled”, which would mean the person or persons wrote on the walls.
I think this article is a little misleading. It presents the Diocese of San Jose has been in existence for over a hundred years. The diocese was founded in the 1980’s and was formally under the Archdiocese of San Francisco. San Jose’s first bishop was Pierre DuMaine.
Maybe this from the cathedral website will help (the cathedral was built before the diocese was formed) —
“In 1985, the Vatican approved this church building as the Cathedral of the new diocese — pending its full restoration. Major restoration began in March of 1987 and lasted to the end of October 1990. Saint Joseph’s was dedicated as the Cathedral of Saint Joseph on November, 4, 1990, with Bishop Pierre DuMaine presiding. Saint Joseph’s is listed in both state and federal registers as an historic landmark. The Franciscans administered the parish for 48 years, from 1803 to 1851; the Jesuits for 141 years, from 1851 to 1992. Diocesan priests currently administer the Cathedral parish.”