In February, vandals desecrated and smashed crosses and statues at Saint-Alain Cathedral in Lavaur, France, and mangled the arms of a statue of a crucified Christ in a mocking manner. In addition, an altar cloth was burned.
In France, two churches are desecrated every day on average. According to PI-News, a German news site, 1,063 attacks on Christian churches or symbols (crucifixes, icons, statues) were registered in France in 2018. This represents a 17% increase compared to the previous year (2017), when 878 attacks were registered— meaning that such attacks are only going from bad to worse.
Among some of the recent desecrations in France, the following took place in just February and March:
- Vandals plundered Notre-Dame des Enfants Church in Nîmes and used human excrement to draw a cross there; consecrated bread was found thrown outside among garbage.
- The Saint-Nicolas Church in Houilles was vandalized on three separate occasions in February; a 19th century statue of the Virgin Mary, regarded as “irreparable,” was “completely pulverized,” said a clergyman; and a hanging cross was thrown to the floor.
- Vandals desecrated and smashed crosses and statues at Saint-Alain Cathedral in Lavaur, and mangled the arms of a statue of a crucified Christ in a mocking manner. In addition, an altar cloth was burned.
- Arsonists torched the Church of St. Sulpice in Paris soon after midday mass on Sunday, March 17.
Similar reports are coming out of Germany. Four separate churches were vandalized and/or torched in March alone. “In this country,” PI-News explained, “there is a creeping war against everything that symbolizes Christianity: attacks on mountain-summit crosses, on sacred statues by the wayside, on churches… and recently also on cemeteries.”
Who is primarily behind these ongoing and increasing attacks on churches in Europe? The same German report offers a hint:
“Crosses are broken, altars smashed, Bibles set on fire, baptismal fonts overturned, and the church doors smeared with Islamic expressions like ‘Allahu Akbar.'”
Another German report from November 11, 2017 noted that in the Alps and Bavaria alone, around 200 churches were attacked and many crosses broken:
“Police are currently dealing with church desecrations again and again. The perpetrators are often youthful rioters with a migration background.” Elsewhere they are described as “young Islamists.”
Sometimes, sadly, in European regions with large Muslim populations, there seems to be a concomitant rise in attacks on churches and Christian symbols. Before Christmas 2016, in the North Rhine-Westphalia region of Germany, where more than a million Muslims reside, some 50 public Christian statues (including those of Jesus) were beheaded and crucifixes broken.
In 2016, following the arrival in Germany of another million mostly Muslim migrants, a local newspaper reported that in the town of Dülmen, “‘not a day goes by’ without attacks on religious statues in the town of less than 50,000 people, and the immediate surrounding area.”
In France it also seems that where the number of Muslim migrants increases, so do attacks on churches. A January 2017 study revealed that, “Islamist extremist attacks on Christians” in France rose by 38 percent,going from 273 attacks in 2015 to 376 in 2016; the majority occurred during Christmas season and “many of the attacks took place in churches and other places of worship.”
As a typical example, in 2014, a Muslim man committed “major acts of vandalism” inside a historic Catholic church in Thonon-les-Bains. According to a report (with pictures) he “overturned and broke two altars, the candelabras and lecterns, destroyed statues, tore down a tabernacle, twisted a massive bronze cross, smashed in a sacristy door and even broke some stained-glass windows.” He also “trampled on” the Eucharist.
For similar examples in other European countries, please see here, here, here, here, and here.
In virtually every instance of church attacks, authorities and media obfuscate the identity of the vandals. In those rare instances when the Muslim (or “migrant”) identity of the destroyers is leaked, the perpetrators are then presented as suffering from mental health issues. As the recent PI-News report says:
“Hardly anyone writes and speaks about the increasing attacks on Christian symbols. There is an eloquent silence in both France and Germany about the scandal of the desecrations and the origin of the perpetrators…. Not a word, not even the slightest hint that could in anyway lead to the suspicion of migrants… It is not the perpetrators who are in danger of being ostracized, but those who dare to associate the desecration of Christian symbols with immigrant imports. They are accused of hatred, hate speech and racism.”
[Source: ZeroHedge]
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CP&S comment: WE CANNOT – WE MUST NOT – KEEP SILENT ABOUT THIS. As Catholics we have a moral duty to do all in our power to denounce these atrocities and demand from Governments and armed forces greater protection for vulnerable Christians worldwide, and also for our churches. Only when the secular world is made aware of this cruel injustice: the increasing persecution of Christians (that many concur has now reached genocidal levels in parts of Africa and Asia) and the wanton destruction of Catholic churches and Christian symbols, can we expect any change to take place. Priests and laity alike should do more than lament the situation, often refusing to name the culprits for fear of being accused of Islamophobia. The truth must be made known and real action needs to be taken.
Dante warned: “The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis.”
And Archbishop Fulton Sheen warned: “Cowards go to hell. Never forget that. No matter what happens in your life never forget that basic truth.”
Catholicism Pure & Simple 
“Action” in this case of the Just War doctrine (first laid out by St Augustine in the 4th Century) means military action against the evil Mohammadan jihadists who are intent at wiping out Christianity. Dialogue to solve the situation is totally useless here, as everyone knows!
Christian League describes the conditions necessary to be taken for this. In other words, our response must not exceed the limits of bringing this Islamic genocide of Christians to an end.
”St. Augustine tells us violence must be constrained within the limits of necessity. Under the Just War doctrine, a set of rules for military combat must be followed. This means treating non-combatants such as women, children, elderly, wounded, and prisoners of war humanely. The Catechism describes genocide as a “mortal sin” and forbids the extermination of religious and ethnic minorities, women, and other populations. The Christian genocide is a perfect example of this. Christians are being beheaded, raped or forced to marry jihadists; who contradict everything that the Just War doctrine stands for.
The Church’s teachings are clear when innocent lives are at stake. According to the Catechism, “Legitimate defense can be not only a right but a grave duty for one who is responsible for the lives of others. The defense of the common good requires that an unjust aggressor be rendered unable to cause harm. For this reason, those who legitimately hold authority also have the right to use arms to repel aggressors against the civil community entrusted to their responsibility.”
War is a serious matter that results in grave consequences and should only be used as a last resort. The violence being committed against Christians meet all the criteria mentioned in the Just War doctrine. The Church is one of the greatest forces of peace in the world, which is why it is so careful when weighing these monumental decisions. Christians must be protected from the religious cleansing that they are continually suffering from.”
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The Islamic extremists have already committed massive atrocities in Europe since the start of the Millennium through terrorist attacks in many European cities, with hundreds of lives lost and thousands maimed and wounded. Efficient Intelligence services and police forces have managed to abort many others that were being planned by these Islamic devils. So they are now turning their efforts more on erasing every trace of Christianity from the continent (once known as “the cradle of Christendom”) by systematically burning and desecrating our beautiful churches and shrines. And as these vile acts of vandalism don’t seem to worry the authorities too much – very few perpetrators have been arrested – they will continue and gain momentum!
Islam wants to conquer the world starting with Europe. How else can one see the enormous surge of Islamic migration into Europe of recent years? They could have more easily gone to any of the super-rich Islamic states in the Gulf… but no: they poured (and still do) towards ‘Christian’ Europe instead!
Let’s wise up: all this is only the start of another huge Islamic war on Christianity. The “errors of Russia”, i.e., atheistic secular communism, a.k.a., Modernism, has caused an enormous loss of Faith in the Western world, leaving us weak and unprepared to face the savage fanaticism of Islam! The only real way to succeed against these forces from Hell would be for all former European Christians to return to their Faith; then we would be invincible!! But sadly that seems very unlikely to happen in any immediate future!
So yes, let’s slam the door to any further Islamic immigrants, and let the remnant in Europe who still care about this fearsome approaching threat to our Faith, our culture and our people, to gather our forces in a new defensive Crusade. It is surely the only way left to us if we are to survive.
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I live in Germany, and I can assure you that this kind of vandalism is rarely reported – or at least not emphasized – in the press here. The German government still actively attempts to silence any criticism of Islam (https://bit.ly/2Y7JdxA). The government’s attitude seems to be: “Don’t deal with the problem. Deal with those who draw attention to the problem.”
The situation is no better in France, which has an even greater incidence of church-vandalism.
In the UK, vandalism or attacks on individuals are reported, but they are always attributed to “Asians,” never “Muslims.” Or else such crimes are carried out by “mentally deranged persons.”
As Robert Spencer has often pointed out at his excellent and authoritative website, jihadwatch.org, the number of Muslims in Europe and elsewhere seems to include an abnormally large number of “mentally deranged persons.”
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Over here, we don’t experience much in the way of desecration of our sanctuaries by Muslims, but some parishes make up for such inattentiveness by taking it upon themselves to do so. Welcome to the
ChurchRecreation Centre of St Jude in Montreal:LikeLike
But enough bad news. Here is a terrifically moving speech by Christine Nogueira do Reis Tonietto, a recently elected member of the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies, proudly declaring her deep love and reverence for Our Lady of Aparecida, Patroness of Brazil, and her unflinching Catholic faith in and allegiance to Jesus Christ as King of Brazil and of the Universe:
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Not just “mental issues” but rather demonic issues.
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An important post. I also agree with the comments of Kathleen and Robert John Bennett. This is a crucial subject that needs to be dealt with immediately.
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