A Catholic parish in Massachusetts has become the target of threats of violence, and vandalism because of a sign posted on church property supporting the traditional definition of marriage, according to The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts.
The sign on the billboard of Saint Francis Xavier Parish in the town of Acushnet displayed a message reading “Two men are friends, not spouses.”
Insert firestorm here.
According to an interview by the local Fox affiliate, Steve Guillotte, the Director of Pastoral Services at the parish, said the church has received a number of menacing, obscenity laced phone calls, including one threatening to burn the church down.
Ah! Tolerance smells like burning churches. Somebody nailed the word “hate”
to the Church’s fence along with other…how shall we say…”hostile” signs and rainbow balloons were attached to it.
The Church did remove any mention of gay marriage from the sign as of this morning.
Catholic Action League Executive Director C. J. Doyle stated: “At a time when homosexual pride parades monopolize public thoroughfares with police protection, it is now unsafe to post a message upholding traditional morality on private property. This event tells us all we need to know about the totalitarian instincts of organized homosexualism in America. What began as a so-called ‘gay rights’ movement, has become a neo-fascist enterprise dedicated to suppressing, harassing, censoring, silencing and punishing anyone supportive of biblical morality. Attorney General Martha Coakley and Bristol County District Attorney C. Samuel Sutter should investigate the threats against Saint Francis Xavier Parish for possible prosecution as hate crimes.”
Yeah, that ain’t gonna’ happen.
The sign was a bit too in-your-face for my taste but that doesn’t excuse the threats and vandalism. The left is very comfortable with bombastic language and saying nasty things about the Catholic Church.
This reminds me when I took the kids down to the Rally for Religious Freedom in Philly. Some hippie looking dude walked by us yelling about separation of Church and state. So the government can cross that line and tell religious institutions what to do, even force them to act against their religious beliefs but when we point out that the Constitution says they can’t do that, they yell about the separation of Church and state. Ridiculous.
And this isn’t the first case of threats and vandalism against Catholic Churches in recent history. I’m pretty sure we can expect more. And worse.
May 17, 2012 at 4:26 pm
For being the "most Catholic state", we fear to speak. The sign's message was along the lines of Courage, just because you are gay, still means you can be Catholic. Not everyone marries, even straight people. Friends are a wonderful gift of love. Not every relationship has to be sexual.
In local reports protestors compared the Church to the KKK.
May 17, 2012 at 6:49 pm
The local protestors need to meet the REAL KKK. For too long our freedom has been taken for granted and abused. January 2013 ssm becomes law in Maryland. People are srambling to get 150,000 signatures on a petition to put ssm on the referendum in November. I ordered 100 double sided copies of the petition form, paid $22.79 and received one copy and 99 blank pages. The devil is at work big time. In court people used to swear on the Bible that they weren't possessed by the devil.
May 17, 2012 at 6:53 pm
Did the protestors even question what was meant by the sign? How does freindship, become a message of hate. Love between two people can be friendship, and that is what we preach.
I hope the turns ok for the parish and no one will be intimidated.
May 17, 2012 at 9:14 pm
Homosexuality although not a mental disease in itself, is undoubtedly a symptom of one. Sin makes you sick.
May 17, 2012 at 10:12 pm
We're all sick. BTW.
May 17, 2012 at 11:07 pm
Instead of pointing out that it was not 'Tolerance', why do you let them set the terms – literally, the definitions.
Tolerance is a good – permitting a small evil lest we commit a sin or cause a greater evil.
May 17, 2012 at 11:10 pm
Did you hear about Mission Santa Cruz? Vandalized in a tragic-yet-refreshingly-unrelated-to-gay-issues manner. http://www.mercurynews.com/central-coast/ci_20573491/santa-cruz-vandals-damage-father-serra-artifact-at
May 18, 2012 at 3:19 pm
If we look at the history of the Catholic Church in this country, we'll see its not that surprising. Before the Revolution there was only one church (Old Saint Joseph's in Philly) in the 13 colonies where Mass was legally celebrated. Catholics in all the colonies were barred from public office and from voting. Our Founding Father's had nothing but disdain for the Church, even the (arguably) most Christian Founder (John Adams). The "Know Nothing" movement in the 1850's was fueled by anti-Catholicism. Kennedy was elected despite his Catholic faith (which he had to treat as an entirely private matter). Now we have the HHS mandate and Gay "Marriage" being used to assault the Church. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
May 18, 2012 at 3:35 pm
St John Neuman had an interesting response to Church vandalism–while one of his diocesan churches was being built, he held a competition. He picked the strongest men from the crowd and had them stand beside the church holding stones. They watched to see who could throw the stones the highest against the walls of the church. Then they set the height of the windows just above the stone throw line
May 21, 2012 at 12:06 pm
Stuff like this is precisely why, even if states made a distinction between legal civil unions and left marriage to churches, it wouldn't be enough.
May 21, 2012 at 1:07 pm
The atheists and pagans have a very long history of persecuting the Church with appalling viciousness, while declaiming that they are the persecuted ones. They will not prevail. Still, they can and will inflict much misery and suffering on the faithful, and the governmental institutions of the United States will not stop it. Indeed, as the atheists and pagans gain more control of the apparatus of the use of force in government these institutions may even join in the persecution. Therefore, it behooves us to be prepared for whatever may come.