Of Course Churches Are Burning

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Catholic Churches in the United States and Canada and even in other parts of the world are under assault.  But one must look hard to find any reports of attacks in the secular media.

Since just May of this year at least 95 churches in the United States have been vandalized or burned.  Many are shocked and surprised by this.  But why would any Catholic be surprised?

Christ’s Church Has Always Been Under Attack

Christians have been the target of persecution since the founding of the one true Church by Christ.  When early Christians said, “Christ is Lord!” they were questioning the authority of Caesar.  Such insolence could not be tolerated.

One the accusations levied against Christians by the Romans was that Christians were cannibals.  They professed to eat the body and drink the blood of Christ.

During the early years of the Church, martyrdom was a way of life.  Rome sanctioned the persecution of Christians.  In the first 300 years of the church, over 25 popes were martyred.

Rome as an empire finally shifted spiritually.  The state ordered persecution of the Church ended under Emperor Constantine.

After Roman Persecution

But the assaults on the one true Church did not end with the spiritual transformation of Roman Empire.  The Church has constantly been under attack from all fronts.

Churches in Northern Europe were destroyed by Viking raiders.  Byzantium was under assault first by Persia and then later fell to Muslim warlords.  Muslim invaders conquered all of Northern Africa.  The Coptic Catholic Church was almost totally suppressed.  Malabar Catholics in India were continually battered by the Hindi majority.

In addition to external attacks, the Church has endured internal attacks.  The great schism divided the Church and later the protestant rebellion further fragmented the Church.

Such persecution continues to this day.  One need look no further than news about Afghanistan.

The United States, often held up as the benchmark of religious tolerance, is also not free of Catholic persecution.

Hatred of Catholicism in America

Freedom of religion was a new concept to world when the Bill of Rights was first written. Catholics began immigrating in mass to the Unites States in the 19th century.  Many came hoping to escape religious persecution elsewhere.  However, the majority of the Unites States was protestant.  And anti-Catholic fervor was common.

One example occurred in Ellsworth, Maine, during the 1850’s.  Father Bapst, who was ordained a priest in his native Switzerland, ministered to the new immigrant Catholics of this town.

In 1853, the Catholic families in Ellsworth objected to their children being forced to read the Protestant bible in public schools.  Father Bapst went before the Ellsworth school board to ask that Catholic students be allowed to read the Catholic Bible instead.  The school board rejected his request.

In November 1853, Catholic children in Ellsworth were expelled from the public schools for refusing to read the protestant Bible.  So Father Bapst and his parishioners began construction of their own school.  Unfortunately, a bomb was set off at the Catholic schoolhouse, destroying much of the building.

Undeterred, Father Bapst taught classes in the still under construction Catholic Church.  Soon after, a mob unsuccessfully tried to burn down the Church.

But in 1854, the mob finally caught up to him.  Father Bapst was beaten, tarred, feathered, and left for dead.  Parishioners found him and rescued him.  They nursed the burns from the hot tar which covered most of his body.  No one was ever charged for these crimes.  So much for enforcement of the first amendment.

Father Bapst survived and went on to build more churches and became the first president of Boston College.  As he aged, however, he began suffering from dementia and often relived the night he was tarred and feather until his death in 1887.

Modern “Civilized” Persecution

In today’s modern world, countries claim to be more tolerant.  Be that as it may, the persecution of the Catholic Church continues.  The formula for persecution, however, is more complex.

Modern persecution is often iterative, intending to shift perceptions of the majority.  A case is often built to justify the persecution.

News feeds from Canada recently reported that hundreds of children were found in unmarked graves adjacent to former Catholic run resident schools.  The implication was that these are mass graves, and the Catholic Church systematically murdered the children.  The word genocide is often included in the reports.

Following the news stories about the graves came stories of Catholic Churches being vandalized and often burned down.  The atrocities provided justification for these actions.

But in their haste to get out the news, the reporters writing the stories either did not get all the facts right or they were intending to bear false witness.

What Really Happened

In the 19th and 20th century, children from Canadian tribes were forced by the Canadian government to attend boarding schools in an effort to assimilate them into Canadian society.  More than half of the boarding schools were run by Catholic missionaries.

These remote schools acted as complete communities.  They provided not just education, but spiritual and physical care for their students as well.

In 1850, the average life expectancy was less than 40 years.  Childhood diseases were rampant with no inoculations against polio, tuberculosis, or the measles.  So students died at the schools.  Funerals were held, and students were buried with dignity.  Graves were often marked with a wooden cross.

Today, most of the schools are gone with little trace.  The wooden crosses are long gone, as well, unable to stand the test of time.  The graves were found using modern surveying instruments such as ground penetrating radar.

So, were the priests and nuns in Canada trying to make the best of the bad situation?  Or were priests and nuns responsible for mass murder in an attempted genocide of children from Canadian tribes?

Brian Holdsworth, a Canadian Catholic, offers a unique perspective of this controversy.

Expect More Persecution

When looking at the past, it is easy to predict that persecutions of the Catholic Church will continue.  The secular world has been and continues to actively shift society’s perception on many moral issues.

Look to these three examples.  The Church’s teaching that premarital sex is a sin is characterized as outdated.  Church teaching concerning the sin of homosexual behavior is non-inclusive.  The Church’s teaching concerning the sin of abortion is marketed as anti-women.

Of course, these claims are false.  Our Church understands that one cannot save souls by excluding them.  The Church works to teach others about the faith, to encourage them to repent their sins, and to work to sin no more.

However, one can already see the narrative being built that Catholic doctrine is hateful.  How long until public perception shifts to a point where the extermination of faithful Catholics and the Catholic Church is justified as a means of eliminating a hate?

 

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8 thoughts on “Of Course Churches Are Burning”

  1. Pingback: Pray for Our Priests, They Too Are Under Attack - Catholic Stand

  2. Explainer: Why did the Catholic Church cooperate with the Canadian government’s abuse of Indigenous children?
    Dean Dettloff
    September 27, 2021 America Media

    Good article to read.

  3. I don’t see this as a case of persecution. Persecution simply for being Catholic was real and it still is real in certain situations.

    This is a case of reaping what you sow. The church sows abuse and persecution of various groups, and it will reap abuse and persecution for itself. You can try to make excuses for the church’s handling of the homes in Canada or the handling of sexual abuse across the board, but that’s all they will be – excuses. There is no justification for the church’s actions. And I’m not saying that burning down churches is justified either, but let’s not pretend the church is a spotless victim being unfairly persecuted in this situation. Sometimes, when you get punched in the face, you deserve it. And right now, the church deserves it. Use it as a wake-up call to change.

    1. I agree with that completely. And given that it’s internal, I think its our responsibility to fix those problems. Until we do, I don’t feel like we can complain about the response from outside of the church. We have to stop those inside from throwing rocks toward the outside before we can worry about those throwing rocks our direction from the outside.

    2. Dear Kyle,
      Based on your comment, your premise is that the burning of Catholic Churches in Canada is not persecution, but rather the Church reaping what it sows. Let us apply some reason to support or reject your hypothesis.

      Was the Catholic Church the only party involved in Canadian residential schools?
      No.

      Are the other parties involved in residential schools being persecuted like the Catholic Church?
      No.

      After answering these 2 questions, I reject your hypothesis. The Canadian Government who mandated residential, industrial, and day schools for tribal children is not under assault. Neither are the other parties involved. Since the Catholic Church is being singled out, I am forced to conclude that this is persecution.

      The Church is composed of humans, all sinners. It is not the teaching or mission of the Catholic Church to abuse and persecute. Are there sinners in the Church who have committed abuse? Absolutely. Do I believe those individuals should be held accountable? Absolutely, both in this world and the next. Do I believe that those who cover up those abuses should be held accountable? Absolutely.

      You stated, “Sometimes when you get punched in the face, you deserve it. And right now, the Church deserves it.” I reject this concept. I would liken this to me getting punched in the face because of what my grandfather did 100 years ago. When I go to confession, I confess my sins, not my grandfather’s.

      When the Catholic Church ran Canadian Residential Schools, the Church feed, clothed, sheltered, educated, and cared for the children. They cared for them when they were sick and buried them when they died. These actions sound like the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. When I read about this controversy, the presupposition is that the Church did an awful thing. But what specific actions did the Church take that were sinful?

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