« The discussion | Main | An ancient way »
October 03, 2005
Altarclasts
An odd attack in Decatur, Alabama - during Mass
A page from the church's website about their new icon
Some wonder if this article, in Saturday's Decatur paper, inspired the attack.
The attackers look mighty jovial in those mug shots...
Posted by Amy Welborn | Permalink
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d83451be0d69e200d83461725d69e2
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Altarclasts:
» Let's make a Federal case out of it from Catholic Light
A bunch of anti-Catholic fanatics vandalized the altar of a Catholic church in Alabama near the end of a Mass. I wonder whether they know it's a Federal offense; conservatives got that provision into the same law that prohibits blockading... [Read More]
Tracked on Oct 4, 2005 1:32:10 AM
Comments
"'We just had communion at this altar,' the pastor said."
Hopefully that means that major sacrelige was avoided...
Posted by: Samuel J. Howard at Oct 3, 2005 5:14:57 PM
Good grief ! This is truly crazy ! If they have it on video, they can sell it as "Fundamentalists Gone Wild !"
Posted by: Ed at Oct 3, 2005 5:16:39 PM
born (again) to be wild
Posted by: jane at Oct 3, 2005 5:24:41 PM
Why do the heathen rage and the nations utter folly?
Posted by: Fred K at Oct 3, 2005 5:40:30 PM
>The attackers look mighty jovial in those mug shots...
Of course. They would be. "Blessed are ye who are persecuted for Righteousness's sake..." Even if the righteouseness is in their own minds.
They probably claim to be "Bible-believing" and "Following the Gospel". The only reason they have a Full Gospel to follow is Us Romish Papists (Satanic Death Cookies and all) kept all the Shirley Mac Laines from rewriting the Gospels back when years were in the low three digits.
The Treaty of Westphalia ended the Reformation Wars in 1648. Somebody STILL hasn't gotten the word.
Posted by: Ken at Oct 3, 2005 5:40:47 PM
They probably toked up before they all piled into their Yugo to head down to the church. Don't give these druggies too much credit.
Posted by: midwestmom at Oct 3, 2005 5:42:46 PM
Ms. Morris subsequentely thought "How wonderful that they were there" but her original gut feeling JUDGMENTAL attitude based on the vandals' appearance was right. Could alert man power not hobbled by fear of being JUDGMENTAL have headed off the attack before it reached the altar?
Posted by: Caroline at Oct 3, 2005 5:53:13 PM
They are all from Hartselle, about halfway between Decatur, where this church is located, and Cullman, where EWTN founder Sr. Angelica is located. Interesting.
Posted by: Zhou De-Ming at Oct 3, 2005 5:56:27 PM
Wow.
Posted by: Ian at Oct 3, 2005 6:55:35 PM
Watch it, Zhou: you could get on her bad side.
That's MOTHER Angelica to you, man.
Posted by: Jimmy Mac at Oct 3, 2005 7:10:17 PM
They were all originally from New England--is their appearance and background consistent with fundamentalist Christians? I am a little surprised.
Posted by: John P Sheridan at Oct 3, 2005 7:30:53 PM
I think I'm as shocked by the low amount of bail requested ($750 - ???) as I am by the crime. Are the authorities down there taking this seriously?
Posted by: Al DelG at Oct 3, 2005 8:04:17 PM
So Jimmy Mac, this is the second comment you've made against Mother Angelica in the last week. What is your beef with her? I believe you snidely referred to her as Mother Atilla (oops, Angelica - aren't you funny?) in a recent post. Nothing like kicking an elderly nun down when she's had a debilitating stroke and known more suffering than most of us will ever know. Shouldn't the progressives be celebrating the life of this woman as a tough, smart, successful business woman?
Posted by: Nerina at Oct 3, 2005 8:22:09 PM
Nerina,
It's better than hearing "Mother Demonica" coming out of the mouth of an ordained priest.
(Not that it's ever happened, of course...)
Leave Jimmy Mac be... he writes what he writes in the way that he writes to better the Church and us all.
Isn't that right, Jimmy? Your fans await your response!
Posted by: The Jimmy Mac Troll Fan Club at Oct 3, 2005 9:01:36 PM
We had a crazy woman vault over the altar rail and rush up as if to attack our oblivious priest during the Tridentine Mass at Old St. Mary's here in Washington, DC. She had spent five minutes or so bowing and gesticulating and even going up to the altar rail and walking up and down before making her leap. When I described the scene to some friends one of them said, after I'd gone through the details for the second time, "Oh, I had forgotten that your priest is facing the OTHER WAY! NOW I understand why he never noticed she was there!" So celebration "ad populum" has at least THAT advantage. Phone Pope Benedict and the Synod before it's too late!
The article was interesting, except for Mr. Morris's mistake in claiming that Catholic don't worship the saints. Of COURSE we are REQUIRED to worship the saints. We just don't give them the worship of latria, but rather that of dulia, or in the case of the Blessed Virgin, hyperdulia.
Posted by: Jeff at Oct 3, 2005 9:39:29 PM
This was in the town where I grew up. How sad. Although my parents were Baptists, my mother took my brother and me to see St. Bernard's Abbey once for a Saturday outing. The Catholic kids I knew in high school went to St. Ann's School before high school (St. Ann's Church being the predecessor church to the one where this happened, where this altar originally stood). Although some 30 years have passed since I lived there, how very sad to see this kind of attack there.
Posted by: Teresa Polk at Oct 3, 2005 11:14:39 PM
So basically they smashed a very old altar?
If they'd only called the chancery beforehand, they probably could have billed the diocese renovation fund for their services.
Posted by: Der Tommissar at Oct 3, 2005 11:31:37 PM
Does Alabama have a hate-crime statute? If this doesn't qualify as a hate crime, I'm not sure what would -- or what the purpose of having such a statute would be.
Posted by: James Freeman at Oct 4, 2005 12:55:33 AM
It's a federal crime to interfere with a religious service. Conservatives got that provision into the same federal law that made it a federal offense to blockade an abortion mill.
Posted by: RC at Oct 4, 2005 1:14:10 AM
I, too, was struck with a deliberate desecration and violent destruction being regarded as a class C felony (I have to admit that I don't know what the various grades of felonies are but considering the bail it can't be the top category) and that they could be walking around free after terrorizing the entire congregation if they come up with $750. I can't imagine that you could walk into a synagogue, destroy the Torah, yell insults and frighten everyone and get a $750 bail and not have the story trumpeted nationwide as "antisemitic". If that wasn't "antiCatholic", I don't know what could be, particularly as they announced their contempt for what they imagined was going on at the Mass.
About Mother Angelica, the only woman ever to start a not-for-profit network which has just turned 25 years old and is the largest religious outreach in the world and who has a biography currently ranked at #16 on the New York Times bestseller list: she aimed her fire at dissidents within the Church, never at her non-Catholic neighbors. Perhaps Zhou was being wry.
Posted by: Dudley at Oct 4, 2005 1:20:44 AM
Perhaps Zhou just forgot, and wrote Sr. by mistake.
I can completely understand why/what these kids THOUGHT they were doing. I was *there* when I made a step toward fundmentalism. Part of the allure was pointing out how WRONG everyone is - in your (small) mind! To save all by force if need be. :(
Sad...
Posted by: Elizabeth at Oct 4, 2005 1:59:21 AM
People used to call Mother "Sister" all the time when they called her show. She didn't care.
Posted by: Jason at Oct 4, 2005 4:10:48 AM
Mother Angelica is truely a giant among Catholics today. An organizer, a mover and shaker. She is probably a very holy person too but that is between her and her (our) God.
She earned every bit of respect that is due her. She is a heroine. After all, she faced the devil, er.., Cardinal M...y and won.
Posted by: John at Oct 4, 2005 5:42:54 AM
Rural and predominantly Black, a local Baptist church here was desecrated. Spray-painted graffiti with a distinct satanic tone. Folks from our church helped paint over the mess.
I saw that and the Alabama incident as attacks on the entire Body of Christ.
Right, Amy. Nice mug shots.
In His Love,
a schmo in a choir
Posted by: Thomas C Wyld at Oct 4, 2005 6:05:01 AM
The purpose of bail is to prevent flight from the jurisdiction. If these people had warrants out on them or if they had a previous history of bailjumping, bail would have been set higher, or even denied altogether.
In general we do not have preventive detention in this country, certainly not for Class C felonies.
just my two cents.
Posted by: LadyHatton at Oct 4, 2005 6:06:36 AM
