Denver Newsroom, Jun 24, 2020 / 04:08 pm (CNA).- As rioters across the United States target statues depicting historical figures, the Bishop of Madison, Wisconsin on Tuesday denounced that destruction, along with calls to destroy some depictions of Jesus Christ and the Blessed Virgina Mary.
“Should certain statues be placed in museums or storage? Perhaps. Should we let a group of vandals make those decisions for us? No,” Bishop Donald Hying of Madison said in a June 23 letter.
“If we allow the commemorative and visual history of our nation to be destroyed by random groups in the current moment of anger, how will we ever learn from that history? Does toppling and vandalizing a statue of George Washington because he owned slaves, really serve our country and our collective memory?”
Hying also responded to a recent viral tweet from podcast host and activist Shaun King, who said June 22 that “statues of the white European they claim is Jesus” are a form of “white supremacy” and ought to be torn down, along with “all murals and stained glass windows of white Jesus, and his European mother, and their white friends.”
Hying noted that every culture, country, ethnicity, and race “has claimed Jesus and the Blessed Virgin Mary as their own,” depicting them with their culture’s skin color and dressed in their culture’s garb.
The Catechism states in paragraph 1149, that “the liturgy of the Church presupposes, integrates and sanctifies elements from creation and human culture, conferring on them the dignity of signs of grace, of the new creation in Jesus Christ.”
For example, the bishop mentioned, Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared as “mestiza,” or “mixed” race; African art depicts Jesus as black, and Mary in African cultural garb; and there are numerous Asian representations of Mary as well.
While at some points in the Church’s history, some have mistakenly equated “the fullness of Catholicism with European culture,” Catholics should instead strive for “unity in that which is essential, and diversity in those things which are not,” Hying said.
“In this context, are white representations of Christ and His Mother inherently signs of white supremacy? I think not. Because the Son of God became incarnate in our human flesh, does not all of humanity – every race, tribe, and tongue – have the spiritual ability to depict Him through the particular lens of their own culture?” the bishop asked.
Depictions of Jesus are holy to Christians, he said— they are physical manifestations of God’s love, and remind us of the “nearness of the divine.”
“The secular iconoclasm of the current moment will not bring reconciliation, peace, and healing. Such violence will only perpetuate the prejudice and hatred it ostensibly seeks to end…Only the love of Christ can heal a wounded heart, not a vandalized piece of metal,” Hying concluded.
In Madison on Tuesday, rioters pulled down a statue of Hans Christian Heg— an abolitionist who famously fought against Confederates and slave-catchers— and threw it into Madison’s Lake Monona. Though the Heg statue has since been recovered, it suffered serious damage and is missing its head and a leg.
A statue known as “Lady Forward”— a replica of a famous statue created by a woman, and depicting progress— also was torn down and was dragged at least a block through the center of Madison by rioters.
Across the country, protestors have in recent days toppled statutes of Confederate leaders and figures associated with slavery, but have also, in some places, pulled down statues of Catholic saints, abolitionists, and other figures.
The violence in Madison reached a fever pitch Tuesday night when protestors attacked and injured State Senator Tim Carpenter (D-Milwaukee) near the Wisconsin state capitol, ostensibly because Carpenter was filming the protests with his phone.
Speaking to CNA on Tuesday, Hying emphasized that many of the most successful protests of the Civil Rights era were predicated on Christian ideas of nonviolence, and a Scriptural understanding of the human person.
The principles of Catholic social teaching— the dignity of the human person; the value of solidarity, “we’re all in this together;” a preferential option for the poor— need to be present in any Catholic’s response to injustice, he said.
“If it’s not grounded in that, then it really ends up being about power— that I need to assert my power, in situations where I feel powerless,” he explained.
“It becomes a struggle over power, rather than a transformational relationship into how God wants us to live as brothers and sisters.”
Some Catholic figures on social media have called for bishops to attend the rallies in their cities and physically prevent rioters from tearing down statues.
Hying said anything a bishop does in public must be rooted in a “prayerful, spiritual response,” and not in any political motivation.
Any political movement that does not recognize the dignity of every person is prone to “power politics” and violence, Hying said.
“I think our presence always needs to be related to a prayerful presence. If we’re going to be somewhere publicly, I don’t think it’s in a rally context, I don’t think it’s in a political context…it has to be a context of prayer. Otherwise I think it can get co-opted by the politics of the moment.”
Many Catholics and even some bishops have attended and prayed at peaceful rallies across the country.
Hying said it is clear to him that the violence and ill-treatment of Native Americans and the oppression of African Americans through slavery are two of the country’s greatest moral failings.
The situation requires, he wrote in his letter, better knowledge of history and respectful discussions about statues, buildings, and memorials.
“We must study and know this history in order to transcend it, to learn from it and to commit ourselves to justice, equality, and solidarity because of it,” Hying said.
“At the same time, even the worst aspects of history should be remembered and kept before our eyes. Auschwitz remains open as both a memorial and a museum, so that humanity never forgets the horror of the Holocaust.”
Protestors in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park tore down a statue of St. Junipero Serra on June 20, along with statues of Francis Scott Key and Ulysses S. Grant. In Los Angeles the same day, rioters pulled down a statue of Serra in the city’s downtown.
While many activists today associate Serra with the abuses that the Native Americans suffered, biographies and historical records suggest that Serra actually advocated on behalf of the Natives against the Spanish military and against encroaching European settlement.
Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco decried “mob rule” that led to the tearing down of Serra’s statue in his city. Bishop Thomas Daly of Spokane, Washington, a California native, also condemned the statues’ destruction.
“The Church, by no means, desires injustice to go unanswered, but two wrongs do not make a right. If we cannot acknowledge the good of a saint such as Junipero Serra, we risk preferring ideology to the truth,” Daly said June 22.
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Howler!
The Pelosi Protest in a country which, until the Dobbs ruling, was the least restrictive fetal killing field in the world, except for Communist China and North Korea.
Actually that title goes to Canada. There’s no regulation whatsoever.
Saith the archbishop-ress of partial birth abortion…
I guess all the stern warnings she received about endangering her soul she must have gotten from Francis last October failed to change her mind.
Pray for all unrepentant sinners that their hardness of heart will be softened.
Amen, Deacon Edward.
These sad, pathetic women need our prayers.
And yet, we’re subjected to her photographed with Pope Francis, all with big smiles.
She is a false prophet.
Everything I read about this pathetic woman is – pathetic.
And then I read about the actor Shia Laboeuf who portrays St. Padre Pio in the upcoming (Sept 9) film of his life, and it gives me hope – much hope.
We’ll get through this.
On may suspect that she has willfully lost her eyes to see or her ears to hear as it appears that God may be turning his Face from her, maybe withdrawn the Holy Spirit.
Whenever I see a photo of Nancy Pelosi I am driven to draw it nearer to me , to see if I can spot the horns under har bouffant hairdo.
Nobody, including the federal government, “mandates pregnancy.” There is a foolproof method of contraception called abstinence. Don’t use sexual intercourse as recreation when it was meant for procreation. Yes, there are rare instances when pregnancy results from rape, but those cases are far from the majority of abortions. The Leftist Democrats have been working to eliminate personal responsibility since 1933 to the detriment of individuals and society. Everyone needs to take responsibility for their actions and the consequences thereof, period.
This so called catholic needs to be ousted….. such a shame to have women that are “catholic” promote taking the life of a child that our loving God has made possible. Makes me just sick that they don’t even care about the babies that are to born. Not good women or mother’s.
How is it that every Catholic bishop has not rushed to support Archbishop Cordileone’s effort to end the desecration of the Blessed Sacrament by refusing to administer our Lord to this high priestess of satan?
Her evil contagion is vomiting forth whenever she speaks now and erupting across the face of the earth, while our shepherds — with too few exceptions — do virtually nothing to protect their flocks.
The antichrist with is is now all to clear — and it is leftism.
In the meantime, half of America’s Catholics vote for its insane, vile, monstrous agenda every chance they get.
“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.” Isaiah 5:20
Its interesting but not shocking that Democrats like Pelosi NEVER speak about the virtual of personal responsibility. NOBODY is responsible for your getting pregnant but YOU. And that applies not matter what color you are or what income level you possess. It seems rather “sinful” to me that Pelosi implies that women lack the brains to make responsible decisions, like abstaining from sexual activity when needed. They therefore MUST need the ability to the murder the child they conceive. Its hard to say what if anything this crone knows about sinfulness, inasmuch as she is a major proponent of late term abortion. Which she appears to believe a greater good for woman-kind. Some can posit the “clump of cells” argument in arguing for abortion in the first two months of a pregnancy. But that is absolutely bogus by well before the 9th month. Yet there is no recognition of this reality from the democrats. I have a friend in her 60’s (past pregnancy age herself) who recently made it clear to me that this will be her voting issue. She has no daughters, and thus I am mystified why she takes this issue like she will need an abortion herself tomorrow. Out the window evidently in her voting decision are REAL life concerns about the open border admitting terrorists and fentanyl pushers and sex traffickers, food shortages, hyper inflation, and the dangers presented by the increasingly war-like posture of our enemies. No comment about the violence perpetrated on life centers and churches by pro-abortion “activists”. Its clear that clergy must speak up loud, often and clear with brutal frankness not only about this barbaric procedure, but about the sinfulness of those who support it, medically or politically. I would consider Pelosi merely dim-witted if she wasnt doing so much harm.
Men often put extreme pressure on a wife or girlfriend to terminate or else
Which again feels like an argument that women lack either intellect or the spine to understand the consequence of what they do. I personally would take the “or else” rather than continue a relationship with a man who urged me to kill my baby.
More “theology” from Professor Pelosi! No doubt she will be warmly
welcomed the next time she goes to the Vatican. And Cardinal Gregory
will be silent and keep giving her Communion.
I am so tired of well-heeled women pleading compassion for minority and low income women to justify their promotion of abortion. How does it show respect/compassion for minority and low income women to tell them their babies are trash?
Our Lord persevered in efforts to help free Judas from the curse incurred by him that blinded him to Lord’s warnings . The Holy Father too likely with the intention to set such persons free – ? from the blinding effects of the curses incurred .
https://biblehub.com/deuteronomy/27-25.htm
Such persons also ignoring the wisdom and warnings from exorcists as well .
The Govt. too , participating , even in the act of bribing by supporting such choices … and we see the effects – as massive social issues , debt issues , afflictions of nature ,lives and families – wars , identity confusions , addictions , suicides ..
Persons who ought to see the connections refusing to connect the dots – themselves being blinded by the curses ..
Used to be puzzled about the focus given by Rev.Fr.Jim Blount , for the Precious Blood prayers ( a rather long standing devotion ) as advocated for our times – not hard to see how much we need same –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOghQCAeqrE
Blessings !