By A weekslong quarrel involving a local resident in Albuquerque ended with a suspect arrested on two felony charges, according to a local priest.
A public dispute over the construction of an Islamic mosque in Albuquerque, New Mexico, boiled over into violence earlier this month when a local resident reportedly drew a gun during an altercation with an employee of a Catholic parish.
Father Vincent Paul Chávez, the pastor of the Shrine of the Little Flower St. Therese of the Infant Jesus Parish in Albuquerque, told EWTN News that the violent incident on July 22 came after several weeks of tension in the community stemming in part from the priest’s open support of a proposed 45,000-square-foot mosque that would be built several miles away from the parish.
Chávez said he spoke at a county meeting on July 1 in support of the construction of the mosque. In remarks he provided to EWTN News, the priest said at the meeting that he would “love” if the mosque were built next to the Catholic parish.
He referred to the Islamic religion as “noble Islam” and as “a religion of Abraham as are Christianity and Judaism.”
“Let us not be influenced by ignorance and racism,” the priest said at the meeting. “We have freedom of religion in these United States.”
Chávez said one attendee filmed his remarks and posted the video to social media; she reportedly urged local residents to contact Archbishop John Wester in protest.
The priest said he eventually responded via the parish’s marquee sign on which he has regularly posted topical messages throughout the years. Chávez said he posted the phrase “Racism is a grave sin against God’s love” on the marquee; two days later he added part of the woman’s name to the sign.
On July 22 Chávez said the woman came to the parish to take a video of the sign. The priest said he spoke briefly with her; he said he remarked to her that he was “living rent-free in her head.” Chávez then went inside the parish, at which point he directed the parish’s facilities manager to ask the woman to leave.
The woman appeared to leave, the priest said, but eventually returned with another man who was reportedly her boyfriend. Chávez said the pair approached the facilities manager in his car while the boyfriend allegedly “presented a gun.” The manager then sprayed both of them in the face with mace.
Chávez said he ran out to take video of the rest of the encounter, which subsequently “de-escalated” with the boyfriend leaving in his car. He was arrested the next day and charged with two felony counts of aggravated assault. The priest said he was told by authorities that the FBI may be investigating the incident as a hate crime.
Both news reports and Chávez himself identified the individuals in the dispute as local residents Katrina Griego and David Romero. Neither individual responded to requests for comment regarding the incident.
Several days after the violent incident at the parish, on July 27, Wester issued a statement in which he said that Muslim residents of Albuquerque “have the same God-given and constitutionally protected right to worship freely as every other faith community, including our own.”
Citing the Second Vatican Council, the archbishop said the principle of freedom of religion “is not limited to Catholics or Christians; it extends fully to Muslims, Jews, and all people who seek to worship according to their conscience.”
In a July 30 statement the U.S. Council on American-Islamic Relations praised the assault charges brought against the suspect in the parish dispute, thanking law enforcement for “taking this alleged threat seriously.”
“No faith leader should face intimidation or violence for defending the constitutional rights and religious freedom of his neighbors,” the council said in its statement.
In a statement to his parishioners after the incident, meanwhile, Chávez said the altercation was “a sobering reminder that words matter.”
“When disagreements become fueled by anger, fear, or hatred, they can have real and dangerous consequences,” he said.
The priest urged the congregation to pray for “everyone involved,” including “those whose actions led to this painful event.”
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So it’s not the Muslims being violent? Understood.
This illustrates why clergy need to end their politicization of our Catholic faith.
This excellent representative of today’s Catholic clergy will make a very good dhimmi (a “protected person”). In fact he is already there.
The Status of Non-Muslim Minorities Under Islamic Rule
Dhimmitude:
—the Islamic system of governing populations conquered by jihad wars [or by peaceful surrender of the non muslim population], encompassing all of the demographic, ethnic, and religious aspects of the political system. The word “dhimmitude” as a historical concept, was coined by Bat Ye’or in 1983 to describe the legal and social conditions of Jews and Christians subjected to Islamic rule. The word “dhimmitude” comes from dhimmi, an Arabic word meaning “protected”. Dhimmi was the name applied by the Arab-Muslim conquerors to indigenous non-Muslim populations who surrendered by a treaty (dhimma) to Muslim domination. Islamic conquests expanded over vast territories in Africa, Europe and Asia, for over a millennium (638-1683). The Muslim empire incorporated numerous varied peoples which had their own religion, culture, language and civilization. For centuries, these indigenous, pre-Islamic peoples constituted the great majority of the population of the Islamic lands. Although these populations differed, they were ruled by the same type of laws, based on the shari’a.
—This similarity, which includes also regional variations, has created a uniform civilization developed throughout the centuries by all non-Muslim indigenous people, who were vanquished by a jihad-war and governed by shari’a law. It is this civilization which is called dhimmitude.
—It is characterized by the different strategies developed by each dhimmi group to survive as non-Muslim entity in their Islamized countries. Dhimmitude is not exclusively concerned with Muslim history and civilization. Rather it investigates the history of those non-Muslim peoples conquered and colonized by jihad.
—Dhimmitude encompasses the relationship of Muslims and non-Muslims at the theological, social, political and economical levels. It also incorporates the relationship between the numerous ethno-religious dhimmi groups and the type of mentality that they have developed out of their particular historical condition which lasted for centuries, even in some Muslim countries, till today.
—Dhimmitude is an entire integrated system, based on Islamic theology. It cannot be judged from the circumstantial position of any one community, at a given time and in a given place. Dhimmitude must be appraised according to its laws and customs, irrespectively of circumstances and political contingencies.”
https://www.dhimmitude.org/
for a good video on the subject see
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSbwxuUvvVA
It demonstrates why you need to end your politicization, I will agree.
Dear annonymous ‘Gerard’ we’ve seen no sign – in any of your multiferous comments – that you’re a Catholic, or indeed, any sort of Christian. For all we know, ‘Gerard’ may be ‘Abdul Mustafa’ or ‘Vladimir Lenin’ or whatever!
The following, incredibly moving testimony by a Muslim who died in a traffic accident, met Jesus Christ, and came back to life 20 minutes later, shows how Christ can reason a person out of their deep indoctrination by false religion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fH-ukkvEHnA
This video also exposes the difference between Christianity & Islam.
That conversion reminded me of Abdul Rahim, a very intelligent Moslem who – after hours of our prayerful witnessing – gave his life to Jesus Christ and was physically, joyfully transformed right before our eyes. Something really nasty left as the beauty of the LORD Jesus filled Abdul’s soul. Glory be to GOD!!!
If you are not yet a Christian, dear Gerard, this eternally important transformation awaits you, too; it’s free and it’s FREEING.
Christ’s Call to all faithful Catholics today:
“Rise up out of the pews; get out there & WITNESS the Truth! In season & out of season; just do it! I Am with you until the end of time!”
To any who think: “It’ll be a waste of time!” please listen to this peaceful Aussie, CityAlight song: “My labor is not in vain.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNv8OweQ6VM&list=RDkHLUvUtbp2I&index=5
Where can we send a mirror?
AMEN!
That ‘AMEN!’ was for ‘DiogenesRedux’
“We have freedom of religion in these United States.”
Really? The FBI targeted Latin Mass advocates and pro-lifers.
We really need to stop ordaining homosexuals and the feeble-minded.
BTW:
“The United Arab Emirates designated the Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR) as a terrorist organization in November 2014, claiming ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. Within the United States, the federal government has not listed CAIR as a terrorist organization; however, the states of Texas and Florida have issued executive orders designating it as such.
• Texas: On November 18, 2025, Governor Greg Abbott declared CAIR a foreign terrorist organization, citing alleged links to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.
• Florida: On December 9, 2025, Governor Ron DeSantis similarly designated CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist organizations.
• Other Allegations: A 2016 campaign statement by Ben Carson claimed that Saudi Arabia and Egypt also designate CAIR as a terrorist group due to its association with the Muslim Brotherhood, though the provided context does not contain official government documents confirming these specific designations beyond the UAE.
CAIR has challenged the state-level designations in court, arguing they violate First Amendment rights, while supporters of the designations point to CAIR’s naming as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 2007 Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing trial. “
Are you familiar with the sin of calumny?
Pulling a gun at Church? How Christian.
Yet another leftist priest living in fantasy land and spouting about what he doesnt know. “Ignorance and racism”???? REALLY?
MY husband was MURDERED on 9/11 in the Twin Towers by fanatics from this belief system. How many Iranian citizens killed by their own government? They say around 40,000. How many Palestinians killed because their own people used them as human shields to hide weapons? How many gays tossed off rooftops?
Really Father, you need to wake up and smarten up. The rest of us already see them as they REALLY are.
“MY husband was MURDERED on 9/11 in the Twin Towers by fanatics from this belief system.”
I think this is the first time I’ve heard you mention this (I suspect I’ve missed past remarks). Lord have mercy. You have my eternal sympathy.
Hello Carl. I often read your remarks here and respect them. I appreciate your sympathy. My husband was a wonderful man and we had many happy years together. He was a very tolerant guy who had friends of all sorts from around the world. His work involved travel overseas and different cultures, but he had no trouble fitting in and relating to their concerns. People liked his attention to detail, fairness and willingness to work right alongside his staff no matter how long the work day lasted. He was the kind of man the world needs MORE of. After his death I raised our minor aged children alone, something no one ever expects to do. I mourn the fact my children never really had a good chance to know this wonderful, happy, optimistic man who was their father. Its 25 years that he is gone now, and I still think about him every day.
I try very hard to evaluate people as they are, not as how their group is seen by others. It is hard. Islam does not have tolerance as a basic tenet of doctrine, which has been cataclysmic for other nations and cultures which find themselves at odds with their often violent behavior. To see them as they are is readily obvious in each days coverage of the news. To deride factual observations and fears of them as “racism and Ignorance” is unacceptable. It is neither. It is a realistic view of a group’s dangerous and violent mindset by people who dont wish to join in a blind act of national cultural suicide.
I dont recall learning that being a Christian requires one to be willfully blind to the dangers posed by one’s enemies. Sadly, that appears to be what some folks believe.
“Really Father, you need to wake up and smarten up. The rest of us already see them as they REALLY are.”
Many thanks, dear ‘LJ’; you have a very personal reason to question the place of Moslems in any peace-loving, democratic society.
Who would be so criminally silly as to invite a pack of hyenas into a compound made for domestic dogs; even after those hyenas have globally shown their set, sanguinary, religiocidal hearts?
“Thank you very much” say the hyenas: “Yummy tame doggies for dinner!”
Father Vincent Paul Chávez, the pastor of the Shrine of the Little Flower St. Therese of the Infant Jesus Parish in Albuquerque, is a public representative of King Jesus Christ; and he has caused this awful situation by publicly admiring & welcoming Muslim colonisation. Muslims who have been seen again & again to fanatically follow the Quaran that attacks King Jesus Christ and mandates for Catholics & other Christians to be made to convert to Islam, to be taxed for our belief, or to have our heads struck off!
Father Vincent Paul Chávez is like an oncologist who publicly admires, welcomes, and encourages cancers. Holy Spirit wisdom has totally departed from this false follower of Christ.
* OF COURSE we should be friendly to friendly muslims, they are human beings like us, and members of our society.
* OF COURSE we Catholics & all Christians should do everything that is legally within our power to discourage and block the growth of their false religion, its cruel & murderous heart, and the resultant damnation of souls.
Apostate, blind-stupid incapacity to discern the difference between courtesy & colonisation will register as an historical characteristic of a our morally-corrupted (even demon-oppressed) Catholic clergy. What a legacy . . !
Saint Paul’s warning speaks clearly: “Even from your own (clerical) ranks there will be men coming forward with a travesty of truth on their lips to induce the faithful to follow them. SO BE ON YOUR GUARD” Ephesians 20:30.
Will faithful and informed cardinals, archbishops, bishops, & priests please stand up . . .
Ever in the grace & mercy of King Jesus Christ; love & blessings from marty
The possible circularity of weaponized marquees and weapon magazines?
Two points and a recommendation:
FIRST, not just a mosque and minarets on the New Mexico skyline, here and there. Ninety percent of the funding for mosques in the West is Wahhabi money. . . . In 2014 yours truly was asked to review a monograph addressing Islamic-Christian dialogue in the United States: https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2014/02/16/christianity-and-islam-dialogue-and-monologues/
SECOND, here not endorsing the confrontation nor even opposing the building permit, just asking for something more perceptive than ‘racism” platitudes. At a Vatican synod in 1999, this: “By means of your democracy we will invade you, by means of our religion we shall dominate you” (recalled by His Eminence monsignor Guiseppe Bernardini, archbishop of the Turkish Diocese of Smyrna, in Oriana Fallaci, “The Rage and the Pride” [New York: Rizzoli, 2001], p. 98). Just another squandered opportunity, today, by the Church to frame historic and global trends soberly and coherently and, yes, respectful to all.
RECOMMENDATION: We have less than 300 active bishops in the United States and 3,000 Wahhabi mosques. The challenge before the USCCB is to develop a more differentiated attitude toward many Muslim persons on the one hand, and the invasive ideology of package-deal Islam on the other.
This, rather than simply applying the predictable lens of amateur domestic politics: trivializing the historic challenge as irrational suspicion and “racial” marginalization.
“Chávez said he posted the phrase “Racism is a grave sin against God’s love” on the marquee; two days later he added part of the woman’s name to the sign.”
Father Chavez should not have added the woman’s name to his statement on the sign. He is partially at fault for escalating the dispute. The woman and her boyfriend should not have confronted the facilities manager, and Father Chavez isn’t responsible for that, but he seems to gotten carried away with his righteous indignation. He should follow his own advice.
I agree Mary E.
Church marquees aren’t Twitter. And even if they were, that should have been a private conversation.
Naivete, thy name is Chavez.
Deal – for every Mosque in Albuquerque, let a Catholic Church be built in Saudi Arabia.
We should always keep in mind the simple fact that to Muslims the FINAL law – over all others, including our civil law – is SHARIA law.
Please read this article. This will be our future unless we wake up. U.S. bishops and priests are asleep. They should read this and more.
https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2026/07/31/he-presented-a-gun-dispute-over-islamic-mosque-turns-violent-at-new-mexico-catholic-parish/
This is an excerpt:
French Capitulation to Islam: Liberté, Égalité, Soumission
The Nation That Invented the Rights of Man and Secularism Is Turning Itself Halal Without Even the Modesty of an Explicit Conversion
May 13, 2026
Giulio Meotti
The French République is submitting itself, neighborhood after neighborhood, bistro after bistro, with the same elegance with which it once guillotined its kings.
The Enlightenment has been digested in a single Ramadan and the nation that invented the rights of man and secularism is turning itself halal without even the modesty of an explicit conversion. It is a creeping surrender, bureaucratic, commercial, smelling of fear and terminal goodism.
We are living through a transitional period: that of the passage from a European country of Judeo-Christian culture to an Islamo-Christian state, a stage toward its Islamization.
Bat Ye’or
Even fast-food chains are adapting to sharia: locals in Lyon with rooms to pray to Allah.
All that was missing was the République en djellaba turning itself into a catering service for Islamization.
In Submission, Michel Houellebecq has a character say: “Old Bat Ye’or is not wrong with her phantom of the Eurabia conspiracy.”
“Eurabia is not a conspiracy!” Bat Ye’or boldly replied this week in the Journal du dimanche:
“Eurabia is not a conspiracy. The Euro-Arab fusion policy became official with the Barcelona Pact (1995). The denial of public and established facts does not prove a conspiracy, but an equally established concealment. At the time, I perceived in Europe social behaviors that evoked those of dhimmitude, but I did not yet see the pathways or networks that were implanting in the heart of twentieth-century European societies social schemes dating back to the Muslim Middle Ages and conforming to sharia.
sorry my eyesight betrayed me again. Here is the correct link
https://www.meforum.org/mef-online/french-capitulation-to-islam-liberte-egalite-soumission
Dear bishops and priests, can you guess which culture and religion hates dogs the most? Watch this informative documentary from Animal Watch:
WHICH COUNTRIES AND RELIGIONS HATES DOGS THE MOST
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5QwnP5uqSM