Bridgeport, Conn., Jan 5, 2019 / 06:22 pm (CNA).- The Bishop of Bridgeport condemned anti-Semitism Saturday, after a swastika was found painted on the doors of Bridgeport’s cathedral.
“I am appalled and outraged by this act of vandalism against the Mother Church of our Diocese and this brazen and disgusting display of anti-Semitism which is morally abhorrent and an affront to our Catholic faith,” Bishop Frank Caggiano said in a statement Jan. 5.
“To use a clearly anti-Semitic symbol is participating in unspeakable evil.”
The swastika was found painted on the doors of St. Augustine’s Cathedral on the morning of Jan. 4. Caggiano said that because he is on retreat, he had only learned of the vandalism Saturday afternoon.
Bridgeport police have not yet named a suspect in the crime, Caggiano said.
Anti-Semitic incidents are reported to be on the rise in the U.S. and internationally. The number of anti-Semitic incidents rose 57 percent in 2017, the Anti-Defamation League reported. In October, 11 people were killed in a Pittsburgh synagogue by a man who said he “wanted all Jews to die.”
A recent survey of Jewish people living in the European Union found that over a quarter of respondents had been the victims of anti-Jewish harassment in 2017 or 2018.
“It is deeply distressing to see such a display of hatred at a time when we need to strengthen our efforts to come together as a community in mutual respect and support,” Caggiano said.
“My thoughts and prayers are with our Jewish brothers and sisters in the city of Bridgeport and beyond. We stand with you and condemn every form of anti-Semitism, racism, and bigotry wherever it may be found.”
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Pro-abortion demonstrators yelled obscenities at people leaving a pro-life vigil at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City on Jan. 22, 2022. / Joe Bukuras/CNA
New York City, N.Y., Jan 24, 2022 / 16:15 pm (CNA).
Barricades and a line of police protected pro-life attendees entering and exiting the Archdiocese of New York’s Prayer Vigil for Life at St. Patrick’s Cathedral Saturday night, as members of the activist group New York City for Abortion Rights chanted insults and screamed vulgarities at them.
“Go to h*** b****,” one protester screamed at a churchgoer. Multiple other demonstrators screamed “F*** you” and made obscene gestures as a range of people from young children to elderly men and women exited the midtown Manhattan church.
In addition to the vulgarities, demonstrators chanted “Shame,” “Thank God for abortion,” “Go home fascists, go home,” and “New York hates you,” along with pro-choice slogans aimed at churchgoers.
Toward the end of the protest, pro-abortion slogans including “God loves abortion,” and “Abortion forever” were illuminated up on the exterior of the cathedral as demonstrators cheered. On Jan. 20 in Washington, D.C., another activist group, Catholics for Choice, projected pro-choice slogans on the facade of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception during a Mass and Holy Hour on the eve of the March for Life.
Approximately 100 demonstrators attended the New York City rally, which organizers dubbed “F*** the March for Life” in an Instagram post. Many of the participants used drums, shakers, and other noisemakers, which were audible to those inside the cathedral.
The Prayer Vigil for Life marked the 48th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that legalized abortion nationwide. In accord with the U.S. bishops’ call for penance and prayer for violations against the dignity of the unborn, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York celebrated the Vigil Mass at 5:30 p.m., which was followed by an hour of Eucharistic adoration.
“When a nation founded on the right to life and the equal protection of law for all life finds such violence to be legal, as it did 49 years ago today in legalizing abortion, boy that’s tragic,” Dolan said during his homily. “That’s not right. That’s not natural. That’s not the way God intended it. That’s not the way our country intended it.”
Nathan Long (in white cap) and his teenage son have a brief interaction with one of the demonstrators at a pro-abortion rally outside St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City on Jan. 22, 2022. Joe Bukuras/CNA
Among those who were screamed upon exiting the vigil were Nathan Long and his teen-age son. The two had a brief interaction with one of the demonstrators.
“I looked at him and I was just kind of praying,” Long told CNA afterward. “He’s just uninformed and I think he’s lost the spirit of Christ.”
Long, a father of seven from Dallas, Texas, said he thinks most of the protesters aren’t educated on the issue of life. “We’re living in a society where people just want to pick up the torch and be angry at anything,” he added.
One of the many slogans that protesters chanted at churchgoers was “Stop harassing patients!”
The chant referred to a recurring pro-life day of prayer called Witness for Life, which consists of Mass and Eucharistic adoration, followed by a rosary procession to the nearby Planned Parenthood and then a vigil in front of the clinic.
The pro-abortion demonstrators on Saturday handed out flyers that state that many attendees at the Prayer Vigil for Life are Witness for Life attendees as well. The flyers claim there is “nothing peaceful” about the Witness for Life.
“They intimidate patients by praying, holding offensive signs, [and] impersonating clinic escorts to coerce patients,” the flyer states.
New York City for Abortion Rights often protests the Witness for Life. The pro-abortion group made headlines in July for standing in front of the rosary procession in order to block their path to the Planned Parenthood. Police officers were required to escort the rosary procession and separate the demonstrators.
Toward the end of Saturday’s rally, a woman who appeared to be an organizer announced to the demonstrators that the group would be protesting the next Witness for Life event Feb. 5 by slowing down participants’ rosary procession “with our bodies.”
I for one would love to see this happen: Catch them in the act, force them to disrobe and spray paint them top to bottom (after covering their eyes and mouths) then spray paint their clothes. Put their clothes back on, call the police to tell them where they are, then depart.
Violent? Yes, but these people are cowards and bullies and people like that only understand one kind of language – force and the willingness to use it. IMO were something like this to be done the word would then go forth – enough is enough.
This act of violence was anti-Catholic as well as antisemitic. I hope the perpetrator(s) are arrested soon.
Sadly these acts are all too often committed by the very people who supposedly abhor them. The word is stunt.
I for one would love to see this happen: Catch them in the act, force them to disrobe and spray paint them top to bottom (after covering their eyes and mouths) then spray paint their clothes. Put their clothes back on, call the police to tell them where they are, then depart.
Violent? Yes, but these people are cowards and bullies and people like that only understand one kind of language – force and the willingness to use it. IMO were something like this to be done the word would then go forth – enough is enough.