Denver church mural at center of controversy is vandalized

[1holycatholic]

Denver church mural at center of controversy is vandalized
DENVER — Denver police say someone spray-painted the Spanish word for “enough” on a Roman Catholic church mural of the Virgin Mary that has been at the center of a dispute since the parish priest had a wall built to block the mural from view.

The Denver Post reports that police were notified about the vandalism on Friday.
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[Dale_M]

Its sad that emotions have led to vandalism and so much dissension in the parish.

There is quite a bit of information in this news article:

The painting of the Virgin Mary had been the backdrop to the altar for more than 30 years. But in 2009, Pastor Benito Hernandez built a wall a few feet in front of the mural to hide it from view during Mass.

Hernandez told parishioners the large image of Mary was distracting some from worship of her divine son, Jesus.

Hernandez has many loyal supporters. But the mural also has many devotees, including 30 to 40 who organized as the Faithful United to work for removal of the wall and restoration of the damaged painting.

Archdiocese officials have said it’s the decision of the pastor and parish leaders whether the wall stays or goes.

denverpost.com/news/ci_17549143

This has been long running controversy. In an earlier article, you can see what the altar looked like before and after the mural was covered:
ncronline.org/news/faith-parish/denver-catholics-fight-restore-guadalupe-mural

In that article, Archbishop Chaput had this to say when asked for comment:
Archbishop Charles Chaput:

I’m sure you’ll understand that this is a parish matter. Mediating it in the press would be quite strange; and the fact that this group seeks to do so unfortunately only weakens the integrity of their case.

Again, its very sad that emotions in the parish have reached a point that vandalism is seen as a legitimate tactic.

 

[Brendan_McCabe]

That a catholic would think it was ok to damage a sacred image of OLG in the sanctuary of a church called Our Lady of Guadalupe no less just shows the terrible lack of respect for the sacred that exists in so many people today. Such desecration at one time was only carried out those who openly proclaimed themselves separated, now desecration and sacrilege is done even by those who call themselves our brethren.

Looking at the pictures it seems a better response would have been to install a tabernacle with a greater presence, and to have installed a crucifix which hung from the roof, which could have been done without building walls and whitewashing over parts of the image.

And saying all that I do like the new setup shown below better than the old, but something in the middle could have been even better and satisfied more people.

http://www.ologden.org/uploads/pg/100_0708.jpg

 

[pamela73]

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Oh this one is easy…just ask the Mother of Jesus. Am I not here for you? Who is your Mother.
Would she want to have greater honor than her Son?

 

[jilly4ski]

Looking at the pictures it seems a better response would have been to install a tabernacle with a greater presence, and to have installed a crucifix which hung from the roof, which could have been done without building walls and whitewashing over parts of the image.

And saying all that I do like the new setup shown below better than the old, but something in the middle could have been even better and satisfied more people.

While the mural is not to my personal taste, I do think your suggestions would work, but they did not white wash the mural, luckily the mural was not destroyed only covered with a wall that stands a few feet away. So the sanctuary can be returned to its original state fairly easily. Which is more than I can say for some of the wreckovated Churches. Also, there is still a fairly large picture of OLG on the wall next to the Crucifix, so it is not like they completely disregarded the Patron of the parish.