Vandals Arrested for Disrupting Mass, Overturning Altar

[mdgspencer]

Unfortunately, there is such a story in the news every several years, and such events may be more frequent since some incidents don’t appear in the news. Someone once smashed the stature of Mary in front of one of the churches in my small city, and of course it didn’t get in the national news. And in fact several years ago someone when into a chruch and shot the priest saying mass and killed him. (The parishioners grabbed him outside after he left.) So I am not surprised by this incident, though it saddens me.

 

[davy39]

It depends on why the people were storming the church as to the likelihood of TV news coverage. If they came in screaming racial slurs at a congregation of any race other than their own, then yes the news might cover it because it would get more ratings. The same thing would happen if someone came in with a racially motivated attack on a Catholic parish that was predominantly black, so what is your point? That in your opinion Baptists get more national TV news coverage or that blacks do? What does that have to do with the desecration of this particular Catholic church anyway since they clearly did get media coverage or we would not know about the story?

Since the priest and parishioners asked for leniency for the suspects, of course they are not going to federal prison or something that serious. Prosecutors often respect the wishes of the victims which in this case was a generous offer of mercy.

No, I was just using that as an example, since there are a lot of black Baptists in this country, especially in the south. I just wondered if this would qualify as a hate crime, or just a spur of the moment crime.