CNA Staff, Aug 13, 2020 / 15:09 pm
A United States senator has asked the nation's attorney general to intensify efforts to fight the vandalism that has been carried out against Catholic places and statues throughout the country in recent months.
"The trend of desecrating Catholic spaces and property must stop," U.S. Senator John Kennedy (R-La.) wrote in an August 11 letter to U.S. Attorney General William Barr.
"Catholics are under attack in America," he said, referencing "at least nineteen attacks on Catholic churches, statues, businesses, cemeteries, parishioners, and personnel" since May.
In recent weeks, several Catholic churches have faced attacks and acts desecration. Last month, church in Ocala, Florida was set aflame while parishioners inside prepared for morning Mass. A California mission founded by St. Junipero Serra was also burned in a fire and is being investigated as an arson case, while several statues of Serra have also been pulled down.