CNA Newsroom, Jul 26, 2024 / 14:20 pm
Police are investigating after a parish in Arkansas was struck by three vandalism incidents in recent months, including the destruction of a statue of Mary on the parish grounds.
Father Joseph Chan, the pastor at St. Leo Church in Hartford, Arkansas, told CNA that the incidents of vandalism began early last year. The parish is part of the Diocese of Little Rock.
“The first was on February 26, 2023,” he said. “Our St. Leo sign and notification board had words/letters removed/jumbled to reflect body parts; for example, the letter ‘M’ was removed from the word ‘Mass’.”
“The second was on March 10, 2024, which involved graffiti to our sacristy door,” the pastor said. “Sprayed was a racial slur commonly directed towards African Americans.”
The most recent incident occurred on July 13. “Toppled to the ground were an angel and Mary statues,” Chan said. “Mary’s neck was broken. The statue of Jesus was seemingly untouched.”
“All three incidents happened within 18 months,” the priest noted.
Law enforcement is investigating the crimes.
“Police were notified but no suspects were identified tied to the vandalism to our knowledge,” Chan said.
The pastor said parishioners have suffered “sadness” over the incidents.
Mary Radley, a parishioner of the church, told the Arkansas Catholic this week that the parish has “filed with our insurance company to see how much money we will have to repair the damage.”
Chan, meanwhile, told the local outlet that “all parishes should have some sort of safeguards against vandalism,” but ”because it is the work of evil, prayer is the best antidote.”
Multiple Catholic parishes and holy sites have suffered vandalism in the U.S. in recent months and years.
A statue of the Blessed Mother in a prayer garden on the grounds of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception was damaged by an assailant earlier this year.
Catholic churches, schools, and cemeteries throughout the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, meanwhile, were targeted by pro-abortion vandalism ahead of a major statewide vote on abortion laws.
Catholic facilities in Texas and Colorado were also targeted last year with vandalism.
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Florida Sen. Marco Rubio told EWTN News in March that the numerous attacks against Catholic churches are “not a focus or [has] the attention of [the Biden administration] or this Justice Department.”
“They can’t find a single person or any of these people that were responsible for these, what is a pretty concerted effort to attack Catholic churches in America,” Rubio said.
Daniel Payne is a senior editor at Catholic News Agency. He previously worked at the College Fix and Just the News. He lives in Virginia with his family.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Overshadowed by Arkansas’ 52-point offensive performance was the difficulties the Razorbacks had stopping Tennessee guard Chaz Lanier, who scored 29 points on 10-for-20 shooting, including five threes in a 24-point loss against the No. 1 Volunteers.
Now, the Hogs must deal with a quartet of guards against No. 23 Ole Miss. All four can score in the “randomness” of coach Chris Beard’s system. The Rebels’ top four scorers, Sean Pedulla, Jaylen Murray, Matthew Murrell and Dre Davis are all listed as guards and average double figures.
“These guys run motion,” assistant coach Chin Coleman said. “It’s all random and it’s all different and so, while they’re moving and cutting and screening, you’re going to have to guard every kind of screen there is in the game of basketball. That motion is unpredictable. The freedom of movement, cutting, screening. It’s hard to scheme against. It’s hard to scout.”
Arkansas also must contend with an Ole Miss team that wins the turnover battle on both ends of the floor. The Rebels commit the ninth-fewest turnovers in the country (9.3) and are third-best in turnover margin (+7.0).
“We want to stay on the attack and make plays for one another and not have a lot of live-ball turnovers,” Coleman said. “Those are the ones that we can’t defend against. We want to make teams play against our set defense, which is one of the best in the country. If we can do that and not have live ball turnovers, we’ll be fine.”
Tennessee forced the Razorbacks to commit 15 turnovers, picked up 10 steals and turned it into 13 points. Ole Miss ranks fourth in the SEC at 10.2 steals a game.
Tipoff between Ole Miss and Arkansas is scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday and will be broadcast on ESPN2.
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The first availability report for Arkansas basketball’s (11-3, 0-1 SEC) matchup against the No. 23 Ole Miss Rebels (12-2, 1-0 SEC) was released by the Southeastern Conference on Tuesday.
Introduced over the offseason, availability reports will be filed one day before contests, with an additional update on game day.
According to the SEC, student-athletes will be designated as “available”, “probable”, “doubtful” or “out” for their next game. For additional clarity on game day, student-athletes will be designated as “available”, “game time decision” or “out.”
Below is the first availability report of the week ahead of Arkansas’ game against Ole Miss, which will tip off at 6 p.m. CT at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville:
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