When parishioners at Holy Family Cathedral in Tulsa, Oklahoma recently went to Mass, they found profanity, swastikas and anti-Catholic messages deeply embedded on the front door. Vandals also wreaked havoc at cemeteries and churches in three small western Kansas communities near Hays. Figures of Christ were smashed to smithereens, headstones were broken, crucifixes were pulled from an altar and destroyed and a memorial to unborn children was vandalized. Police are investigating the incidents as hate crimes.
In a related story, Catholic League members may recall that last summer (see the July-August Catalyst) we reported that a statue of Our Blessed Mother was beheaded at St. Philomena Catholic Church in the Little Havana section of Miami. The incident took place at a time when a local minister was appearing on TV smashing Catholic statues. Well, as fate would have it, the minister is now behind bars. But not for vandalism. On April 20, Rev. Daniel Garnicki pleaded guilty of forcing a 16-year-old girl to have sex with him in a hotel. The girl was a learning-disabled member of his congregation.
