The administration is silent on the scourge of intimidation of Catholics.
The administration is silent on the scourge of intimidation of Catholics.
A s we enter what is certain to be a heated election year, one group is bracing itself for political violence: the Catholic Church.
There were over 100 acts of violence and vandalism against Catholic churches in the United States in 2023. Among them were devastating cases of arson; destruction of holy objects; satanic, pro-transgender, and pro-abortion graffiti; and general ransacking. Crucially, also among them were over a dozen incidents, in Ohio, in which Catholic churches with pro-life displays were vandalized in the leadup to the state’s vote on a constitutional amendment to legalize abortion on demand. The events in Ohio were not the first of their kind — Catholic churches in Kansas and Michigan were subject to similar attacks ahead of votes on abortion ballot measures in 2022.
The intimidation tactics ahead of elections in Kansas, Michigan, and Ohio hearken back to some of the darkest periods of our nation’s history. If the Biden administration were acting as fairly and equitably as it professes, pro-abortion attacks would be met with a swift response by the Department of Justice to protect the civil rights and physical safety of Catholics. But the Biden administration has not prosecuted a single perpetrator of an attack against a Catholic church, even though such acts are a federal crime under the FACE Act and federal civil-rights laws.
The epidemic of violence began in the summer of 2020, when civil unrest swept the nation in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd and Catholic churches across the country were vandalized in large numbers. The attacks against Catholic churches continued and even accelerated into 2021. many with deeply creepy spiritual motives — for example, the toppling of 25 headstones of deceased nuns in a Massachusetts Catholic cemetery. Near Houston, a tabernacle was stolen and — despite being made of precious metals worth several thousand dollars — turned up a few days later behind a Burger King, intact . . . except for the consecrated Eucharistic hosts, which were gone.
Then, in May 2022, came the leak of the Supreme Court’s draft of the majority opinion in Dobbs, which would reverse Roe v. Wade, and all hell broke loose. The Catholic Church in America has always stood stalwart against abortion and the culture of death, and extremists, including those from Jane’s Revenge, Ruth Sent Us, and other pro-abortion domestic terrorist groups, knew exactly on whom they wanted to take out their rage. Over the summer of 2022, there were nearly 100 attacks against Catholic churches across the country. And while much of the pro-abortion rage was channeled to the ballot box, attacks on Catholic churches have continued unabated, to the tune of over 200 since the leak. While acts of hatred and violence against Catholic churches were not uncommon before 2020, the last few years mark a sharp and sustained increase. The Family Research Council documented 27 attacks against Catholic churches in 2019 and 15 in 2018, compared with over 100 in each of the past two years.
Despite the diligent efforts of local law-enforcement agencies, arrests have been made in only about 25 percent of the 388 attacks on Catholic churches since May 2020. Rather than dedicate federal law-enforcement resources to combat the violence against Catholics, the Department of Justice has gone so far as to consider targeting Catholics themselves: A memo from the FBI’s field office in Richmond, Va., leaked last winter revealed that the office was surveilling “radical traditionalist Catholics,” even though it could not attribute a single act of violence to any group of Catholics. At a time when Catholics are under siege, the Biden administration is targeting the victims.
What can Catholics expect in 2024? There is a clear and present danger that the violence will get worse. Up to a dozen states will be voting on abortion ballot measures this year, and Catholics will be at the center of the fight in each state. After what happened in Kansas, Michigan, and Ohio, federal law-enforcement agencies should be mobilizing to prevent the intimidation of Catholics.
The events of the last two years show that Catholics in 2024 are liable to become victims of violence because of their religion. The Biden administration warns constantly of threats to our democracy. Last Friday, President Biden gave a major speech on the topic. Yet the administration is silent on the scourge of hatred and intimidation of Catholics. If that is not a threat to our democracy, what is?