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Published: April 16, 2009
“We’re classifying it as a hate crime”
Statue of Blessed Virgin decapitated outside Santa Monica parish
Hours before Easter services were to commence, a vandal or vandals decapitated a statue of the Blessed Virgin outside Santa Monica’s Catholic Church in Santa Monica, the parish where Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife, Maria Shriver, are members.
 “As many of you know or may have noticed, our statue of the Blessed Mother at the corner of 7th and California was vandalized, and is currently covered,” the church’s pastor, Msgr. Lloyd Torgerson, said in a message to parishioners posted on the parish’s web site. “It was an unfortunate and sad occurrence, and questions remain as to why someone would feel compelled or driven to do this. But I hope that you, like myself, will be sad about this only briefly. This event is more importantly a challenge and call for us to be even more welcoming and more caring to those who are struggling or hurting in our Santa Monica community. This calling of compassion is the joy of Easter – that God’s love encompasses and surpasses everything – even death. Regardless of the hardships and hurts that we might experience in our lives, the Risen Christ inspires us to live out a deeper, more profound love for our own life and the lives of others. This is the great glory of Easter, that in the end, God’s love vindicates, transforms, and saves all things. So, though our statue of the Blessed Mother needs repair, our Easter joy endures!”
According to the Santa Monica Daily Press, a priest discovered the vandalism about 5:45 a.m. on Easter Sunday. The Blessed Virgin’s head was found on the ground a few feet away, the newspaper reported.
“Anytime a church or school is targeted, we look at it as a possible hate crime,” Santa Monica police Lt. Darrell Lowe told the Daily Press. “In this case, since the vandalism was of a very important figure within the Catholic religion, we’re classifying it and investigating it as a hate crime.”
Investigators remain puzzled about how the head was removed from the 55-year-old marble statue, according to the Daily Press. A parish spokesman told the newspaper that the statue, which stands 5.5 feet tall atop a 3.5-foot-tall pedestal, was not designed for the head to be detached.
The same statue was vandalized in 2002 when both of the Virgin’s hands were removed, the parish spokesman told the newspaper, and police never caught those who were responsible for the crime.
Posted Thursday, April 16, 2009 8:51 AM By Almond Milk
Very shameful and very disrespectful... What goes around comes around. Don't be surprised if something will come of it. Perhaps a conversion, perhaps something more miraculous. Those who committed this crime must have something against our blessed Mother and the image of her causes something in them. They must be angry with their own mothers, who knows. May God help them and may they be caught!
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Posted Thursday, April 16, 2009 10:07 AM By Bud
Attach it back to where it belongs. We can only assume who or what sicko did it and nothing else.
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Posted Thursday, April 16, 2009 10:23 AM By Maryanne Leonard
Shocking and excruciating as this crime is to us as faithful Catholics, let us be mindful of how profoundly mired down in tormented negativity are the thoughts of this raging maniac who is trying to hurt us all by his senseless act of violence and rage. Let us also recall the excruciating pain to an unborn baby of being murdered in his or her mother's womb, and let us also be shocked by the killing of an unborn baby, usually at the instigation of its own parent(s). Let us pray for the killers of these babies to change their hearts so that no more unborn children are murdered in utero, and let us pray for this tormented soul's punishment and conversion. I think we are all challenged to forgive such a heinous act, but if forgiveness is to be ours from the Lord, we must also give this enormous gift to the perpetrators of evil, while not letting him go without punishment. I have worshipped at this exquisitely beautiful church, as did my father going as far back as the 1930's, and I am personally wounded on behalf of the Virgin Mary, as I am sure all readers are. As a victim of violence, I am also suffering at the reminder of violence against the innocent in this world, and I ask for your prayers in helping me keep my heart free of rage. Jesus taught us how to suffer with dignity and also to "Forgive them, for they know not what they do." If it were easy, we would not need to be reminded. As well as being a holy gift, forgiveness is good for our own spiritual wellbeing and helps us be able to let the Holy Spirit indwell within us and send out love to our fellow human being, especially those most in need of our mercy.
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Posted Thursday, April 16, 2009 1:03 PM By Fino Gior
Could you imagine if this was a Black Church, Jewish Synagogue and especailly an Islam Temple ? Catholicism is the only predjudice left in America !! Why ?
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Posted Thursday, April 16, 2009 1:39 PM By Gracia
The Virgin Mary is the Mother of God and Queen of Heaven, the Holy Angels and of all the Saints. The Virgin Mary is the Immaculate Conception. Mother Mary has been appearing in various places throughout world history to warn and help save all of mankind to prepare them for the Second Coming of her son Jesus Christ. May God forgive and have mercy for those that have done this to such a loving, kind and beautiful mother of all mankind.
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Posted Thursday, April 16, 2009 2:10 PM By Life Lady
I am speechless that this could have been done to someone who has done nothing bad to anyone. All our Blessed Mother does is love us, all of us. She is sad at our sinfulness, and has come to warn us, on numerous occasions, to be aware of how badly we are offending God, but for someone to deface her image like that, unbelieveable just unbelieveable. I think we all need to pray more, and more often, since this was a brazen crime, and not likely to be solved. Our example in conducting ourselves properly is to be silently prayerful, and to join with Jesus in suffering for others. And then to get really angry and find out who did this dispicable thing, and make sure they stand trial for it.They will not be able to keep quiet, this smacks of pride, because it is so cowardly. They need to consider putting a tall fence around her image to protect it, and then get someone to stand guard, day and night, to make sure it does not happen again. How much abuse are we supposed to allow her to take!?
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Posted Thursday, April 16, 2009 2:24 PM By Arthur
Fino Gior, I believe there may be some Blacks, (as you call them), in the Church. There also may be some Jews and Arabs in the Church as well. I believe there is plenty of prejudice to go around in America and the RCC is certainly not alone in that respect. I do hope that these criminals are caught and put in jail.
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Posted Thursday, April 16, 2009 3:40 PM By Grisha
Fino Gior: if this was a Black Church, Jewish Synagogue and especailly an Islam Temple (Mosque) , the Santa Monica Police Department would proceed exactly in the same way. BTW When was the last time someone was murdered in the US for being Catholic?
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Posted Thursday, April 16, 2009 5:41 PM By JLS
Grisha, a lot of unborn babies are being murdered because people do not like God or His Church.
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Posted Thursday, April 16, 2009 6:22 PM By Scott
The last time I heard that a person was murdered in the US for being Catholic was the sad story of Mary Stachowicz. Here is the basic info....
CHICAGO, November 21, 2002 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A homosexual teen stabbed a middle-aged devout Catholic woman to death, apparently after she suggested that he try to change his sexual orientation.
Police arrested Nicholas Gutierrez, 19, after he confessed on video and the body of fellow Sikorski Funeral Home employee, Mary Stachowicz, a 51-year-old Polish translator, was found in a crawl space beneath his apartment. He has been charged with first-degree murder, attempting to conceal a homicide and burglary.
"She was a very intense person concerned about the good of the parish always seeking things for the poor as well as the spiritual welfare of people," said Rev. Francis Rog of St. Hyacinth Church.
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Posted Thursday, April 16, 2009 7:10 PM By gravey
So is that the standard Grisha? Someone has to be "murdered" to take notice.
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Posted Thursday, April 16, 2009 10:43 PM By ELIZABETH
FOR LOVE OF YOU LORD, FOR CONVERSION OF SINNERS AND FOR ALL THE BLASPHEMIES AGAINST MARY IMMACULATA... EVERYONE, PLEASE SAY THIS PRAY WHEN YOU ARE OFFERING UP SOMETHING DISTASTEFUL AND ANYTIME YOU GO AGAINST YOUR WILL... WE MUST MAKE REPARATION FOR THESE SAD SOULS WHO WOULD DO THIS TO OUR LADY... OUR MOTHER.
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Posted Thursday, April 16, 2009 11:42 PM By Almond Milk
It's not easy being Catholic anymore... we need more saints! Anyone up to the challenge. : )
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Posted Friday, April 17, 2009 1:21 PM By Paula
The Lord knows who the guilty are and they can not escape His punishment! Pray for the conversions of their souls.
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Posted Friday, April 17, 2009 5:19 PM By Fr. M.P.
You can see the increase of hate for Christians, but we must nevertheless stand-up for Jesus Christ and be counted. The symbolism of the act is obvious - Genesis 3:15 "I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: **she shall crush thy head**, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel." (Vulgate Bible) Taking off the statue's head is the attempt to mock the inevitable fact that will occur.
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Posted Friday, April 17, 2009 8:15 PM By JPeterman
No surprise here, our Lady stirs up the demons in fright. The statue will be fixed and the head of the serpent will be crushed.
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Posted Friday, April 17, 2009 10:59 PM By Jean Listerwood
Scott, she wasn't killed for being Catholic. She was killed because the man, who was unemployed and facing eviction at the time, fell apart when she pressed him asking, "Why do you [have sex with] boys instead of girls?" Even atheists ask that question of people. It's a non-denominational question, and like petting a random dog or playing the lottery, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. She may have chosen to play the lottery because of her Catholic leanings, but she was not killed for being Catholic. The man who killed this woman was literally not interested in her religion.
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Posted Saturday, April 18, 2009 1:04 AM By Victoria
JPeterman, is correct. Evil fears anything that symbolizes Holiness and Goodness; and The Blessed Virgin Mary is the personification of Holiness and Goodness; SHE Is Perfection. I am a Survivor of Sexual Victimization by a Roman Catholic Priest and, even though I no longer consider myself a Catholic, when I read this story about the defilement of a Statue of Our Blessed Mother, I was horrified. As a child, when I was being sexually violated, I felt I had been abandoned by everyone I thought I could trust. (I even felt abandoned by GOD). I only had HER, Mary, Our Mother. It's been 50 years since the abuse, but I still say the "Hail Mary"'s as part of my dailey Devotions. And while we are angry, shocked and horrified about this terrible crime, in HER Love and Kindness, SHE would ask us to Pray for those who do such things.
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Posted Saturday, April 18, 2009 2:10 AM By The other Mike
It is very revealing that the Catholic haters strike in the night against a statue. No discussion of differences, no attempt to mediate greviances. Just violence and blind hatred against Catholics.
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Posted Saturday, April 18, 2009 2:59 PM By Victoria
The Other Mike, I honestly don''t believe this terrible crime was committed by, "Catholic haters". There is devilment abroad in this world that makes even the humblest place of worship a target for insane acts of defilement; but this particular defilement is even more horrible because it was directed against a symbol of such goodness. You are correct about the, "strike in the night" bit though. Cowards such as these always do, "strike in the night" and often, their violent rages are directed against women. These fellows are the sort who, if it came down to it, could never stand on their own against a confrontation with men. Why? Because They Are Cowards.
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Posted Sunday, April 19, 2009 7:38 AM By JLS
Jean L, it was her religion, her respect for God, the acting out of which got her killed. It is a kind of martyrdom. You might want to read the story of the saint, Maria Goretti: all she did when attacked for sex was to resist in the name of Jesus. The attacker did not care about her religion, but wanted sex. Maria avoided it by jumping out the window to her death. That sometimes, Jean L., is all it takes to gain immediate entrance to Heaven ... just one little "impromptu" act.
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Posted Sunday, April 19, 2009 7:46 AM By JLS
Victoria, you need to find a faithful parish, of which there are many. I once gave up my efforts to trust anyone I knew, and set off on foot for a high mountain thousands of miles away for the purpose of finding God ... I had faith in God, but could not find out how to make the connection. In my determination, I ended up traveling (by foot and "thumb") only a few hundred miles. In that journey, I was met by several "Christian" proselitizers, scrutinized their pitches, and turned them down when I saw the flaw. One day I found the real deal. Although I did not know it at first, I was being led by Our Lady, Blessed Mary Ever Virgin, all the angels and saints, and Our Lord ... because I wanted to find Him. Pray the Memorare, and pray the Our Father. Pray the Jesus Prayer, among your prayers.
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Posted Sunday, April 19, 2009 8:03 AM By The other Mike
Victoria, are you referring to "random acts of violence, possibly perpretrated by troubled youths"? You are right, it's entirely possible. The timing and the almost surgical nature of the crime tells me it was a group of people with a deep seated animus towards the Church. The local police looked at the evidence and called it a "hate crime".
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Posted Sunday, April 19, 2009 12:25 PM By Bill Watley
JLS, it was an interesting case, but according to the detectives on the case, Stachowicz's religion was no more instrumental in her death than her hair color, age, job, etc.
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Posted Sunday, April 19, 2009 12:35 PM By Thomas Fortino
If this is the Catholic Church that is attended by Governer Arnold and he receives communion in this Church, then the Church has already been desecrated and much worse than the physical damage that was done to Our Lady's statue. When will "faithful" Catholics be outraged at the Governer's sacrilege and desecration of Our Lord's Body and Blood?
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Posted Sunday, April 19, 2009 2:07 PM By JLS
Bill, W, you don't understand what I'm getting at. Christ shines through the devoutly faithful. That radiance drives some souls mad and murderous. The faithful do not have to use words, as they are indeed the words of God ... ie, little bits of Verbum Dei. You've perhaps never experienced persecution for the Catholic faith ... God haters sense the faith and rebel against it even sometimes before the faithful need say or gesture a thing. St Paul teaches us that we are involved in a spiritual war ... it is not fantasy, Bill, but goes on day in and day out, with countless witnesses. Recall from Scripture the demoniac that reacted to Jesus before He identified Himself?
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Posted Sunday, April 19, 2009 3:25 PM By Victoria
The Other Mike, No, Dear Friend, I do agree this was a "HATE CRIME"; and thinking about it more, you might be right about it being directed specifically against the Catholic Faith. It is well known how much we revere the Blessed Mother so, if they wanted to hit us where we live, they certainly did it.
JLS, please explain why I have to find a more, "Faithful Parish". I don't understand you meaning.
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Posted Sunday, April 19, 2009 4:14 PM By Jannine
I was wondering about why they would even mention that the Gov. & First Lady of Cal. go there. Are they trying to say this kind of thing happens to the rich as well as the poor?
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Posted Sunday, April 19, 2009 10:10 PM By JLS
Victoria, didn't you post that you no longer attend Mass, due to the trauma you experienced back in the day? I was encouraging you to believe that there are actual holy parishes, and that it would bless you infinitely to find and attend one.
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Posted Monday, April 20, 2009 4:49 AM By Mark from PA
Mr. Fortino, you may dislike Governor Arnold but who are you to judge the state of his soul and accuse him of sacrilege and desecration? Have you even met the man? Do you know him personally? Surely Governor Arnold has a right to worship in a church of his choosing.
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Posted Monday, April 20, 2009 12:56 PM By Victoria
JLS, Gotcha'. I understand now. I do know of one good priest; well, two. Thanks.
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Posted Monday, April 20, 2009 1:59 PM By Grisha
If we want the Guv to change his views on life issues, shouldn't we want him to stay in the Catholic Church rather than, for example, becoming a Unitarian?
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Posted Monday, April 20, 2009 11:56 PM By Kenneth M. Fisher
Mark From PA,
We have pictures of Arnold receiving Communion in one hand, now maybe in the circles you travel in that is not considered sacrilege and desecration, but it sure is in mine.
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher, Founder & Chairman
Concerned Roman Catholics of America, Inc.
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Posted Tuesday, April 21, 2009 2:59 PM By Victoria
KMF, I rarely agree with you. But in this case you are 100% SPOT ON.
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