September 3, 2017: Del Rio News-Herald * Letter to the Editor * From vandalism to victorious valor
Letter to the Editor,
From vandalism to victorious valor
On August 16 the photo entitled
“Vandalism at St. Joseph” appeared in the Crime Section of the Del Rio
News-Herald.
The Del Rio Police Department Blotter section
reported that Viviana Mares, Office Administrator at St. Joseph Parish Office
had informed the police that the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, that was in
the grotto adjacent to St. Joseph Catholic Church, 510 Wernett St., had been toppled
and shattered.
The damage was estimated to be $200 and
the act of vandalism had occurred either during the night on Saturday or the
early morning hours on Sunday.
I was deeply saddened to see the picture
of the empty grotto and reading the report of what was described as criminal
mischief. Criminal means something done is against the law, but mischief sounds
innocent and innocuous; like mischievous child’s play, naughtiness, monkey
business, tomfoolery, or impishness. But the desecration of a religious symbol
is not merely vandalism; it could be interpreted as a hate crime.
The statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary is
a highly honored and respected symbol of the Catholic faith and an attack on a
symbol of faith is an attack on the faith of Catholics, which could be
considered a hate crime.
A hate crime is an offense like
vandalism with an added element of bias. In this instance it could very well be
defined as a hate crime because it was a criminal offense against property
motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against religion because in
this instance the statue of The Blessed Virgin Mary was toppled and smashed.
The faithful community of St. Joseph Catholic
Church did not leave the grotto empty; another statue was rapidly and
resolutely reinstated in the grotto. When I went to my Holy Hour during the
weekly Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament on Tuesday I was greeted by the
beautiful, heartwarming sight of another statue, this one of Our Lady of
Guadalupe, gracefully standing where the other statue had previously stood. Courtesy photo provided
Marian Casillas, Ed.D.
Del Rio
