Virgin Mary Statue At Catholic Church In Toronto Decapitated
Aug 31, 2020 20:24:01 GMT
Post by Admin on Aug 31, 2020 20:24:01 GMT
Virgin Mary Statue At Catholic Church In Toronto Decapitated
A Virgin Mary statue at a Catholic Church in Toronto, Canada was decapitated Saturday, numerous sources reported.
Our Lady of Lebanon Parish said a parishioner noticed the Virgin Mary statue’s head missing and reported it to the priest, Father Walid El Khoury, before morning mass. After searched for the head turned up empty, the church notified the police, CTV News reported.
“Our parishioners, when exiting the church, were horrified to see such a deplorable and malicious act,” the church said in a post on Facebook.
The parish is a Maronite Catholic Church, many of which churches were started by Lebanese immigrants to Canada and the U.S. The Toronto parish includes roughly one thousand families from all parts of Lebanon, according to the website.
Toronto police were on the scene Monday to investigate the incident, which happened a month after a statue of Jesus at a church in Alberta was also vandalized. (RELATED: Statue Of Jesus Vandalized At Catholic Church In Canada)
The search for those responsible for the crimes at churches in Canada coincides with several similar incidents in the U.S., which have included setting statues of the Virgin Mary on fire in Boston, and arson at a Catholic Church while parishioners inside prepared for mass in Florida.
The incidents prompted letters from Republican Louisiana Senator John Kennedy and Republican Tennessee Rep. Chuck Fleischmann to Attorney General William Barr, expressing concerns about what the latter Senator called a “disturbing trend” of attacks on houses of worship in the U.S.
In Fleischmann’s home state, a Virgin Mary statue was beheaded in Chattanooga in July, around the same time that a statue of Jesus Christ was vandalized in Miami.