{"id":4339,"date":"2010-04-27T11:22:02","date_gmt":"2010-04-27T11:22:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2010\/04\/a-vandalized-statue-a-teachable-moment.html"},"modified":"2010-04-27T11:22:02","modified_gmt":"2010-04-27T11:22:02","slug":"a-vandalized-statue-a-teachable-moment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2010\/04\/a-vandalized-statue-a-teachable-moment.html","title":{"rendered":"A vandalized statue, a &#8220;teachable moment&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A statue of Mary was desecrated over the weekend in North Carolina.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.charlotteobserver.com\/2010\/04\/26\/1398420\/virgin-mary-statue-vandalized.html\">Details: <\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\n<span class=\"mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/B82310513Z.1_20100425174355_000%2BGP219SAJC.3-0.embedded.prod_affiliate.138.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"B82310513Z.1_20100425174355_000+GP219SAJC.3-0.embedded.prod_affiliate.138.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/212\/import\/assets_c\/2010\/04\/B82310513Z.1_20100425174355_000+GP219SAJC.3-0.embedded.prod_affiliate.138-thumb-250x371-13191.jpg\" width=\"250\" height=\"371\" class=\"mt-image-left\" style=\"float: left;margin: 0 20px 20px 0\" \/><\/a><\/span>At the urging of their pastor, members of St. Matthew Catholic Church stopped at a rose garden on church grounds Sunday to pray for whoever knocked off the head and praying hands of a concrete Virgin Mary statue and to teach their children that even a peaceful garden in full bloom is not protected from violence.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This is a teachable moment,&#8221; Monsignor John McSweeney, the church&#8217;s pastor, said between Masses on Sunday. &#8220;At each Mass, we&#8217;re asking people to take a look at the reality of violence in the world today. We&#8217;re asking them to reflect on their own emotions &#8211; of anger, or hurt &#8211; and to pray for the individuals or individual who felt the need to do this.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know why anyone would feel that need.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The desecration took place between Friday midnight and 5 a.m. Saturday, when it was first discovered, McSweeney said.<\/p>\n<p>The head and hands had been cleanly knocked off, with little damage to the rest of the 3-foot statue. The pastor said the vandalism didn&#8217;t look random or accidental, &#8220;but it seems to me purposely done.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He said the church, for now, will keep the damaged statue in the same spot to stir members to continue their reflections. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> You can find more background and reaction at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.charlotteobserver.com\/2010\/04\/26\/1398420\/virgin-mary-statue-vandalized.html\">the link.  <\/a><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A statue of Mary was desecrated over the weekend in North Carolina. Details: At the urging of their pastor, members of St. Matthew Catholic Church stopped at a rose garden on church grounds Sunday to pray for whoever knocked off the head and praying hands of a concrete Virgin Mary statue and to teach their&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-churches","category-ripped-from-the-headlines"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A vandalized statue, a &quot;teachable moment&quot; - The Deacon&#039;s Bench<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2010\/04\/a-vandalized-statue-a-teachable-moment.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A vandalized statue, a &quot;teachable moment&quot; - The Deacon&#039;s Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A statue of Mary was desecrated over the weekend in North Carolina. Details: At the urging of their pastor, members of St. Matthew Catholic Church stopped at a rose garden on church grounds Sunday to pray for whoever knocked off the head and praying hands of a concrete Virgin Mary statue and to teach their&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2010\/04\/a-vandalized-statue-a-teachable-moment.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Deacon&#039;s Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-04-27T11:22:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/files\/import\/assets_c\/2010\/04\/B82310513Z.1_20100425174355_000+GP219SAJC.3-0.embedded.prod_affiliate.138-thumb-250x371-13191.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"jmcgee\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A vandalized statue, a \"teachable moment\" - The Deacon&#039;s Bench","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2010\/04\/a-vandalized-statue-a-teachable-moment.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A vandalized statue, a \"teachable moment\" - The Deacon&#039;s Bench","og_description":"A statue of Mary was desecrated over the weekend in North Carolina. 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