Someone tried to burn a cross on the steps of a local church here, Holy Family in Duxbury. It was leaned on the front doors and set on fire with an accelerant, but thankfully it didn’t catch. The pastor discovered it in the morning.
They’re investigating it as a hate crime. My hunch is Satanic ritual.
They also found a cross planted in the yard of a parishoner a quarter mile from the church. The police think they’re connected.
I don’t know about the possibility of a Satanic ritual- such things in the past involveddifferent symbolism (usually a pentagram) and spray painted vulgarities. But it could be possible.
There’s been an arrest.
Satanic ritual, eh?
“The pastor said that Cerne is a member of the parish and a troubled teenager. Police said that the teen confessed to the burning.”
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/4221533/detail.html
So maybe my hunch was wrong (although nothing in the story says it wasn’t a Satanic ritual.) So sue me.
Such things, occultic attacks on a church, are not unheard of. I could tell you stories about stuff that’s happened up here in Salem.
Well, the act of the burning of the cross certainly was not an inspiration of the Holy Spirit! Sounds like the “other team” inspired this. Actions and thoughts are either good, bad, or indifferent; this action was not good or indifferent, it was bad and IMHO it was and evil thing to do.
There are two books published by the Chief Exorcist in Rome, Fr. Gabriel Amorth, An Exorcist Tells His Story and An Exorcist, More Stories. Events such as the burning of the cross among other things are discussed in the books. You might be surprised what you find out. After all, this man has spoken to Satan himself and his brood during exorcisms.
On the other hand, the person who did the deed could have some kind of mental problem or could have been on drugs, but being on drugs opens the door to the devil whether one realizes it or not. The Exorcist speaks of this also.
Quoting Amorth:
“The Devil’s greatest success is persuading people he does not exist. We have a clergy and an episcopate who no longer believe in the Devil, in exorcisms, in the extraordinary evil that the Devil can cause, nor in the power that Jesus has given us to drive out demons.”
“And the bishops are the main victims of this situation of the Catholic Church in which belief in the existence of the demon is in the process of disappearing. Before this new manual appeared, the German episcopate sent a letter to Cardinal Ratzinger in which they declared that there was no need to create a new ritual because exorcisms should no longer be performed.”
Whatever the case, the guy needs prayer.
Similar vandalism in New York continued for months and the perpetrator turned out to be a member of a sect which regards the Catholic Church as the Whore of Babylon.
Similar vandalism in New York continued for months and the perpetrator turned out to be a member of a sect which regards the Catholic Church as the Whore of Babylon.
I remember that- he tore down a statue of one of the Popes; I also remember that he vowed to continue to vandalize Catholic property once he was released.
As to the burning cross, I wasn’t aware of Fr. Amorth’s mention of it in connection with Satanic ritual- another arguement for moving his book to the top of my “to read” pile (assuming I can do so without the pile falling over on me!)
Dom, I assumed such things do happen up around Salem, but I was never certain how frequently. Is it a frequent thing?
It isn’t frequent but it does happen, especially around Halloween.
This past Halloween, a bunch of Wiccan kids “protested” a concert we were having by setting off fire extinguishers in the church. That’s one of the more harmless pranks, although it was a real pain to clean up.
I’ve also heard about dead cats being left on doorsteps and other gruesome acts. Plus you never know what you’ll find in the bushes and other dark places on the property.
Denis, I said ” Events SUCH AS, meaning akin to this action of the burning of the cross”. Sorry if I misled you.
If you have the books, yes, read them, they are enlightening to say the least.
God bless you