Still no mention of desecration at St Joseph’s as leaders of Catholic Church and CoE denounce attacks on mosques

Over the weekend the Archbishop of Canterbury penned an opinion piece for the Guardian that denounced the recent violence across England and Northern Ireland, including “anti-Muslim” attacks and the targeting of mosques.

It followed comments from the English bishops, as well as from the most senior member of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, who have condemned the outbreak of mob violence against asylum seekers and refugees as well as immigrant communities following the killing of three young girls during a knife attack in Southport on 29 July.

“The violence across England and Northern Ireland in recent days does contain common features,” Justin Welby writes in the 11 August Guardian comment piece. “It is racist. It targets ethnic minorities. It is anti-Muslim, anti-refugee and anti-asylum seeker. It was detonated by lies and fuelled by deliberate misinformation, spread quickly online by bad actors with malignant motivations.

“The lies and misinformation flourished in fertile ground cultivated by years of rhetoric from some of our press and politicians, arriving at a point where some felt emboldened to try to set fire to a hotel housing asylum seekers and target mosques.”

As the Archbishop of Canterbury continues to discuss the “difficult road towards living well together” and how “reconciliation is the long and often painful process of addressing injustice, careful research into the deep-rooted causes of division and facing uncomfortable truths”, it is unclear how this relates to the Catholic Church and any forms of intolerance shown toward Catholics, as he does not mention a recent attack on a Catholic church in the Diocese of Westminster.

First reported on in the UK press by the Catholic Herald on 8 August, the attack continues to go largely unremarked on in the mainstream media but also, in addition to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and based on the news items currently populating their respective websites, by the above mentioned Catholic Church leaders and their representative organisations, including the Diocese of Westminster.

RELATED: Statue of Virgin Mary destroyed by vandals at Westminster diocese church

A statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary has been attacked by unidentified assailants at Saint Joseph’s Catholic Church in Wembley and reduced to rubble, leaving an empty plinth, on the night of 6 August or in the early hours of 7 August, according to the parish office.

“The Parish community as a whole is saddened by this mindless act,” an office staff member told the Catholic Herald. “But we will utilise this opportunity to strengthen our faith.”

The office was unable to confirm if there were any disturbances happening in the local area on the night of the attack that might be linked to ongoing turmoil occurring in the UK following the killing of three young girls in Southport during a knife attack.

GB News, which is one of the few media to pick up on what happened at St Joseph’s, has reported that on the evening of 7 August a crowd of at least 50 men gathered in North Croydon high street and “rampaged for more than a mile through the centre of town chanting ‘Allahu Akbar'”, citing the response of the Metropolitan Police at the time.

North Croydon is an outer borough of London and about 25 kms from Wembley.

While there is currently no known evidence to link the unrest in Croydon with the attack at St Joseph’s in Wembley – at the time of speaking, the parish told the Herald that the police investigation into the attack is ongoing – a member of St Joseph’s congregation spoke to GB News, on condition of anonymity, to voice concerns that while the congregation has been trying to ascertain both the identity and the motive of the culprit, what happened at St Jospeh’s was being ignored or played down by everyone else, including the authorities.

“Either it’s a lone, crazy man who did this or someone who had a motive of hatred towards Christians,” the individual told GB News.

“The Church doesn’t want a lot of eyeballs on this story, probably because of the negative side of that – more attacks or people pushing bad information about the Church.

“But I wanted to push the message out that Christians are being attacked too. It’s not only about the Church, it’s about the attack on Christians worldwide, everywhere. We feel fearful.”

A recent Catholic Herald editorial about the UK riots pointed out: “it is notable that the same thing happened in Ireland, when an attack by an Algerian suspect on a teacher and schoolchildren was followed by riots in Dublin. “The rioters felt that politicians, broadcasters and journalists were keeping the truth of what happened from them.

“In cases such as these – as we saw with the Southport suspect – simple clarity and transparency can serve the public interest more than paternalistic dissimulation. The answer to fake news is real news.”

Memorial services for the three murdered girls were held recently, with one service occurring in a Catholic parish and another reportedly occurring in an Anglican parish. The funeral of Alice Dasilva Aguiar, who came from a Catholic Portuguese family, was held on 11 August.

RELATED: Catholic memorial service held for one of the three murdered Southport girls

Photo: Screenshot of image being shared on social media purporting to show the destroyed statue at St Joseph’s.

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