March 30, 2016: In a barbarous act of vandalism some one has cut down the cross on the hill behind Riverside residence. Our office manager Jeffrey was informed of the missing cross by our neighbor on Wednesday. The Riverside Police and the City Council was been informed of this terrible act. The police visited the site and the Press Enterprise interviewed Fr. Jose Goopio over the phone. The Press Enterprise carried a news story yesterday also ABC and CBS covered it in their news yesterday.
I’d agree, as Catholic Christian, that vandalism is a destructive act that should involve the police….and at least the local news. I can also appreciate the costs of putting it back up twice! I would hesitate to use the word “barbaric,” or even the word “terrible.” The first is usually juxtaposed to “civilized” and that dichotomy has a very oppressive history, especially since the early colonizing/missionizing centuries. The second term comes close to the word “terrorism,” which is working its way to becoming a lot like “barbaric.”