California priest convicted of sexually assaulting San Diego seminarian

Denver, Colo., Nov 23, 2018 / 12:00 pm (CNA).- Officials at a Catholic university defended a campus “drag show” and classroom measures designed to support the gender identity preferences of students, even after their local bishop said the u… […]

From left to right: Promise Yardley, 18, Freeman Yardley, 24, and Blessing Yardley, 22, were all arrested by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office March 5 as suspects in a vandalism incident at Holy Family Catholic Church in Jacksonville, Florida. / Courtesy Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Department of Corrections

Boston, Mass., Mar 10, 2022 / 16:07 pm (CNA).

When Holy Family Catholic Church in Jacksonville, Florida, learned that three people were arrested as suspects in a vandalism incident involving defacement of their statues which depict the Holy Family, its response was a call for prayer.

“Let us pray for them,” the church said in a statement.

The three suspects were arrested March 5 for writing “hail satan” and other vulgar images on a group of three statues honoring the Holy Family outside the church on Feb. 23. Freeman Yardley, 24, Promise Yardley, 18, and Blessing Yardley, 22, were each charged with criminal mischief to church/other place of worship, which is a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison. It is not clear if the three suspects are related.

The marble statues of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Child Jesus, and St. Joseph had either vulgar or satanic images written on them in black marker. Surveillance footage shows three people at the scene, two of whom appear to write on the statues. You can watch the church’s videos of the incident here and here.

In its statement, Holy Family Catholic Church said that all three had confessed to the crime. But arrest reports block out what the three suspects said to police in statements made before their arrest.

The arrest report shows that a groundskeeper from Holy Family Catholic Church alerted police on March 5 when he saw two females who matched the description of the suspects walking into a nearby apartment less than a mile away from the church. Police were able to verify and identify the suspects, Blessing Yardley and Promise Yardley, and after interviewing them individually, made their arrests. Freeman Yardley was arrested later at his workplace.

The three were listed on Thursday as being in a pretrial detention facility in Jacksonville, with bail set at $15,003. They are scheduled to be arraigned on March 29.

The statues have been restored, the church announced. “Thanks to the amazing work of Angel Corrales and our maintenance staff, the statues are clean and looking better than ever!” Father David Keegan, Pastor at Holy Family, wrote in a Facebook post on March 7. Corrales, who was hired to do the restoration, said in a Facebook post that he was honored to do the job.

“Thank you for trusting me with such beautiful work,” he wrote.

[…]

CNA Staff, Aug 25, 2020 / 02:52 am (CNA).- Evidence suggests that church services following public health guidelines do not present a greater risk of spreading the novel coronavirus than other similar activities, doctors said last week.

Washing hands,… […]