Police probe arson attack at Boston-area church

August 3, 2020 CNA Daily News News Briefs 1 Print

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 3, 2020 / 03:00 pm (CNA).- Police are investigating two fires at Sacred Heart Church in Weymouth, Massachusetts, as arson. Both fires began overnight Sunday.

The fire damage was discovered on the morning of Monday, August 3, and the fires were set near the entrances of the church. It is unclear the extent of the damage. The fires were described by local media as being “small.” 

The fires are believed to have been set sometime between 11 p.m. on Sunday evening and 8 a.m. on Monday.

The Massachusetts Department of Fire Services told the Boston Herald in a statement that “State Troopers assigned to the State Fire Marshal’s Office are assisting Weymouth PD and Weymouth FD with an investigation” at the church. The Department of Fire Services declined to give further information. 

Terrence Donilon, the spokesman for the Archdiocese of Boston, told CNA that the archdiocese was working with local law enforcement, and that the archdiocese would not be commenting further until after a full investigation has been conducted. 

“Any repairs required will take place with assistance from the Archdiocese,” said Donilon. “We are confident law enforcement will get to the bottom of who was responsible and that the individual(s) will be held accountable.”

Donilon added that the archdiocese would be praying for the person who set the fires, as well as “give thanks that no one was injured.”

Sacred Heart Church was completely destroyed by a fire on June 9, 2005. That fire was believed to have started in a boiler room. The church was rebuilt, updated to modern standards, and was reopened in November 2007. 

The fires set at Sacred Heart are the second fire-related damage at a Catholic church in the Archdiocese of Boston in the last month. On July 12, a statue of the Virgin Mary outside of St. Peter’s Church in Dorchester was set ablaze. The incident is being investigated as a hate crime. 

The fire also follows a string of fires and attacks on church buildings across the country and the world in recent weeks.

An unidentified man threw a firebomb into a chapel of Managua’s Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on Friday, severely damaging the chapel and a devotional image of Christ more than three centuries old.

The Catholic community at Queen of Peace Parish in Ocala, Florida is rebuilding after the church was set on fire last month and a Florida man was charged with arson.

A man on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia attempted last week to set fire to a crucifix outside a Catholic church, while parishioners worshiped inside the building.

A church volunteer has admitted to starting a fire at Nantes Cathedral in France on July 18, and has been charged with arson.

Another possible arson occurred in California, where a fire ravaged the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel church in Los Angeles in the predawn hours of Saturday, July 11. That fire is now being investigated for foul play.

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Gregory promises DC Catholics ‘I will always tell you the truth’

April 4, 2019 CNA Daily News 1

Washington D.C., Apr 4, 2019 / 11:40 am (CNA).- Archbishop Wilton Gregory made an uncompromising commitment to transparency during his introduction to the faithful of Washington, DC, at a press conference Thursday.

 

“First of all, I believe that the only way I can serve this local archdiocese is by telling you the truth,” said Gregory at his formal introduction as the next Archbishop of Washington on April 4.

 

Gregory’s appointment, which was first reported by CNA last week, was officially announced by the Vatican on Thursday.

 

The new archbishop pledged to be transparent and open in all matters, even when that means that he may admit that sometimes he is not entirely sure of something.

 

“Transparency includes sharing what you do know, and it also acknowledges that ‘that’s not something that I’m sure of’ or ‘I simply don’t know,’” he said. But, Gregory noted, “I will always tell you the truth as I understand it.”

 

Greogry’s pledge comes as the archdiocese is still reeling from the recent laicization of its former leader, Theodore McCarrick. McCarrick was removed from the clerical state in February after being found guilty of numerous grave offenses, including the sexual abuse of minors and adults. McCarrick led the archdiocese from 2000 until 2006.

 

McCarrick resigned from the College of Cardinals in July 2018 after allegations of sexual abuse of minors became public. Since then, it was revealed that multiple dioceses had paid settlements to men alleging sexual misconduct by McCarrick while they were studying in seminaries.

 

None of McCarrick’s abuse allegations date from his time in Washington.

 

The revelations about McCarrick’s conduct prompted questions about what his successor in Washington, Cardinal Donald Wuerl, knew about the allegations and what, if anything, he did in response. Over the last months of his tenure in Washington, following CNA reports that he first heard allegations against McCarrick in 2004, Wuerl subsequently had to clarify what he knew, when he knew it, and when he, apparently, forgot it.

 

Wuerl’s resignation was accepted by the Vatican in October 2018. Since then, he has served as the apostolic administrator of the archdiocese. He was present Thursday at the press conference, and introduced Gregory as someone with exemplary pastoral abilities, intellectual gifts, and leadership skills.

 

In response to a question from the Washington Post, Gregory praised Wuerl, but also acknowledged that his predecessor had made mistakes, for which he has atoned.

 

“I know [Wuerl] is a gentleman, he works very hard for the Church, he acknowledges he’s made mistakes,” said Gregory.

 

“That’s a sign of the integrity of the man.”

 

Gregory said that if a situation ever arises where he would have to account for a mistake made by Wuerl, he would do that. The archbishop decried a culture of clericalism that resulted in what he called a “circling of the wagons” to protect members of the clergy and prevent accountability by bishops.

 

“I think this moment has shown the folly of that approach to episcopal governance and episcopal collegiality,” said Gregory.

 

Gregory also spoke about his time leading the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops from 2001 until 2004, at the beginning of the sexual abuse crisis in the American Church. He said that during his time as president of the USCCB he was able to meet with Pope St. John Paul II, and he informed him about the extent of the crisis in the United States.

 

“[The Pope] looked at me and says ‘are you sure?’,” Gregory recounted. “I said ‘Holy Father, I am sure, and there is more.'”

 

It was this experience, Gregory explained, that will set the tone for his time again leading an institution grappling with a serious crisis.

 

“I walked away from my time as president knowing this one thing: that I told them the truth as best as I could. And that’s what I will do with the Archdiocese of Washington.”

[…]

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