Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 1, 2024 / 16:20 pm (CNA).
Three pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested after disrupting the Saturday evening Easter Vigil Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City as the faithful were celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Protesters entered the cathedral about 45 minutes into the 8 p.m. Vigil Mass, which was celebrated by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, and stood in front of the altar with a large flag that read “silence = death.” Security quickly tried to wrestle the flag from the protesters and eventually forced them away from the altar and toward the exit of the church before police came to arrest them.
As the protesters were being forced out of the cathedral, more protesters who were standing in the pews shouted “free, free Palestine.” Security also forced those protesters out of the church.
New York City police arrested three of the protesters without further incident: 63-year-old John Rozendaal, 35-year-old Gregory Schwedock, and 31-year-old Matthew Menzies. According to police, all three were charged with disrupting a religious service, which is a Class A misdemeanor.
“Three male individuals barged [into] the church and disrupted Mass by approaching the altar while yelling ‘Free Palestine,’” according to a statement the New York City Police Department provided to CNA.
The protesters who disrupted the Mass were associated with a subgroup of the environmental group called Extinction Rebellion (XR). The subgroup is called XR NYC Palestine Solidarity. All three men issued statements through the organization in a news release after their arrests.
“War, occupation, and industrial pollution are poisoning the soil, air, and water in Gaza and all over the planet, destroying the earth’s capacity to sustain life,” Schwedock said. “This destruction is called ‘Ecocide.’”
The disruption of the Mass occurred following a daylong pro-Palestinian rally in Times Square.
The news release from XR NYC Palestine Solidarity said that its goal was to “demand faith leaders speak out” about the war in Gaza.
Although it’s unclear what the protesters are specifically requesting of Catholic faith leaders, both the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and Pope Francis have vocally urged a cease-fire in Gaza for months.
The week before, the USCCB urged the faithful to direct prayers during Holy Week “for an end to the raging Israel-Hamas war.”
“To move forward, a cease-fire and a permanent cessation of war and violence is absolutely necessary,” the bishops said in their March 31 statement. “To move forward, those held hostage must be released and civilians must be protected. To move forward, humanitarian aid must reach those who are in such dire need.”
The pontiff urged an end to the war and expressed solidarity with Catholics in the Holy Land in a letter during Holy Week: “You are not alone; we will never leave you alone but will demonstrate our solidarity with you by prayer and practical charity.”
Neither St. Patrick’s Cathedral nor the Archdiocese of New York responded to a request for comment.
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I am surprised that Dolan didn’t come out, wish them best wishes for Ramadan, and order the cathedral to be turned to them for as long as they required. With the full support of the Church we are importing millions of people from alien cultures who will never be assimilated into a society that any serious Christian would want to live.
Just judging from the three men’s surnames they don’t appear to have been from the Middle East. The larger group they’re associated with is concerned more about the environment.
Allow me to point out (for the umpteenth time) that
1) Gaza is run by Hamas.
2) Hamas has stated on innumerable occasions that they will settle for nothing less than the total obliteration of the State of Israel, so;
3) How do you negotiate with someone who doesn’t even acknowledge that you have the right to exist?
Why does an American Christian need to take a side in a dispute that does not concern him? It’s clear why the US government does, though no one is allowed to talk about it. Your simple analysis of the situation might as well have come from an AIPAC press release.
Why would anyone, regardless of nationality, be defending terrorists as well as their sycophants and enablers?
Not too difficult to discern your agenda, Anthony.
You can’t negotiate with criminal mercenary cartels. And sadly, the civilian population in Gaza is so deeply involved with those criminal activities- through fear, intimidation, indoctrination, or a combination of those. They deserve better things & so does Israel.
That goes also for Mexico, Haiti, & wherever else gangs are in charge.
Israel is justified in killing many Palestinian civillians becasue the great majority support Hamas; but don’t worry, the same Palestinians “deserve” better. Some people won’t even try to make sense if doing so won’t validate their feelings. BTW, your reasoning (and I being generous) is the same that is used by people who defend the A Bomb attacks. Maybe this kind of thing is okay only when Israel is doing it.
Every time we see video of a PGM striking a Hamas target inside Gaza it’s amazing to observe how many uninjured civilians end up streaming out of the surrounding buildings seconds later with their cell phones at the ready.
Every dead civilian in Gaza enables Hamas’s PR efforts. They’ve carried on a scam for years profiting off humanitarian aid. They have as little concern for human life as their cartel counterparts do in Mexico and Haiti. At least the criminal gangs in Latin America don’t pretend to be legitimate government. They own up to their crimes.
Need to ship them over there and out of this country. this is a christian nation or used to be that thry used to have agree to speak English. Now the Demrats make evrybody come down to their level. Making insurance companies do business in 16 languages is the high cost of insurance.
It would appear that St. Patricks cannot control who enters and its past time for the Cardinal to take some steps to ensure the sanctity of the church. That would include posting guards at the doors, or issuing ID to parishioners which must be shown to enter. Tickets for the holy days like Easter and Christmas.St. Pats is being used as a free stage by crazies who espouse causes which are not in alignment with Catholic belief. Its time for our top clergy to stop sitting on their hands deaf and mute.How many times are we going to allow our worship services to be desecrated before something is done?