A Catholic political advocacy group is calling on presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden standup for the Catholic Church amid recent acts of violence against its churches, statutes, and symbols.
Last Thursday, CatholicVote released a statement asserting that Biden “has a responsibility and duty to Catholics to publicly condemn these attacks” since he is a “baptized Catholic.”
“Catholic churches across America are literally burning, and Joe Biden has said nothing,” the statement, written by CatholicVote President Brian Burch reads.
“Leading members of the Democratic Party have fueled a climate of hate against Catholics, and these attacks have now led to acts of vandalism and violence. These attacks on the Church raise serious questions about the commitment of Joe Biden, a self-professed Catholic, to stand up to the rising climate of anti-Catholicism across the country.”
Former Congressman and CatholicVote Senior Political Adviser Tim Huelskamp criticized Biden’s “deafening silence” on the attacks which “speaks loudly of his consent.”
“Many of these statues and churches were built centuries ago by faithful Catholics and remain powerful symbols for Catholics today,” he said. “All good and decent Catholics are offended by this growing anti-Catholic rampage. Joe Biden’s deafening silence during this hate-filled epidemic speaks loudly of his consent to this shocking assault on our religious freedoms.”
The statement then highlighted a string of recent attacks on the Catholic Church including last week’s attack of a Molotov cocktail being thrown at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Weymouth, MA.
According to officials, the attack marked “the sixth act of arson or vandalism against a Catholic church this year in Massachusetts alone.” Additionally, statues of the Virgin Mary have been defaced in Boston.
In July, a dozen attacks on Catholic churches and statues took place in just one week in different parts of the U.S, including acts of arson committed on churches in Florida and California.
CatholicVote also cited Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s recent comments against the statue of Father Damien of Molokai in the U.S. Capitol as an example of “patriarchy and white supremacist culture.”
The group then noted that Father Damien had been honored by the state of Hawaii for his service to a leper colony on the island of Molokai.
According to CatholicVote, they plan to reach “over five million active Catholics in battleground states during this election cycle.” The group currently has full-time staff in five states plus thousands of volunteers.
Related:
5 Things Christians Should Know about Joe Biden’s Faith
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Scott Olson/Staff
Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer. Visit his blog Blessed Are The Forgiven.