Indonesia: A Statue of the Virgin Mary Decapitated
Some vandals decapitated a statue of the Blessed Virgin in Tawangmangu, Indonesia, in the archdiocese of Semarang (450km east of the capitol Jakarta), on the night of December 14-15, 2011. A cross was stolen and some holy water fonts destroyed, reported the press agency AsiaNews on December 15. “This brutal action has perturbed the whole Catholic community,” claimed Archbishop Johannes Pujasumarta, archbishop of Semarang.
During the Christmas period, attacks against Christian communities are frequent. On Christmas Eve 2000, an attack killed 19 faithful. On December 31, 2005, 7 persons were killed in a marketplace in a Christian district of Palu (on the island of Sulawesi). In both cases, the group Jemaah Islamyah, connected with Al-Qaida, was held responsible.
In the south of Jakarta, the faithful of the St. John the Baptist parish in Parung were forbidden to celebrate Christmas Mass because of threats from Islamists who claim that the religious edifice did not have a building permit. They claimed that they would attack the faithful if there were any Masses or prayers.
For the executive secretary of the Catholic Episcopal Conference of Indonesia (KWI), Fr. Benny Susetyo, quoted by AsiaNews the day after Christmas, “it is a clear violation of religious liberty.” The priests speaks of the “unfriendly methods of Islamic fundamentalists who end up sapping the spirit of the ‘Pancasila’, the founding principles of the Indonesian State that promotes religious liberty, multiculturalism and unity in diversity.” (sources: apic/asianews – DICI#248 Jan 13, 2012)
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