[http://www.northjersey.com/story/news/2017/08/16/passaic-tears-down-shrine-virgin-guadalupe/574239001/]
Local Novus Ordo diocese allowed it to happen and wouldn't accept the Shrine.
The premise, including the remark above in the
original posting, is
extremely misleading at best, so much so as to
discredit its
original poster. The cited article does
not mention either a "
diocese" nor any "bishop".
Lora also serves as pastor of the English language congregation of Eastern Christian Free Methodist Church in Jersey City, New Jersey."
Where did you get that identification of his
Protestant sect? It's
not in the cited article as it exists on line (as I loaded it, an hour or so before my reply).
He's one of those right-wing evangelicals who think Catholics worship statues. To him, this statue breaks a commandment, it's idolatrous.
Did either of you actually
read the cited article? It sure as
[Hades] doesn't look as if either of you bothered to make the effort, maybe just running with the headline, and skipping all the rest.
I assumed that the target shrine would be 1 of those familiar
half-domed shrines to
Our Lady [†]. Maybe that target was situated in a city park, perhaps on what was originally church-owned land near a city square, whose excess the church later sold to the city to expand a city park, but with an easement requiring the city not to remove whatever Catholic artworks were already there. And then an arrogant mayor coming along decades later, and dismissing that easement as "outdated" or somesuch.
So I am thanking the Holy Spirit that I exercised more than my usual skepticism about the comments herein (i.e., from CathInfo members), and actually
read the article.
I was sadly amazed at what I discovered:
• There's
no statue; the object of the shrine is literally a
tree stump:
[....] it dates from 2003 when two Mexican teenagers were chopping brush with a machete just off Hope Avenue. The boys came upon a tree stump, and one of the boys claimed to have seen the face of the Virgin Mary in the wood. Word quickly spread of the "miraculous sighting," and believers from all over rushed to the spot, which was right-of-way along Route 21 that is owned by the state.
• As for
idolatry:
[....] the shrine became the spiritual center for many [Mexicans]; there were always fresh flowers, a Saturday evening prayer service, and an annual May procession that would draw hundreds in which the icon was paraded through the streets. [....] the icon [was] wrapped in its crimson and red vestments and enclosed in glass
You really want to argue that all that's
not idolatry?. Reminds me of the widespread
Slavic pagan worship of
wood posts.
At least a
wood stump avoids the bulk of the preservation issues raised by venerating an allegedly sacred image of Our Lady on a
pancake--or was it an
omelette? But are there really members of CathInfo who believe that such, um,
highly dubious objects should be routinely accepted then displayed by any church that calls itself "Catholic"? There must be at least some minimal organization within
Mayordomia Guadalupe, which created and venerates the stump shrine. Do its leaders have any affiliation with any "Catholic" church they could call "their parish"? Does any "Catholic" church or diocese endorse or sponsor their annual "
procession of the "vestment"-wrapped
stump? Why or why
not? • After an incident of vandalism in May 2012, the shrine was rebuilt, which increased its defiance toward the city:
[....] [new] problems arose when Mayordomia Guadalupe set up a collection box at the site, and also ran electrical lines to furnish power to security lighting. Lora said he could not allow a religious group to occupy public property and collect money.
Those "
electrical lines" presumably suck electricity from a state-owned outlet without reïmbursement (i.e.,
stealing). An unfair accusation, you say?
Hah! The whole structure is illegal, never having received any of the permits that would be necessary to make it legal, if legal permission could ever be
impartially justified.
• A
flag of Mexico, such as 1 photo in the cited article shows flying as part of the permanent framework in front of the
shrine, should
never, ever be placed to
fly over land that's
owned by
any State in the
U.S.A.-------
Note †: E.g., a
half-domed shrine like the life-sized one that local
N.O. cathedral had in its small courtyard when it was merely a parish church decades ago, and before destructive vandalism; or like the smaller shrine that the local independent traditional Catholic church now has in 1 of its side yards.
Topic: Anti Catholic North Jersey Mayor removes Lady of Guadalupe Shrine (Read 1016 times)