http://www.sltrib.com//ci_8520812
In case that link doesn't work (it will expire in about a week), here
is a summary:
In the small southern Colorado town of San Luis there is a Catholic
church called the Sangre de Cristo Church. Sangre de Cristo means "blood
of Christ," and is also the name of a nearby mountain range. The church
has a shrine on its property, one part of which is dedicated to "the
Mexican Martyrs," a group of Mexicans canonized a few years ago. (That
makes them saints, for the Catholically uninformed.) The shrine includes
statues of the saints, an altar (which resembles a table in size and
shape) and a triptych of paintings.
Recently, photos appeared on the Internet showing the conduct of three
Mormon missionaries at the shrine. Visiting it sometime in 2006 when no
one else was around, they desecrated it, vandalized it, and took pictures
of what they did. One photo shows one missionary pretending to preach
from the Book of Mormon at the shrine's altar. A second photo shows one
missionary pretending to sacrifice another on the altar. A third shows
one of the trio holding the head of one of the statues, which he evidently
broke off. (The head was replaced and the damage not discovered until the
pictures surfaced.)
The LDS Church has apologized through the local mission president for
the missionaries conduct. The one missionary who was still serving has
been sent home, and there are intimations of Church discipline being in
the works.
Despite this, the incident continues to upset me. What those fools did
was bad for the LDS church at best. It was sacrilege and criminal conduct
at worst. Colorado authorities are investigating, and may bring felony
charges of "desecration of a venerated object," if I remember the phrase
right. But I feel like I need to do something about this myself, even
though I am not connected with the perpetrators in any way other than
belonging to the same church.
If anyone would like to join me in sending a letter of apology to the
Sangre de Cristo parish, here is the address:
Reverend Pat Valdez
Sangre De Cristo Catholic Church
511 Church Pl
San Luis, CO 81152
Bill
| I have seen months and months in [Salt Lake] City,
__o | when I could have wept like a whipped child to see
_`\(,_ | the awful stupidity of the people.
(_)/ (_) | -Brigham Young
|
