NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

    GALVESTON, Texas (CWNews.com) - Police in southern Texas are baffled at the theft of several statues of the Virgin Mary from in front of homes and churches and at cemeteries in and near Galveston.

    Police said statues have been disappearing since late summer. "I have no earthly idea why this is happening," police Sgt. David Millican said. "I stopped trying to figure that out." While some have theorized that a gang of kids is engaged in a lengthy prank, others believe the actions are an anti-Catholic campaign.

    "It is deeply troubling," Father Frank Rossi, chancellor of the diocese of Galveston-Houston, said. "We can only assume there is some negative intention." Rubie Huvar regards the theft of her 80-pound Mary from a nativity scene an anti-Catholic hate crime. "I feel like they've invaded my religion," she said. "They came into my yard and took the thing that shows I'm a Catholic. I could see once, somebody being silly, but this has happened time after time."

    Owners of the statues have begun taking the statues off their property and storing them indoors until the crime wave is solved.

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