CHARLOTTE — Pro-life signs outside four parishes and two schools were vandalized or stolen in October.
St. Vincent de Paul and St. Ann churches in Charlotte, St. Mark Church in Huntersville, and St. Paul the Apostle Church in Greensboro reported that pro-life signs erected for Respect Life Month and the elections were stolen or vandalized last month. Similar signs at Holy Trinity Middle School and Charlotte Catholic High School were also stolen.
Large pro-life banners on display in front of St. Vincent de Paul Church on Old Reid Road were vandalized three times in October. The signs – urging “Pray Every Day to End Abortion” and “America, Defend Life” – were cut in half.
One of the banners with a pro-life message was then stolen from outside the church between Oct. 9 and 10, according to a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police report.
The remaining banner in front of the Charlotte parish was repaired after being slashed several times, said the parish’s Respect Life coordinators Steve and Gail Barringer.
“We’re not going to let this stop us,” Steve Barringer said. The pair said they continue to pray for those who have committed these acts and will continue to bear witness for the rights of the unborn.
This was not the first time St. Vincent de Paul Church has been targeted: Other pro-life displays have been damaged or stolen several times over the past few years. Last year, small crosses on display in front of the church were also stolen.
At St. Ann Church on Park Road, similar pro-life signs were stolen sometime overnight Oct. 20-21.
Pro-life banners at Holy Trinity Middle School, also located on Park Road, were vandalized and then subsequently stolen in separate incidents.
A pro-life sign was also stolen from in front of Charlotte Catholic High School on Pineville-Matthews Road sometime between Oct. 16 and 17.
In Greensboro, a pro-life banner in front of St. Paul the Apostle Church was cut apart, pastor Father Joseph Mack reported.
In Huntersville, a Respect Life banner stating, “Voting saves lives. Vote pro-life,” was stolen from outside St. Mark Church a few days after it was installed. The theft occurred sometime Oct. 20-21, the parish reported.
All of the stolen or damaged banners were replaced or repaired.
“We created (this banner) specifically for a time and place such as this one with the current events going on in the world,” said Father Alfonso Gámez, St. Mark’s parochial vicar. “The Lord has specifically given us the grace of faith, to be able to not only be witnesses and spectators of such sacrileges and difficulties that are going on in the world, but that we are called to be, in a certain sense, co-redeemers of this world.”
Father Gámez asked people to pray for the country “with the turmoil that we face and that for individuals who act out – out of an absence of knowledge and love of God – that they may come to be filled with His grace, and live in that love that the Lord wants for them.”
Jessica Grabowski, the diocese’s Respect Life program director, noted, “We must remember that the fight for life is most importantly a spiritual fight. Although it is unfortunate and inconvenient when things like this happen, it illustrates hope that the Catholic community is making great strides in our steadfast efforts to promote the protection of all human life, from conception to natural death.
“We must continue to surround all our efforts for life in prayer and through acts of reparation.”
— Kimberly Bender, online reporter
Pictured above: A sign in front of St. Vincent de Paul was recently repaired after being vandalized. Below: A sign damaged in front of St. Paul the Apostle Church in Greensboro, and a sign that was stolen from St. Mark in Huntersville. (Provided photos)
