Editor’s note: Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, in partnership with the Benedict XVI Institute, has launched a petition calling on lawmakers to lift “extreme restrictions on public worship.” His Excellency kindly granted Crisis Magazine an interview to discuss his efforts.
Do you see any connection between the Mass restrictions and the attacks on Catholic saints, particularly Junipero Serra and the Virgin Mary?
I don’t see any direct connection on the earthly plane. But the spiritual battle is always the real battle. I performed a minor exorcism at the site of the statue of St. Junípero Serra in Golden Gate Park because statues of holy saints are sacramentals; their destruction is a sacrilege. The Evil One is at work here.
To take something as beautiful and holy as the face of Our Mother and desecrate it? What demons those poor, battered souls must be fighting. In the midst of all our troubles, to be deprived of the Eucharist is both a serious imposition on our rights as Americans and a serious spiritual deprivation. ….
