| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"turk" |
| Date: |
03 Mar 2004 01:51:22 AM |
| Object: |
Vandals destroy 'virgin mary' image in window... |
Finally, someone with some sense has gotten rid of that idiotic
sheep-gathering illusion.
From the Orlando Sentinel...
Vandals destroy image at Clearwater shrine
By Keith W. Kohn | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted March 2, 2004
CLEARWATER -- For Rosie Reed, the shock of the shattered image of the Virgin
Mary was almost too much for her to bear.
"I was here at 7," Reed, 60, said as she gathered shards of glass Monday
afternoon and placed them in pails. "I was speechless. I started praying.
Praying for the person who did this. You have to forgive."
Sometime just before dawn, vandals using a powerful slingshot had launched
three ball bearings at the top three panes of an office
building-turned-shrine, shattering what thousands believed to be the image
of Jesus Christ's mother.
The glass fell to the ground in hundreds of pieces, and with it, the top of
Mary's head that had been bowed in prayer.
The mysterious, 30-foot-tall reflection appeared on the building's glass
exterior in 1996, drawing half a million pilgrims and gawkers in the first
few weeks. Now a shrine called Our Lady of Clearwater, it still was
attracting scores of worshippers a day.
The image, in purple, blue, yellow and green, was likened to a stained-glass
portrait of Mary. Glass experts had a more secular explanation, saying it
probably was created by a chemical reaction and corrosion of metallic
elements in the glass coating.
Clearwater police spokesman Wayne Shelor said there were no suspects in the
vandalism Monday. All day, the interior of an office was visible, framed by
remnants of the shattered glass.
Reed, site leader of the shrine owned by Shepherds of Christ Ministries,
said the president of the ministry, John Weickert, was traveling to
Clearwater from Cincinnati to decide what to do next. She said there was no
damage to an altar or crucifix set up outside the building.
Shelor said police think the window collapsed sometime after 5:15 a.m., when
a security camera showed the image still intact.
He said the three ball bearings were shot from within the shrine grounds and
were flung from some type of slingshot. Two of the metal projectiles were
found on the ground outside the shrine, he said, and one made it into the
building.
The windows "were not blown out," the police spokesman said. "We think they
stayed intact for a time, maybe minutes, maybe an hour."
It wasn't the first time the image had been attacked. Six months after it
appeared, someone threw an undetermined liquid on the Virgin Mary, marring
it. But after two days of heavy thunderstorms, the blemishes disappeared.
Reed said the incident "devastated" her at first, but by the afternoon she
was preparing for Monday evening's prayer service.
Other observers were also upset.
"I had trouble catching my breath," said Janet Solomon of the moment she saw
the broken windows. "There's something wrong with the world. I'm not a
Christian, but it was an amazing thing to see."
But others wondered whether the destruction of the image would lead to
another miracle.
"The amazing thing will be if they put new glass in there and she
reappears," said William Pape, who drove Monday from Lehigh Acres near Fort
Myers expecting to see the image.
Toni Ann Kleinman of Valrico in Hillsborough County, who heard about the
destruction and drove to the shrine with her husband, Les, and son Mitchell,
2, hoped for the same.
"I have a feeling if they put the windows back, it will come back," she
said.
Shelor said police will do whatever they can to catch the culprits. "We'll
figure this out," he told Reed.
But Pape's attitude about the vandals was more Old Testament in tone.
"If that's a true gift from God," he said, "I wouldn't want to be in their
shoes."
Keith W. Kohn can be reached at
or 863-422-5908. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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| User: "Vic Sagerquist" |
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| Title: Re: Vandals destroy 'virgin mary' image in window... |
03 Mar 2004 12:01:53 PM |
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One day in alt.atheism, Also Sprach turk:
"I was here at 7," Reed, 60, said as she gathered shards of glass Monday
afternoon and placed them in pails. "I was speechless. I started praying.
Praying for the person who did this. You have to forgive."
Minions of Satan, no doubt. But since it was part of God's plan, what
purpose does this praying serve? The people who did it can only be
forgiven by accepting Jaysus. Maybe they already have, and were instructed
by God to shoot out the window to ease the traffic in the area. Maybe that
was a divine grant that was higher up on the prayer hierarchy.
How's that for mysterious ways?
--
Vic Sagerquist
aa#2011
Plonked by Angelicusrex 2/24/04
______________
The fool says in his heart, "There is no God".
The wise man announces it to the world.
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