Of vandalism and cemeteries.Hamilton, ON--In the worst desecration of a Catholic religious site since that of Montreal's Mary Queen of the World cathedral by feminist activists in 2000, Bishop Anthony Tonnos Park in Hamilton, ON, was vandalized a few days after its mid-July opening ceremony presided over by the bishop himself. The 24-hectare park, owned by the St. Elizabeth Home Society, was intended as a place of prayer, reflection and peace for residents of the adjoining St. Elizabeth Villa and for members of the public. The nighttime vandals ripped up and destroyed 11 of the 14 Stations of the Cross Stations of the Cross depictions of episodes of Christ’s death. [Christianity: Brewer Dictionary, 1035] See : Passion of Christ erected along the main pathway. Sister Maria Szucs of St. Elizabeth Villa described the ceramic pictures of the Stations as invaluable. The work of a Hungarian artist of the 1930s, they had been donated to the society by a Hungarian church in London. She also speculated that the destruction might be classed as a hate-crime. Hamilton police are, at the moment, treating the destruction as "mischief A specific injury or damage caused by another person's action or inaction. In Civil Law, a person who suffered physical injury due to the Negligence of another person could allege mischief in a lawsuit in tort. " apparently it cannot be classified as a "hate-crime" until the perpetrators are caught and their motives ascertained as·cer·tain tr.v. as·cer·tained, as·cer·tain·ing, as·cer·tains 1. To discover with certainty, as through examination or experimentation. See Synonyms at discover. 2. . Meantime, the Society is making plans to rebuild (Catholic Register, Hamilton Spectator Spectator, English daily periodical published jointly by Joseph Addison and Richard Steele with occasional contributions from other writers. It succeeded the Tatler, a periodical begun by Steele on Apr. 12, 1709, under the pseudonym Isaac Bickerstaff. July 2003) St. John, NB--Historic St. Mary's Cemetery cemetery, name used by early Christians to designate a place for burying the dead. First applied in Christian burials in the Roman catacombs, the word cemetery came into general usage in the 15th cent. in St. John, NB recently suffered vandalism The intentional and malicious destruction of or damage to the property of another. The intentional destruction of property is popularly referred to as vandalism. It includes behavior such as breaking windows, slashing tires, spray painting a wall with graffiti, and twice (July 19 and Aug. 2, 2003). This summer, 88 headstones were overturned, leaving a damage total of $100,000. Many had been there for 100 to 150 years, as St. Mary's is the final resting place for hundreds of the 19th-century Catholic settlers in New Brunswick New Brunswick, province, Canada New Brunswick, province (2001 pop. 729,498), 28,345 sq mi (73,433 sq km), including 519 sq mi (1,345 sq km) of water surface, E Canada. (mostly from Ireland). This incident has caused great upset in the local community. St. John's Police Department indicated on August 21 that they had some suspects and were willing to initiate a "community policing project" to prevent further acts of vandalism. On Tuesday September 3, local military and trade union members joined forces with cemetery staff to restore the headstones to their positions. (New Freeman 5/9/03) |
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