Bishop Robert Barron was understandably perturbed when he found a cemetery in his diocese was desecrated on Halloween night. The next day, after witnessing the offensive and anti-Catholic rhetoric graffitied over grave markers and statues, the prelate vowed to reconsecrate the graveyard. Now, he’s followed through on his pledge, and he’s sharing the ceremony on YouTube.
Aleteia previously reported that the cemetery was extensively tagged with blue and brown spray paint. Images shared on Twitter show unsavory language from what can be made out from the barely legible letters. In particular there were several columbarium niches that were practically covered. One of the images must have shown some especially offensive text, as the photos needed to be blurred out on Twitter.
It was a cold and windy day when the bishop, local Catholics, and seminarians from the Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary gathered for the reconsecration. Before he began the blessing, Bishop Barron greeted the crowd and said:
“Halloween night, this place was desecrated with some really obscene graffiti, even the name of satan [was] invoked. I found that outrageous. Thanks to the crew here who did a really marvelous job cleaning up, but I think we need to do some spiritual cleaning as well to restore this place, which is meant to be a place of peace and prayer where we honor those who lie here.”
The video follows Bishop Barron as he meandered through the cemetery, casting forth holy water from his aspergillum. Many of the spots that were graffitied particularly hard appeared in the footage. While the cemetery no longer bears hateful words, the site still bears scars of vandalism as the cleaned areas will always be a little bit lighter in color than their surroundings.
