In Allentown a Mary statue was vandalized.
Nearly 26 percent of Black Lives Matters supporters in Pennsylvania believe name changes are in order for geographies named after missionaries and saints.
Of 259 BLM supporters polled by American Catholic Media Company, 25.9 percent, or 67 respondents, said they "Would you favor a proposal to change the names of Pennsylvania’s cities and counties named for Catholic white European missionaries and saints?”
The poll was targeted at BLM supporters living in Pennsylvania on Facebook Sept. 22-29.
Mary statue damaged by vandals.
Catholic missionaries were instrumental in exploring and settling the United States. As such, there are innumerable geographies across the country named for Catholic saints and missionaries. One researcher recently found 300 site names in Kansas alone.
Now, those geographic names are in jeopardy as Black Lives Matter supporters turn their attention toward saints and missionaries.
In Pennsylvania, a ban would force changing the names of the communities of St. Clair, St. Clairsville, St. Lawrence and St. Petersburg. In addition, the state has several colleges and universities named after Catholics, including Duquesne, Villanova and Duquesne universities.
Statues are also at risk. Pennsylvania has a long list of Catholic shrines.
In Allentown, a statue of Mary was recently damaged by a vandal who attempted to behead the religious icon.
Catholic Churches and iconography have been targeted in the rolling riots that have taken place this year.
St. Louis. Mo. is one of 11 major cities that derive their names from saints and missionaries along with over 40 other smaller cities. A name change drive has been underway for the City of St. Louis this year with protests and counter-protests being held at the foot of St. Louis’s statue in front of Saint Louis Art Museum in Forest Park.
Earlier this year Catholics praying under St. Louis's statue were attacked by BLM supporters.
In June, a priest met and stopped protestors seeking to tear down a statue of the city’s namesake.
Some BLM supporters have even called for statues of Jesus to be torn down.
“No Catholic can support the national (BLM) organization, whatsoever,” author and radio show host Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers, a black Catholic deacon of the Diocese of Portland, Or., said.
BLM has broader goals that are just as focused upon transforming family life in the United States and promoting "transgenderism" as an alternative to biology as they are on the message of race.
BLM has been successful in achieving name changes of streets in Washington, D.C. and New York City as well as several other municipalities.
Catholics currently comprise around 23 percent of the country’s population.
Previous American Catholic Tribune polls revealed swing state Catholic populations to be starkly in disagreement with Black Lives Matters principles and do not “take personal responsibility for slavery.”
See a chart below with recorded responses to poll questions.
Founded in 2019, Chicago-based American Catholic Media Company is a publisher of Catholic parish news around the United States.
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