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On October 12, 2020 a group trespassed onto holy ground, the Mission San Rafael which is an active Catholic parish, armed with ropes and tools in order to desecrate and destroy the statue of St. Junipero Serra.  The crime was committed in front of the police and caught on video.  Three years later, justice has yet to be served.  On May 25, 2023 the Marin County DA office, over the objections of Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone who represents the victims of this crime, offered the vandals a deal reducing the charge from a felony to a mere misdemeanor, and requiring of them only a simple apology and hearing from a historian about the mission era. This is not justice.

While Archbishop Cordileone has made it clear that he does not want to see these criminals actually do time in prison, they do need to be held accountable, and receive a punishment that fits the felony crime they committed. As he said in his letter to Marin County District Attorney Lori Frugoli:

“It is clear to me that this course of action would not have been taken with anyone else. In fact, this crime likely would have been charged as a hate crime, at least if it were perpetrated against certain other minority and vulnerable groups of people…there have been more than 100 attacks on Catholic Church property across the nation, including in the Archdiocese of San Francisco, one of which was someone firing a bullet into our Cathedral. Anti-Catholicism has a long and ugly history in this country. Now, with this decision, you have given the signal that attacks on Catholic houses of worship may continue without serious legal consequence.”

We, the undersigned,  stand in support of Archbishop Cordileone and call on Marin County District Attorney Lori Frugoli to withdraw this deal and restore the felony vandalism charge.  Justice for Catholics matters.