While we are attuned to the uptick in targeting Catholic churches in the United States in response to frustrations about abortion, the epidemic has started to spread more widely.
Bitter Winter reports, that Austria, a country that had previously largely avoided religious violence has now been the victim of targeted assaults on Catholic churches in the country.
Meanwhile, stateside, another Catholic church has been targeted, this time for a theft. A tabernacle at a Brooklyn church, valued at $2 million has been stripped from the church. Given the value of the tabernacle, the theft may not be religiously motivated.
The latest story has an interesting side-note from Get Religion. Terry Mattingly covers some of the religious nuances that The New York Times got wrong in their initial report of the story, underlying the continued need for increased religious literacy among reporters.