Shrine vandalized in Andhra Pradesh

(December 14, 2010) A Catholic prelate in southern India’s Andhra Pradesh State has asked his people to remain calm after some miscreants mutilated three statues in a shrine. Fr. Rachumala Prakash Reddy, parish priest of Our Lady of Health Shrine at Guntakal, said people coming to Sunday morning Mass on Dec. 12 discovered the desecration. The miscreants chopped off the heads of the statues of Saints John and Mary Magdalene and disfigured Mother Mary’s face in the replica of Calvary near the shrine.
On hearing of the incident, Bishop Anthony Poola of Kurnool telephoned Fr. Reddy to preserve communal harmony and refrain from public protest over the incident. Fr. Reddy told ucanews that his parishioners wanted to organize a protest rally, and pastors of other Christian denominations backed the idea saying, “If we don’t protest, worse things will happen.” But Bishop Poola pacified the people. They offered a special Mass and prayers as reparation for the desecration. Father Reddy said it was first case of vandalism in the diocese and he has no idea why the attack took place.