In the course of spilling fake blood on themselves, they inadvertantly splashed some on others. That's not criminal. It is, at worst, inconsiderate, or careless. This was not a violent demonstration.

I'd be really happy to contribute to a fund to pay for fixing or cleaning anything damaged by the fake blood.

Sure, our Church has, to its great credit, opposed this war from the beginning. The message these demonstrators sent to us is that we, as Catholics, haven't done enough to stop the war. They are, unfortunately, right about that.

And, yes, they used our Church as a staging area for a publicity stunt, which appeared to be the principal reason for their choice of venue and date. Doing this in the Archdiocesan cathedral, on the holiest day of our liturgical calendar, was almost certainly designed to generate maximum publicity.

I guess I can see why congregants found it offensive. Had it been done by non-Catholics, I too would have been offended. But these were Catholics, sending an important message of peace to the world, a message entirely consistent with both the Gospel and the Church's magisterum.

Whatever personal offense we might feel should, I think, yield to the importance of the message, its consistency with our faith and, most important, our tradition of forgiveness.

His Eminence the Cardinal himself echoed the message from the altar in reaction to the demonstration.

I think we should focus on the message, and not any personal slight involved. But, yes, to the extent property was damaged, we should make the owners whole.