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**‘Body of Christ’ stolen from church
By Caitlin Nagle / For the Item
Thursday, August 25, 2005
LYNN - When Rev. James Gaudgreau learned that there was a theft at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church on Tuesday night, he was quite alarmed. But when he found out what was taken, he was downright flabbergasted.
“It is gravely sacrilegious,” said Gaudreau, after learning that the thieves made off with communion hosts. " Webelieve (the hosts) are the body and blood of Christ," Gaudreau said.
The hosts were locked inside the tabernacle located on the first floor of the church. Gaudreau believes the thief or thieves entered through a boiler room door, which might have been left unlocked by a repairman who serviced the boiler last week.
Gaudreau, piecing together a trail of broken wood, said that the thief then punched a hole through a wooden cross located on a door to a small room behind the alter. Although valuable gold chalices are kept in a cabinet in the room, only the keys to the tabernacle were removed.
Gaudreau found the keys lying on the altar at the base of the tabernacle Wednesday. The hosts were the only items missing from the church.
A visibly disturbed Gaudreau said he would not speculate as to why only the hosts were stolen, but added, “I have ideas.”
Gaudreau said recently the church has taken measures to secure potential break-in entrances, including bars over windows, because the church has been broken into several times in the last few months. The parish installed expensive bars over a number of windows; however, because the door might have been left unlocked, the additions were unable to ward off thieves during this latest incident.
A police report was filed and the department said they would be forwarding the information to a department detective. They also said that the incident is being handled as a larceny.
thedailyitemoflynn.com/news/view.bg?articleid=9935
(My feelings::banghead: :crying:
:tsktsk: )
By Caitlin Nagle / For the Item
Thursday, August 25, 2005
LYNN - When Rev. James Gaudgreau learned that there was a theft at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church on Tuesday night, he was quite alarmed. But when he found out what was taken, he was downright flabbergasted.
“It is gravely sacrilegious,” said Gaudreau, after learning that the thieves made off with communion hosts. " Webelieve (the hosts) are the body and blood of Christ," Gaudreau said.
The hosts were locked inside the tabernacle located on the first floor of the church. Gaudreau believes the thief or thieves entered through a boiler room door, which might have been left unlocked by a repairman who serviced the boiler last week.
Gaudreau, piecing together a trail of broken wood, said that the thief then punched a hole through a wooden cross located on a door to a small room behind the alter. Although valuable gold chalices are kept in a cabinet in the room, only the keys to the tabernacle were removed.
Gaudreau found the keys lying on the altar at the base of the tabernacle Wednesday. The hosts were the only items missing from the church.
A visibly disturbed Gaudreau said he would not speculate as to why only the hosts were stolen, but added, “I have ideas.”
Gaudreau said recently the church has taken measures to secure potential break-in entrances, including bars over windows, because the church has been broken into several times in the last few months. The parish installed expensive bars over a number of windows; however, because the door might have been left unlocked, the additions were unable to ward off thieves during this latest incident.
A police report was filed and the department said they would be forwarding the information to a department detective. They also said that the incident is being handled as a larceny.
thedailyitemoflynn.com/news/view.bg?articleid=9935
(My feelings::banghead: :crying:
I am praying, I am praying!