Is your church subject to robbery?

[Marie5890]

Yes,
My parish has been robbed. One time it was evident that they were trying to take the tabernacle, but were unable.

Thinking it’s because they think it is made of gold, but it’s not.

 

[asia53]

Today, one of the feature stories in my local newspaper, 1 Catholic Church, and 5 Protestant Churches were burglarized last week. All the churches are in the same town, and the thieves got away with varying amounts of money, and gift cards.

It’s sad, isn’t it?

 

[vz71]

Our pastor once propped open the door with the poor box.

He doesn’t make those types of mistakes anymore.

 

[VeiledCatholic]

I’m not sure what all happened at the parish my husband and I attend, but they have a sign outside the church that states their doors are locked during normal business hours due to vandalism in the sanctuary.
The room for adoration is located in a different building and is always open from 6 a.m. - 10 p.m. 7 days a week. So far no one has tried to steal the Eucharist from there…

It’s sad people resort to this stuff…what a way to live…stealing from God’s house…

 

[George_Stegmeir]

In New York City, Catholic Churches are routinely locked unless Mass or other services are taking place. Then the Church is opened a few minutes before the service and locked as soon as the church is cleared after the service. If an individual wants to pray after Mass and they are a parishiner, they are allowed to stay, but the doors to the street are locked and the individual can exit through the rectory when they are finished.
The reason for this is massive dis-respect and rampant thievery in the city. Almost all Churches in Manhattan have had to install iron fences with locked gates around the church steps because of homeless people crowding the steps and blocking entrance to the church.
There are innumerable cases where these people have become violent when asked to move so someone can enter the church. In my parish, several priests were assaulted when they asked these people to please move. By the time the police are called, these people have done their damage and are gone.
Vandalism against Catholic Churches is so common that stained glass windows that face the street or other areas of public access have to be lined with Plexiglass to prevent them from being broken by thrown bricks and stones. Many Churches have had to remove statuary from their lawns because of the statues heads being repeatedly cut off. In the few cases where the culprits have been caught, they do not have the means to make restitution.

 

[mab23]

My church is usually not subject to robbery, but there are times where things are kept on high watch because sometimes we do get robbed and such. The sacristans put out all the necessary vessels for daily Mass and Sunday Mass the night before the Mass, and so the chalices and ciboria are sitting on the credence table in the church overnight, and the credence table is “out-of-view” from the congregation, so it’s not usually an issue that stuff would get stolen. The sacristan told me today that someone this past week stole a chalice from the credence table that was set up for daily Mass and candle donation money from the back of the church. They also were telling me that they caught a person sleeping upstairs in one of the CCD rooms. They usually leave a door unlocked at the church so that people can go in and pray, but they can’t even do that now. It just baffles me that someone so desperate would steal a chalice that contained the Blood of Christ. But, of course, they more than likely don’t realize the fact that that’s what that is used for. Is your church subject to robbery often or occassionally? Are there any precautions taken?

that is sad that a church that would leave its doors unlocked for people to pray has to lock them due to the evil of few

 

[DJJG]

You mean “burglary,” “robbery” is taking something from a person by force or threat; if someone breaks into a building and takes something, when no one is present it’s burglary.

 

[PacoG]

You mean “burglary,” “robbery” is taking something from a person by force or threat; if someone breaks into a building and takes something, when no one is present it’s burglary.

You are right about robbery.

However, you are wrong about Burglary of a Building (as opposed to common law burglary which is now called “Burglary of a Habitation”). BoB is the breaking and entering into a building without the consent of the owner with the intent to commit theft or a felony. The felony can be aggravated assault, murder, sexual assault, criminal mischief, possession of a controlled substance etc.

So for example, D. Fendant breaks into a Catholic Church to knife the priest, Fr. Complainant, but is stopped before he can accomplish the act, he could be charged with Burglary of a Building with intent to commit aggravated assault. (We know that he wanted to hurt Fr. Complainant because he told people he wanted to cut off his finger to teach him a lesson and didn’t want to kill him.) In some cases, it might be the easier charge to make. Attempted Aggravated Assault would be harder to make because you have to prove specific intent to commit the offense of aggravated assault. In this case, you could charge D. Fendant with both BoB with intent to commit a felony and Attempted Aggravated Assault.

 

[drforjc]

A well meaning former pastor used to leave the religious ed building unlocked at night during the winter so that there would be a warm place for anyone who had no place to go.

I think this was finally stopped after a big screen TV and some other stuff was stolen.