Posted on 02/27/2016 5:01:38 AM PST by NYer
A tabernacle stolen Thursday night from Our Lady of Lourdes Church was found on Friday morning, damaged beyond repair.
Henry Gaudon, project manager for the parish, was at a loss to understand why someone would steal something considered sacred in the Catholic church.
A tabernacle is a fixed, locked box in which, in some Christian churches, the Eucharist is "reserved" (stored).
The Bay St. George RCMP received a report at 8:10 p.m. Thursday of a break, enter and theft into Port au Port Peninsula church. A television and wall mount were also reported stolen.
Gaudon said Fr. Gerard Patry went into the dimly lit church Thursday evening and noticed the tabernacle missing. Gaudon said the parish priest spotted two men in the building, who both left the scene. The tabernacle and television were already missing, so it’s not known how many times the two had already been in the church that evening.
Gaudon said the tabernacle weights about 50 pounds and was sitting on a side altar. The desecrated tabernacle was found nearby over the side of a bank around 9 a.m. Friday. He said the RCMP has since taken it for forensic investigation. The damages appear to have occurred from it being pried open.
Gaudon said a ciborium, a vessel that holds the sacrament or hosts, was found smashed to pieces, while a number of consecrated hosts strewn about.
He said value of the tabernacle alone is at least $5,000.
Const. Ken LaSaga of the Bay St. George RCMP said late Friday afternoon that no arrests have been made in relation to the theft, but the matter is still under active investigation.
The thieves chose the most valuable item in the church, ping!
Evil does exist. Praise the Lord, He does prevail.
I hope this parish quickly restores it tabernacle and then has a huge Euchatistic procession and enthrones the Lord with due solemnity.
As for the barbarians: they know not what they do.
Some hedonist who felt that sometime or another, the majesty of the Roman Catholic Church was just too much, and this was their idea of a very evil prank.
Of course, the pranksters could have simply set fire to the church, too.
Nothing is really beyond repair or replacement. This was just malicious mischief. The mission of the church is unchanged in any way.
Stealing from a church is just unthinkable to me.
Years ago, the previous owner of this house had a big, drug addled, brain dead and probably mostly harmless son. Nothing violent but more of a nuisance that would show up and wander through the neighborhood every few months at 3 or so knocking on doors then wander off into the night.
By the time anyone could get to the door or call the cops he’d be gone. He knew enough not to get in real trouble. The guy was well known to the local law. He was a routine visitor.
Anyway he did small time robbery and he boosted a church.
He later got killed in a drug deal gone bad.
Somehow a lot of people still think he was some kind of saint.
They took the contents of the Tabernacle, but ditched the Tabernacle. Satanists.
Okay, the hosts were scattered nearby. (I didn’t read the whole article before commenting.) Not necessarily explicit Satanists.
they took (in their eyes) a “locked box” and a tv and wall mount. My assumption is, being ignorant, they thought the tabernacle had money in it.
Do you reallllly think they did not know???????????
Criminals by nature a lot of times are not very smart.
I am betting they thought the locked box had money in it.
Henry Gaudon, project manager for the parish, was at a loss to understand why someone would steal something considered sacred in the Catholic church.
I think you are correct.
Henry sounds like your typical modern parish functionary; entirely detached from the spiritual, totally engrossed in the material and firmly believing that the world loves us, or at least ought to, since we love it.
Prayers.
For a long time, I have suggested that under Vatican diplomatic auspices, an organization be created of Catholic former military volunteers, funded by contributions, whose purpose would be to travel the world to advise oppressed Catholic communities how best to *protect* themselves from external threats.
Protection, the avoidance of aggressive threats, is far different from defense, which meets force with force. But protection significantly increases the degree of difficulty of aggression.
And if the threat is too great or acute for protection, this organization could provide emergency evacuation, to take these oppressed people out of harms’ way.
Each group of advisers, again traveling as representatives of the Vatican, would first discover both the level of threat and the means used by the aggressors. For example, in some places, Muslims try to kidnap young girls to force them to convert and become wives. So it would be good advice that girls do not stray to places or circumstances where they could easily be kidnapped. Of course it seems a common sense thing, but it surprising how often these kidnap victims thought they had Muslim “friends” who became kidnappers.
For this situation in Canada, the threat is mostly from hate filled atheists, who seek to steal, vandalize and defile. A different threat that needs different measures to confront, as taught by an expert, not haphazardly guessed, perhaps under or overreacting.
That knowledge is the only thing they have in common with Catholics.
I thought the Tabernacle was supposed to be bolted down and practically immovable without heavy equipment.
Not every criminal is a devout Catholic.
Hopefully it can be repaired and put back in the center of the Church.
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