Published: August 31, 2011
$5000 in damages for $39 worth of copper
Antioch parish hit by thieves again, latest in statewide crime wave against Catholic institutions
The lights went out at St. Ignatius of Antioch Catholic Church in Antioch during the wee hours of Saturday, Aug. 27 -- the work of thieves who stole about 500 yards of copper wire from an outdoor pipeline containing the church’s electrical cables. Parish officials had to scramble to get the power back on just in time for Saturday’s 5 p.m. Vigil Mass.
“The theft was the third copper-related burglary in about two months at the church on Contra Loma Boulevard,” the Contra Costa Times reported. The parish is located in the Oakland diocese.
“Thieves also stole seven air conditioning units and five outdoor security cameras recently, said the Rev. Robert Rien, the church's parochial administrator,” the Contra Costa Times report said.
“St. Ignatius has been targeted by thieves several times over the past few years, including in 2008 when Rien's one-of-a-kind chalice made of Norwegian silver and his parents' wedding rings were stolen,” said the Contra Costa newspaper. “About $1,000 of landscaping was taken from the church's parking lot when it was refurbished last year.”
"Here we've worked so hard to beautify this place of worship; it's sad to think we may have to put a gate around the outside like a prison yard," Fr. Rien told the newspaper.
According to the Times, Fr. Rien said other churches in the area have also been victimized by copper thieves recently.
“What's particularly upsetting to Rien is that thieves in the June 18 heist at St. Ignatius took about $39 worth of copper from each unit while causing about $5,000 in damage,” the Times reported.
"It looks like someone threw a grenade in there," Fr. Rien was quoted as saying.
The theft at St. Ignatius is the latest in a series of crimes against Catholic institutions in California. Over Easter weekend, St. Barbara Parish at historic Mission Santa Barbara was defaced by graffiti linking the Catholic Church to the Holocaust. The graffiti attack came just a week after a deliberately set fire destroyed St. John Vianney Church in Hacienda Heights. The fire over Palm Sunday weekend left only a burned out shell where the 5000-member parish’s sanctuary once stood.
In January, a vandal spray-painted the words “Kill the Cathlics” on the walls of St. Boniface Catholic Church in Anaheim and St. Thomas More Catholic Church in Irvine. Beginning in December 2010, Holy Family Catholic Church in Glendale was forced to tighten security measures after a thief repeatedly broke into collection boxes used by parishioners to donate money to the needy.
In November 2010, Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Woodland was victimized by criminals for the fourth time since 2007. Thieves broke into the parish office and stole more than $2000. Just days before Christmas 2009, vandals knocked over and smashed into pieces a 60-year-old statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary dedicated to the memory of veterans outside Holy Rosary. Vandals also entered the church sometime during the same time period and desecrated a Nativity scene. A week earlier, someone entered the church and pushed over a statue of St. Joseph, cracking the base of the statue.
In October 2010, someone burglarized the rectory at St. Stanislaus Church in Modesto. The thief or thieves stole a computer sometime over the weekend of Oct. 16-17. In late August, vandals broke into and vandalized St. Stanislaus, breaking a window to gain entrance. The vandal or vandals knocked down four statutes of the Blessed Virgin and desecrated the sanctuary. Among the damaged statues was one from Belgium that was more than 200 years old and is considered irreplaceable.
In late May 2010, vandals broke into and ransacked St. Rose of Lima parish school in Maywood. They scrawled “666” on walls and drove a knife into the face of a painting of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Maywood-Cudahy Police Department reported.
In April 2009, just hours before Easter services were to commence, a vandal or vandals decapitated a statue of the Blessed Virgin outside Santa Monica Catholic Church in Santa Monica. In early January of 2009, vandals spray-painted swastikas and the message “Niederauer, Ratzinger – where is the love” on the front walls of Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in San Francisco.
In late October of 2008, a ciborium containing consecrated hosts was removed from a locked tabernacle and stolen during a burglary at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Watsonville. The thieves also stole a safe that had been bolted to the floor containing $44,400 in cash and checks.
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