Donations stolen from Philadelphia church Easter weekend, parish prays for thief to return money
PHILADELPHIA - A church in Tacony was robbed during one of the holiest weeks of the year.
A smashed donation box is all that remains after a Philadelphia church says the "unthinkable" has left their parish devastated this Easter.
Police say the money was stolen from Our Lady of Consolation in Tacony during an Easter ceremony on Saturday morning.
The church was left open to the public for Holy Saturday as a volunteer sat inside to deter any potential thieves.
After a second volunteer failed to relieve the first, police say a witness found donations missing from a smashed wooden box inside the church.
"It is very sad that we left the church open for the wake of Jesus and that this happened, so we pray for the person that did that, and maybe he will have a conscience and will return the money because we so desperately need every dollar that is donated to our parish," the church said in a Facebook post Saturday.
The church's Sexton says in the 106 years the parish has been serving the community, it's never seen any issues.
"At first I thought it was cardboard. Initially, I walked past it over in the grotto where they threw it." said Tony Volpe. "We just never thought about anybody coming into our church and doing anything bad to church. I guess it's not in my realm of thought."
He and others agree the situation itself could’ve been much worse. No one else was inside at the time. Thankfully, none of the statues built over a century ago sustained any damage.
The donation money goes toward the restoration of the convent directly across the street, so it's now down a few hundred dollars, though they say the community is coming together to help out.
Unfortunately, the church may never know who committed the crime, but members hope the person who did it finds it in them to do the right thing.
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Police say there was no forced entry into the church, and the amount of stolen money is unknown.
The church said they still planned to celebrate Easter on Sunday with their normal mass schedule.
An investigation is underway.