The following comes from a late April story in the Inland Catholic Byte.
INDIO—The Tabernacle may be destroyed, but the parish is not.
Our Lady of Perpetual Help parish community is now helping itself after a series of burglaries, the latest leaving the church without its tabernacle and sound system.
“I felt like they were taking my heart. I started to cry,” said Pastoral Coordinator Laura Lopez.
The gold-plated tabernacle, which houses the consecrated Eucharist, was valued at $20,000. The church needed to raise that plus an additional $15,000 to replace the sound system and increase security.
Lopez turned to parishioners, asking them to add an extra dollar to their weekly offering. Just weeks after the burglaries parishioners had raised all of the money to replace the stolen items and then some.
As donations were adding up, so were clues in the case. Thanks to tips and surveillance video, Indio police arrested a man who lived within walking distance of the church.
“It was disheartening, the tabernacle was in pieces,” said Indio Police Department spokesman Benjamin Guitron, a Catholic. “The hosts were gone.”
In the interim OLPH is using a smaller tabernacle from the parish rectory and a sound system borrowed from a parishioner.
OLPH leadership is asking parishioners to practice prayer and forgiveness instead of hate in its treatment of the suspected burglar.
“I think it’s our responsibility,” said Lopez, adding that Father Luis Guido, parochial vicar, was to visit the man in jail to offer him pastoral care. “I would tell the suspect, God loves you. Know him and you will be blessed.”
To read the entire story, click here.
It will take a long time to get over such a violation! My heart goes out to these devastated parishioners and their pastor. How good of them to forgive, how difficult to forget!
You have a good heart Dana. I agree with you, I hope they they will persevere to find the culprits in this but still make them accountable for their actions. Its the charitable thing to do, to help those involved see the error of their ways.
There are probably three reasons why the tabernacle was stolen. The first was because the thief, or thieves, is anti-Catholic. The second one is because the perpetrator wanted money. The third one is because the Sacred Hosts are needed for devil worship. I personally believe it is because of satanic worship that the tabernacle was stolen.
Whatever the reason, this is horrific, I’m sure we all agree. Let’s pray for healing for the parish and for the perpetrator.
I agree YFC and Father Karl. This really breaks my heart. I know we are all sinners but why do we have to mess with what is sacred. Our Lord is hurt here. This is heart breaking. Today I had a tough day due to some stammers but as terrible as I felt, its nothing to what they did here agaisnt this parish. There will always be wickedness as long as mankind continues to hate what is sacred. It must be envy of some sort. Its the cross all over again. Its the beatings over all over again. What caused this? SIN! Its the price our Lord takes for our sins. Its His blood that heals those who embrace His cross and walk with Him.
Looking deeper other than His wounds, there is His heart. We need to pray to move our hearts to seek to to be Like His own heart.
No Catholic Church should be without a security camera system; – it has reached that point.
I personally donated the $ for one of the camera’s in my parish – a few cameras are focused on just the Tablernacle – and the entire system was not $20,000.
Anyone caught damaging a place of religious worship in the USA must be brought up on HATE CRIME charges in addition to the other charges.
If not prosecuted to the full extent of the law, those responsible will continue to destroy.
Pastoral care does not include confirming someone in his/her sin.
And if they caught the guy, where is the Taberacle?
The Catholic Church does not condone lawlessness.
The people of the parish certainly should not hate the person who did this. They should practice Matthew 25:36.
Hate has nothing to do with appropriate punishment/discipline so the person learns they can not get away with stealing (against God’s 7th Commandment), desecration, hate crimes, etc.
I thought repentance by the sinner use to be a pre-recquiset for “forgiveness” by the victim! I’m curious if the “OLPH leadership” of this parish (is that the Catholic version of protestant denominations use of the word “ELDERS”?!) encourages “their” parishioners to avail themselves to Confession?
I used to feel that way too, Tracy, but the lesson of Jesus on the Cross is “Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do”. Otherwise, we become eaten up with bitterness and the years become devoured by locusts. That doesn’t mean the man shouldn’t have to pay the consequences for his crime! Also, this really brings home how important is the time we spend in Adoration in reparation for such sins.
Such desecration of our beloved Lord grieves us all.
Dana I appreciate this response from you, as it seems to come from the heart. And it comes after your advocating what I viewed as the very even handed video you shared in another post, The Third Way. I hadn’t seen it before you shared it, though I heard it was forthcoming.
You and I obviously come at this from different sides/angles. However, I would love to continue to dialogue with you on these matters.
And In case I am unclear, on the matter of the desecration of the Tabernacle, you and I are in complete agreement. Your post causes me to seek out the next opportunity for Adoration.
YFC
Dana, Jesus’ prayer from the cross was NOT forgiveness! Jesus PRAYED to the Father to forgive them. Jesus was showing us that we too need to PRAY for our persecutors as well! Jesus did, however, forgive the REPENTANT thief who was executed along side of Him. Notice that Jesus never told the unrepentant thief that He forgave him too!
The following verses from the Gospel sums up well what Jesus demonstrated from the cross:
“But I say to you, LOVE your enemies and PRAY for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven” Matt. 5:44-45
“Be on your guard! If your brother sins, REBUKE him; and IF he REPENTS, forgive him. “And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, ‘I REPENT,’ forgive him.” Luke 17: 3-4
If the above were not true then we would have no need of the confessional.
Tracy and Dana, it is lovely that you are both having this dialogue. You are both doing it from a place of truly seeking the truth and sharing it, helping one another towards sanctifying grace. The gentle ways in which you are sharing, is a wonderful witness and it displays the unique gifts you each have.
I’ve lived out here in the Coachella Valley for over 9 years, and 3 of those were in Indio and I used to attend OLPH. The tabernacle used to be right behind the altar up until sometime in the summer of 2012. Then it was decided to move it to a side room for some reason. There was a large window there where one could still view the tabernacle if you were sitting on the right side and near the front. Well, if they moved the tabernacle for security reasons, it sure didn’t work… Prayers for the parish and that they find the tabernacle and more importantly that the Blessed Sacrament will not be desecrated.
Jay S., apparently you did not read the entire article. They did find the tabernacle in pieces. The blessed sacrament was gone.
Troubling that the Eucharist was missing while the tabernacle was in shambles.
This is not a question for you, Tracy, as I presume you have no first hand knowlegde: Was there any evidence that the tabernacle was raided for its valuable gold, or for its most precious contents?
you’re right; I didn’t. Thanks for the correction, I’ll be more careful next time.
I will offer my Holy Hour with The Eucharistic Heart of Jesus tomorrow in REPARATION for the desecration and sacrilege committed against Our Eucharistic Lord’s Precious Body and Blood.
It was disheartening, the tabernacle was in pieces,” said Indio Police Department spokesman Benjamin Guitron, a Catholic. “The hosts were gone.”
The tabernacle was, according to this article, gold-plated and worth about $20,000 — so anyone desperate for money (such as a drug addict) would be sorely tempted. In the old days, people would steal silver candlesticks; I even knew a hospital chaplain in Texas whose pyx was stolen a knifepoint in the hospital because some druggie saw the “gold” and assumed it was real gold and would thus get him money for drugs.
My theory is also backed up by the fact that the sound system was stolen, also a way for an addict get money.
If this truly were some Satanic cult, they would have just broken into the tabernacle and done terrible things right there for all the world to see; they would also have desecrated the entire church with horrible stuff and awful graffiti.