A church community’s firewood donations were really helping out families in Dunedin. They made the difference between being warm at home and feeling Dunedin’s cold bite. That was before last week, when thieves stole the log-splitter used to make the firewood donations possible. Dunedin City Baptist Church caretaker Malcolm Cowan says thieves cut through the Read more
A church in Memphis with a rich history is rejoicing after the recovery of its stolen organ pipes. Thanks to the diligent efforts of law enforcement, the stolen truck and many of the 90-year-old organ pipes had been successfully located. Furthermore, a tip received through CrimeStoppers led the police to a nearby van, resulting in Read more
Members of a Taranaki church are devastated after thieves stole a quarter of the iron they fundraised $28,000 for, before it could be used to fix the leaking roof of their rural church. Continue reading
It was almost a matter of bell book and candle after a thief stole the lectionary and the pascal candle from St Mary of the Angels in Wellington. First to disappear was the paschal candle. It had been used in a shrine halfway up the main aisle on the weekend of the mosque shootings in Read more
The Catholics of northwest Auckland are grieving over the apparent theft of a statue of the Virgin Mary from the grounds of their church. The statue, estimated to stand 1.2m tall and filled with concrete, was wrenched out of its stone-arched grotto at St Joseph’s in Helensville, some time on Saturday night/Sunday morning. Continue reading
A Taranaki priest says the church doors will stay open despite a recent theft which fleeced a parish of more than $2,000 in electronics equipment. Father Craig Butler said while crime which targeted churches was rare, the impact was widely felt among parishioners. In June, a thief made off with five microphones and other electronic Read more
Dunedin police are investigating the disappearance of the two sterling silver chalices from St Patrick’s Basilica in South Dunedin. One is nearly 30cm tall. It came from the former Dunedin North Dominican Hall and dates back to 1949 according to an inscription on the chalice. The letters IHS are engraved on the front of it. Read more
New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has found itself involved in a bitter dispute over an Egyptian businessman’s sperm and is doing its diplomatic best to extricate itself. Mohammad Fouad has taken to court claims his Kiwi wife misused his sperm to get their maid pregnant. Gulfnews.com reports Fouad is suing his wife Read more
While the Vatican computer technician involved in the Vatileaks scandal has received a two-month suspended sentence, the committee of cardinal investigating the case is reported to have recommended a papal pardon for the Pope’s personal assistant at the centre of the scandal. The technician, Claudio Sciarpelletti, was found guilty of aiding and abetting Pope Benedict Read more
Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass noted the stark inequity in the case of a Joliet, Ill., diocesan Catholic priest who was sentenced to 60 days in jail for stealing some $300,000 from his parish, while a Joliet diocesan deacon who stole about the same amount from his church, was given six years in prison.
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