Sacred vessels badly damaged after break-in at Jennings County church

Father Jonathan Meyer, the pastor of St. Anne and St. Joseph parishes in Jennings County and St. Mary Parish in North Vernon, elevates the Body and Blood of Christ during a March 29, 2009, Mass at St. Anne Church. Thieves broke into St. Anne Church during the night on Dec. 27 or the early morning hours of Dec. 28 and took a 700-pound safe containing antique gold sacred vessels. (File photo by Mary Ann Wyand)

By Mary Ann Wyand

St. Anne parishioners in Jennings County were shocked and heartbroken last week after thieves broke into their historic brick church and took a 700-pound safe containing valuable, sacred liturgical vessels.

Father Jonathan Meyer, the pastor of St. Anne and St. Joseph parishes in Jennings County and St. Mary Parish in North Vernon, said several thieves apparently used a crowbar to force open a steel side door secured with a deadbolt lock sometime after dark on Dec. 27 or in the early morning hours of Dec. 28.

During a phone interview on Jan. 4, he said the wood floor was scarred when the thieves dragged the heavy safe from the sacristy, across the sanctuary, down the main aisle and out the front doors.

He said three damaged antique gold chalices, two monstrances, two ciboriums, two Communion patens and other liturgical items were recovered by the Jennings County Sheriff’s Department on Dec. 31, and the broken safe was found in a river.

At press time, arrest warrants were pending for three suspects.

Father Meyer expressed gratitude that the recently restored 143-year-old church was not vandalized during the break-in, and sorrow because the sacred vessels used during liturgies for many years were badly damaged, possibly beyond repair.

“Years ago, parishioners never locked the church and all the vessels were in an open cabinet,” he said. “People didn’t think anything of it. When Father Ryan McCarty was the pastor [from 2004-06], they obtained a 5-foot, 700-pound safe to store the vessels.”

Father Meyer said the thieves sold some of the damaged vessels to a man for $14, who sold them to a store owner for $70. The store owner contacted the sheriff’s department. Other vessels were sold as scrap metal for $17.80.

“Desecrated is the best word to use,” he said. “A lot of the vessels had the names of donors [inscribed on them], and [the thieves] took some sort of tool and scratched the names off so the chalices wouldn’t be traceable. Everything is disassembled. Everything is in pieces. All the chalices have been broken apart. They took metal cutters to the monstrances and cut open the base of the principal chalice.

“When I was at the sheriff’s office and saw them, it was hard to keep from crying,” he said. “These are the vessels that my parishioners have received the precious Blood and the precious Body of Our Lord in for more than a hundred years, and there was a total disregard for the sacred and holy.”

During a vigil Mass on Dec. 31 for the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, Father Meyer encouraged St. Anne parishioners to pray for the people who broke into the church and took the sacred vessels, which were worth thousands of dollars.

“These are the people who need Christ more than we could ever imagine,” he said. “We need to pray for the many people in our world who have no understanding of the sacred or of religion.

“We borrowed some sacred vessels from St. Mary Church because everything we had was in the safe,” he said. “The plan is to do whatever we can to restore the objects to the best of our ability before we would look into purchasing new vessels.”

Sacristan Kevin Hill said he “just can’t believe someone would do this. … We don’t keep money on the premises.”

Parish council president Steve Blackburn said the church is always locked except for Masses.

“The sacramental and sentimental value of the vessels made them priceless for us, but we didn’t have them documented,” Blackburn said. “I would encourage parishes to take pictures and document everything that is valuable.” †