Sunday, August 14, 2011

Rock Bottom

Stealing something that doesn't belong to you is bad enough. Stealing from a church is another story altogether.  Someone stole the collection from Mass during Holy Communion.  A depraved and desperate soul for sure.  Unfortunately, the first thought that crossed my mind when this disturbing news was delivered to the congregation was "Oh, no, now I have to call my bank and change all my account information."  It was the words of another parishioner that slapped me back to reality.  "Send out your guardian angel, as we did, to find that poor soul and bring him back to conversion."  A little girl who does not normally attend the TLM saw what happened and was able to give the police a description.  I did pray to my guardian angel for the man, but not until after I  appealed to St. Anthony to find him and the money and then spent a half hour on the phone with my bank.   I wasn't upset about possibly losing the money, but I didn't want the thief to have my account and routing numbers.  From now on, I'm going to put an empty envelope in the basket to verify my presence at Mass and drop off my offertory donation to the rectory during business hours.

A few years ago, someone ripped the candle box right out of the floor between the time when the previous Mass ended and the next one began.  The result was that the church was no longer left open for prayer between Masses.    I often debate whether or not I'm going to bring my handbag with me to the altar for Holy Communion.  Usually I leave it in the pew.  After today, I will end that practice.  I try not to bring anything of value to Mass with me anyway, but it would be a major hassle to have my car keys ripped off.

I never refuse anyone who asks for my help.  I know the pastor would have reached into his own pocket to help a person in need.   However, none of us is going to knowingly fork over cash to support someone's substance addiction.   The person who did this is in bondage.  Pray for his freedom from the slavery of addiction.


7 comments:

  1. I always leave my purse in the pew when I go up for communion. I guess I will no longer be doing that anymore! I always leave it because after all "we're in church!" what could happen...???

    Guess its the sign of the times. Sad :(

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  2. So sorry to hear this. To steal from a Church, with the eyes of God upon you, must come from a real self-loathing. I will pray for this wounded soul.

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  3. I can't imagine the low this person must be at to steal from the offerings given to the Lord. I'll pray for his conversion....but I'm also sorry for your experience. +

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  4. May the poor man see the error of his ways and ask for God's forgiveness. May I ask why you feel like you need to "verify your presence at mass"? I just put cash from my wallet. I have to say I'm just an unknown soul at one of the last pews at church. No one knows me, though the same people seem to sit around me every Sunday. ;)

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  5. Manny, we are asked to put in our envelope whether we fill it or not because when the archdiocese goes about the business of closing parishes, they look at how many active parishioners there are. Also, I know folks who've had a hard time getting married, etc. because their parish had no way of telling whether or not they were actually members. It has nothing to do with needing to make known the fact that I put anything in the collection. It's simply what we are asked to do. Hope that answers your question :)

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  6. Oh thanks. I've seen people at mass do the same. I probably should too then. I'm not even sure where I get the envelopes.

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  7. If we give them a check without the envelope we always remember to put our envelope number on the memo section so they can identify who the payment came from. At our church I can leave my purse in the pew but we're a very small church, tiny in fact. If I went elsewhere I would probably bring a very small shoulder bag and take it with me. So sad but you know, there are a lot of people out of work, some don't qualify for unemployment (had been self employed perhaps). It doesn't excuse it but you can understand if it was out of desperation. I hope it was for food or medicine at least.

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