July 4, 2009 |
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Tabernacle stolen, parish prays for thievesReward offered for stolen tabernacle. 
Choir members sing during the Saturday vigil Mass at St. John the Apostle Parish Nov. 15. The choir does not normally sing at the 5 p.m. vigil Mass on Saturdays, which is celebrated in English. But this Mass also attracted more than 10 times the usual number of worshipers, as about 400 gathered for the bilingual celebration led by Archbishop John C. Favalora. HIALEAH | Ten days after the tabernacle disappeared from the main altar of St. John the Apostle Parish here, Crimestoppers put up a $1,000 reward for its return, and the parish was offering $2,000. Hialeah police still had no leads as to who might have committed the theft sometime in the early morning of Nov. 14. The Archdiocese of Miami is asking anyone who might know anything to call Crimestoppers at 305–471–6160 or the Hialeah Police Department at 305–953–5314. Stunned and saddened by the theft, St. John the Apostle parishioners gathered for Mass Nov. 15 to pray for the return of the tabernacle’s sacred contents and to ask God’s forgiveness for those who stole it. As soon as St. John’s pastor, Msgr. Emilio Martín, discovered the theft Nov. 14, parishioners began calling each other, said choir member Michelle Gronkiewicz. “It’s very sad. But we have to pray,” said Gronkiewicz, a member of the parish since 1987 who has sung in the choir for the past 14 years. The choir does not normally sing at the 5 p.m. vigil Mass on Saturdays, which is celebrated in English. But this Mass also attracted more than 10 times the usual number of worshipers, as about 400 gathered for a bilingual celebration led by Archbishop John C. Favalora. “Our church, our faith, our people have been violated,” the archbishop said in his opening remarks. “For us, this is an abomination.” He urged parishioners to “spend some time before the Blessed Sacrament in reparation for the great desecration that has occurred to our church.” He also urged them, “instead of condemning, to pray for and to ask God’s forgiveness for whoever did this.” “I thought it was very good what the archbishop said, to spend time before the Blessed Sacrament,” said Susan Cordell, a lector at the Mass and parishioner since 1980. “What better way? Prayer.” Mirtha Hidalgo, a parishioner for more than 40 years, said she was praying “for the conscience of the person who did this to be moved so that (the tabernacle) will be returned. In all my 82 years, that will be the happiest day of my life.” The tabernacle, valued at between $7,000 and $8,000, was part of a set purchased by the parish four years ago. Made of marble and gold, its design matched that of the main altar and ambo. All were especially crafted for St. John the Apostle by a studio in Granda, Spain. “They shone as if they were (made of) gold,” said Msgr. Martín. But all the pieces, including the tabernacle, are merely gold–plated. He said the theft seemed premeditated: The thieves managed to turn off the church’s alarm system and brought the tools they needed to unbolt the tabernacle from its pedestal. He discovered the theft when he opened the church Friday morning to prepare for a funeral. Daily Mass is usually celebrated in a small chapel next to the main church. The Hialeah police department is investigating the case and has asked for the community’s help in finding the thieves. “It was a profanation of God’s house,” said choir director Concepción Perez, a parishioner for 45 years. “I was very upset. I even cried, not for the material value of the tabernacle, but for what is inside.” She noted that what the thieves stole was “God. What they took was his body and blood. It was our daily Communion that they stole.”
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