December 26, 2006
Fast Track to Hell: Stealing From a Church on Christmas
At Christmas Mass at the Church of St. Mel in Flushing, Queens, robbers stole a money box with $20,000. The money, collected from three Christmas Eve Masses and the 7:30AM Christmas Mass and meant for church expenses and needy children, was kept in a 100 pound money box. The robbers hit around 9:20AM and witnesses saw men putting the box into an SUV with Vermont license plates. A parishioner did take the license plate number and give it to the police (the SUV belongs to a NYC resident), but it's unclear whether the money will be recovered. From the NY Times:
Unfortunately, suspicions can't stop robbers! And unfortunately the thieves were able to open the walk-in safe where the money box was kept. It's unclear whether it was an inside job.Established in 1941 and named after a nephew of St. Patrick, St. Mel’s sits in a neighborhood of well-kept brick houses with trimmed shrubbery, on 154th Street between 26th and 27th Avenues. “It’s the kind of place you could leave your side door open and not worry,” Ms. DiMaggio said.
That was the door the thieves used to leave, according to Father Turczany.
He said that about 8:30 a.m., as he was preparing for Mass, he saw a man in a striped gray winter hat — “full faced,” as he put it, with an olive complexion — wandering near a staircase close to the sacristy. Nearby was the safe, which contained church valuables, including money from collections and a gold chalice.
“He said, ‘I’m looking for a bathroom,’ ” Father Turczany said. “I told him, ‘Well, you’re going the wrong way.’ My suspicion was aroused.”
The pastor, Reverend Christopher Turczany spoke to the media about the robbery. While very upset and concerned about how he will make payments on lighting and to payroll (Daily News), he reflected that at least the incident did not end violently (NY Times). But even he did not "feel that much pity" as the SUV the robbers had was a "Lincoln Navigator" (Newsday).
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A true Christian would feel pity for any soul going to Hell, whether in a Lincoln Navigator or a rusty 77 Volkswagon bug. I wouldn't expect much from an ordinary person, but a pastor is supposed to exemplify Christian ideals of forgiveness and compassion in the face of one's enemy.
Or so I've heard! (Personally, I'd horsewhip the thieves, but that's why I'm not a pastor of a church).
I'm curious as to the Vermont plates on the vehicle belonging to a NYC resident.
"Needy Children" -- I doubt a $1 was intended for anyone needy.
Meh, I agree I doubt the money was going anyplace "needy". Granted I'm not religous, however I have heard the churches claim "Money is the root of all evil",
A) If so then why are they always asking for it
B) The pastor should be thanking the thieves for taking the evil out of the church.
I also agree with horsewhipping the thieves though, as I said I'm not religous.
I'm surprise they didn't do this more often and earlier!
it has more money than convenience stores and most of them don't have arm clerks or camera's.
than again not alot of them read newspapers.
To: Shades
It's not "Money is the root of all evil."
It's "The love of money is the root of all evil."
I'm not saying many religious institutions are not corrupted by financial considerations, but no institution can exist without means and resources. For example, you can't feed the hungry, or whatever work you think is 'good', without resources.
The message is not that money is evil, it's that covetousness, greed, and corruption lead to injustice and suffering.
There is no question of intent here, and a "true" christian or not, this is a great setback.
Whether this was a church or an AIDS drive, or even a store, these men were unwise to harm the community in which they probably live.
To armchair_warrior
Thanks for the clarification, as I said not religous myself, so was going on information relayed to me. Not that I hold anything against people that are religous, to each their own. As long as they don't try to convert me, I won't put down the views they have.
shades its not me its the guy below me :p.
To: Robert
Quote: "The message is not that money is evil, it's that covetousness, greed, and corruption lead to injustice and suffering."
Tell that to the entity (the Church) that collects millions of dollars every year tax-free, and tell me who's greedy?
On another very-loosely related note...
I'm not advocating stealing from the church, as a lot of them do plenty to help the community, but a church "in a neighborhood of well-kept brick houses with trimmed shrubbery", "the kind of place you could leave your side door open and not worry" likely has enough money to survive, and is not going to go bankrupt over $20k.
The pastor HAS to say something like that to keep up appearances. There's no way the spokesperson for the church can say "eh, It's not a big deal. We'll survive. We have plenty of money..." There's some unwritten rule that any story like this has to gather sympathy for the wronged person or entity.
There's no excuse for theft.
Whether you dislike Christians or not.
To many politicaly correct liberals will sympathize with the criminals and "their" rights, and condemn the pastor for "not being Christian like"......unbelievable.
quote:
..I agree I doubt the money was going anyplace "needy". ... If so then why are they always asking for it
reply:
A new study came out recently and has been discovered that its the conservatives and not liberals (altho there are liberal churches) that give more to charity. If a church was not funding a charity and said they were, the church board or its members would know. Often a representative of the charity comes once a year, such as a missionary to visit the church and thank them for their help and may ask for more help.
The reason they ask for money is because the Bible tells them (christians) to give to the church and the needy.
"If a church was not funding a charity and said they were, the church board or its members would know."
Did this study also explain how so many church officials got away with molesting children for years? Since they obviosly have someone watching them.
Keep Believing what you're spoon fed. Oh by the way, I'm selling a bridge, any interest? lol
PS Sorry about that armchair. Did not realize they toss the name below the post ;)
In some religions, something like this (i.e., anything that harms Christians and/or Jews) is supposed to guarantee you a ticket to paradise w/ 72 virgins.
Meanwhile, 2000+ troops and 500,000+ Iraqis dead.
Shades: You know yourself that those cases are rare. They happen hundreds of times more in the secular world than the religious world...
Megabyte: How does the Church getting money tax-free make it evil? No organization can exist without resources, and no one that knew what they were saying ever said money was evil.
Everyone: The priest never said he didn't pity them because they were going to hell. He probably wasn't sorry for the people themselves, as a lot of times, robbers steal to get money for their poor families.
So, who knows these guys are going to hell? The conscience is a funny thing -- it might step in.
Stealing money may be bad, but giving it is definitely good for for the soul.
You are wondering if the use is worthy enough to warrant the giving. Good thing that's not how we are blessed (or "paid," if that is your view). In these regards, we're right there with the guys in the SUV.
now the good christians are wishing people to hell.. what happened to love and forgiveness?
oh wait, i forgot. chritian = hypocrite.
why is stealing from a church any worse than stealing from anybody else? stealiing is stealing.
i mean really the church stole it to begin with....
quote:
Did this study also explain how so many church officials got away with molesting children for years? Since they obviosly have someone watching them.
reply:
It did not, while most of these allegations are against the catholic church, but not all. This does not have to do with religion, it has to do with mankind. Christians are still men, and still possess sin nature until Jesus gives them a new body. And obviously you are in the dark because many of these persons molested against were altar boys and were alone with the priests and the community and familes in many cases did not know until the abused person came forward.
However, such ministers should be disciplined. When Saint Paul found out that a chrisian was sleeping with his fathers wife, he relased that man to satan, so that in his suffering he would eventually repent. Unfortunately today's church lacks alot of disipline.
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quote:
Keep Believing what you're spoon fed. Oh by the way, I'm selling a bridge, any interest? lol
reply:
Now thats funny. because most atheists are such because of the media. the media is spoon feeding lies, because most scientists believe in creation.
It's interseting and very disturbing to see so many take the side of the thieves and against Christian values and traditions.
Morals such as these can only lead to the downfal and destruction of our country (in the long run?),
but then again, maybe the liberals believe they can create an athiest state government to counter the rest of the civilized worlds belief in a higher power.
The sad part is, just by reading the comments of these pseudo liberals, you can tell they are clueless about the truth.
They know and comment about the terrible things, (sort of), in dealing with the organized church, but ignore the plethora of wonderful things the church has done for millions of people.
But, the biggest mistake they're making is by believing whatever the church does is God's will.
Most of what the church does "is" God's will...
but churches are run by mortal men, not God himself. All we can do is to try our best, but the athiests and many liberals believe we shouldn't try at all.
In fact they believe we should abandon the idea of church and replace it with values set to destroy the foundations of this country so they can build a new country based on lust, drugs, and general immoral behavior.
They want to take us out of the frying pan and put us in the fire.
These are very dangerous motives that will see the destruction of the church and the country, and give more power to the Islamist extremists and athiest hatemongers of the world.
I noticed how quickly they are to want to forgive criminal behavior that takes place outside the church, while anyone within the church that committs a crime should be punished as they see fit, which includes punishment even more harsh than that which we see murderers, rapists, and drug users recieve.
This attitude is a recipe for our destruction, and they milk it daily.
These are sad days for real Americans.
To Doma:
Do you have the numbers to back this up as I'd like to see the study? It would be an interesting basis for an article.
To Thozz:
As long as the people in need go to church on Sunday and convert to Christianity.... It's God's will to help fellow Christians and not the Heathens? I think this is my real issue with many church organizations that are designed to help people. They frequently will only help once that person has accepted Jesus into their heart. Somehow, many of the people in the church have lost sight of the "love thy neighbor" idea unless we have the word Christian interjected prior to neighbor. I think that many "Christian values" in and of themselves are corrupt, but I also don't blame your God. I blame the corruption that the men of the churches create. Not all non-Christians use drugs contrary to your belief. I definitely don't, while I remember teen years spent in the rectory watching the monks and priests get sauced. I'd love to know what constitutes 'general immoral behavior.' What happened to hate the sin and not the sinner? Maybe you, yourself, are a good example of only "mostly" doing God's will.... What qualifies one as a real American? I thought one of the founding American values was the ability to express your opinions against someone such as a king freely. Or is it a conservative who goes to church on Sunday? I'd appreciate it if you qualified your statement.And yes, I'm a real American. I have piercings, tattoos, am pagan, bisexual, and I live in sin. Oh, and I'm not white. I'm Chippewa & Ottawa. I don't support the war and would love to see our troops home. I think all offenders should be punished no matter their religion and that some of the laws we have on the books cater pointlessly to protect sophmoric people from themselves.
So, take your 'real American' self and sit a bit to contemplate what you really mean after maybe listening to some of the words your very own God handed down to you. It sounds like you yourself need to look at your own corruption because it sounds like you are corrupting your own God's ideals.
To Kitty, well said.
Just need to comment on this one line by Thozz
"In fact they believe we should abandon the idea of church and replace it with values set to destroy the foundations of this country so they can build a new country based on lust, drugs, and general immoral behavior."
Since when has CHURCH been the fondation of this country? As for lust, drugs and general immoral behavior?
Who are you to decide, or anyone for that matter what is considered immoral. I do not touch drugs, so I guess you can go stereotype a tad more. As for lust.... most people have it, the honest ones admit it. However I would also like to know what makes you the self proclaimed REAL AMERICAN. As for being clueless about the truth, truth is very subjective.
You sit here and preach, yet in the same breath, you sterotype, you condemn, you judge. I agree with Kitty, only I'll state it plain and simple. You don't merely have issues, you have subscriptions. You suffer from a delusional point of view. One not shared by nearly as many as you may believe. Most likely they don;t argue, just praying that you will STFU.
why the fuck would someone steal
God said that he would come as a thief. You will not know when he comes. Gather your goods not where thieves can break in and find them. God was just teaching the Church a lesson in scripture by lifting the loot. Melanie Stephan