A thief who stole a safe from St. Luke’s Anglican Church made off with about 20 years of parish records instead of cash.
“He was going to be disappointed if he did get it open. But the books in there are important to us. They hold records going back several years for wedding and baptisms and burials,” said priest Noel Wygiera.
He hopes the black, hard-cover books taken in last Thursday’s theft will be recovered.
So far, there’s been lots of interest in a Facebook post featuring a photo of the suspect. As of Monday night, the post had reached more than 60,000 people and been shared 1,700 times.
“People caught onto it. I was sort of pleased with the community response on it. Not always pleased with the kinds of comments people make — come on people, it’s a church site. Keep it clean,” Wygiera said with a laugh.
“So I did delete a few as I went through, but that’s OK.”
He said the thief broke in through the doors into the church hall towards the back of the building. A trolley from the church was used to move the heavy safe from the office. A laptop and a projector, both in travel bags, were also taken.
“It’s not the first time the church has been broken into, but the first time I’m aware of them coming through that way,” the priest said about the downtown church, located at 4929 54th St.
It had been over a year since the last break-in. In January 2018, a stain glass window was smashed and band equipment, including a guitar and electronics, were stolen from the church.
Last week was the first time someone broke into the office.
“I’ve been in Red Deer for nine and half years now, and the whole time I’ve been here, we’ve had to adapt and modify, change our fencing, do different things to try and sort of harden the site up so it’s not such an easy target.
“Every time we do something, they just find a different way to gain access.”
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He said replacing the back door will be expensive. It’s also been an emotional experience for parishioners.
“For a lot of people, it’s as though their home has been invaded as well, so they get pretty choked up about it. There’s a lot of blood, sweat and tears put into an operation like a church. They’ve got a lot of ownership there.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact Red Deer RCMP at 403-343-5575 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
szielinski@reddeeradvocate.com
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