CALGARY — Members of a Calgary Catholic parish are hurt and insulted after discovering a thief had stolen a statue of the Virgin Mary from the church.
Father Kevin Tumback arrived at St. Albert the Great Catholic Parish to open for mass on Sunday morning when he discovered the free-standing 1.5 metre fibreglass statue, worth $2,500, was missing from its brick grotto.
He says his first thought was vandalism.
But then he discovered nothing was broken and whoever took the statue used tools to remove the Plexiglas covering.
The statue had been donated by a family and was installed a year ago.
People in the parish are left bewildered as to why someone would steal the statue.
“We hold Mary very dear with us — why would anyone do something insulting to her memory?” said Tumback. “You don’t understand why.”