Baby Jesuses Stolen From Several Cities

[matcom]

<snip>

The Nativity scene isn't just a religious symbol. It's a staple of nearly every church's holiday festivities.

Many churches like to display their depictions of the birth of Jesus outside, for all to see. But that's proved to be a risky decision for some churches across the country.

Workers at Olde St. Paul's Anglican Church in Portland, Maine, said that when they set up their Nativity scene on Sunday, they never expected that the main attraction would be stolen.

They said that they noticed the baby Jesus missing on Tuesday evening, reported WMTW-TV in Portland.

"It's sad. It really is sad," the Rev. Lester York said. "I mean, this was done on church property -- not a manger scene where somebody is offended on public property or somewhere else, but on our own property. And that somebody has to come along and take it. It is kind of a sad connotation of the season and what it's become."

Church officials said they simply want the statue back in its rightful place -- in the manger on the church's front lawn -- and they are asking for whoever took it to return it.

Because it's the Christmas season, they said they will not ask any questions, nor will they press charges.

Meanwhile, all 32 Baby Jesuses that were swiped from lawns in the south Chicago area have been found.

The Nativity-napper left the figures in the backyard of a parishioner of the St. Symphorosa Catholic Church. Now, the woman has put the figures in the care of the Rev. Marcel Paciak, pastor of the church. He said kids playing a prank are probably to blame for the stolen Jesuses.

Police don't have any suspects in the thefts. Paciak said at least some of the Nativity figures have been reclaimed by their owners.

In Boise, Idaho, there's another scrooge stealing statues of the Baby Jesus from neighborhood Nativity scenes.

Boise police responded to two separate calls Thursday from people reporting that the figures had been taken from their front-lawn Nativity displays. They have no suspects.

One of the statues was a Baby Jesus carved from half-inch plywood, about half the size of an actual baby and hand painted by the victim's grandfather.

At another Nativity display, a thief stole a Baby Jesus figurine hand painted in Italy and a lamb statue.

And in San Francisco, it wasn't Baby Jesus but several animals that were stolen from a Nativity scene.

http://www.wftv.com/holidays/10591105/detail.html

[charlie and algernon]

the war on christmas now has POW's?

[matcom]

2. they are being shipped to Gitmo

:rofl:

[La Lioness Priyanka]

1. "The Nativity scene isn't just a religious symbol. It's a staple of nearly every church's ..."

most ridiculous sentence i have ever encountered.

[rug]

3. Don't worry, he'll be back on Easter.

[AllegroRondo]

4. There was a thing in Milwaukee about 10 years ago

where someone stole only the black wise man from over 50 different nativity displays. lots of rumors and conjecture about why, but they never figured out who did it.