Stealing from Churches

by Mike

No matter how much we try to prevent it, crime will always exist. Yes it’s a sin and one hopes that those who commit the criminal acts are caught but, for the life of me, I can not understand the recent spate of crimes that have been committed on church property.

It’s been reported that a gang of thieves stole lead from the roof of a 13th-century church in Aylesbury, England. The theft to St Nicholas’s Church in Great Kimble is said to have caused damage of around St£10,000. Unfortunately St James Church, Warrington has also suffered from crime as an 18 inch bronze bell was stolen and will ,again, cause thousands pounds to replace.

It beggars belief that someone would be desperate enough to steal property from a church. I understand that some people and places will always be a target for those who choose to steal but a church?

They [the thieves] knew what they were going for and they’ve obviously targeted it.
It is not the first time we have been targeted - we have had lead stolen from the church roof as well in the past six months on two occasions.

Father Stephen Boyd, St Nicholas’s Church.

Churches always seem to need some sort of funding and tend to look to the local community to help with whatever contributions they can afford to give. So to target a church for what little it possesses seems ludicrous to me, especially when it has a place in small communities that rely on its consistency.

Society is constantly changing and this change has seen the levels of respect drop dramatically. There seems to be less of a caring attitude in life and more of the ‘me generation’, maybe that can explain why crimes like this are even contemplated.

A recent survey, in Britain, by the 4Children Charity shows that 80%, of 16,000 children question, said they had nothing to do once outside of school. 70% stated that they became involved in anti-social behaviour and petty crime because they were bored.

So maybe it’s the lack of activity available for children that is contributing to crimes such as these? While it’s easy to label this generation as ‘out of control’, those that cast doubt on the innocence of youth may have a point. Something must be done in communities to get more people involved in the development of the town and /or city. Otherwise we will have the usual blame game of ‘it’s the media’s fault’ or ‘it’s the parent’s fault’ and we end up with no one taking any responsibility at all.

With that being said it is not just younger people that must be made to answer for petty crimes. A 27 year old man was caught after causing damage to St Paul’s Church and The Church of Our Lady, In North East England, by trying to steal loose change from collection boxes in the church.

The man, who had 50 previous burglaries on his record, was jailed for 18 months after police found his fingerprints inside the church.

So isn’t it about time we all stood up and took some responsibility for what goes on where we live?

Tuesday, July 31st, 2007 and is filed under Love Thy Neighbour.