A precious religious item was stolen from Saint Francis of Assisi University Parish somewhere between 10 p.m. last Thursday and 6:30 a.m. last Friday.
There are no suspects and there were not any witnesses, according to the police report filed Tuesday morning. Captain Mark Vollmar of the Muncie Police Department said the door to the church was unlocked because the building is undergoing construction, so there was no forced entry.
In addition, the church is left open at all times for anyone in case they are having a hard time and feel the need to pray, Father Christopher Weldon, assistant pastor at the Parish, said.
The tabernacle, which was used to store Communion wafers, cost the church about $4,000. The stolen object is a wooden, cup-shaped container that holds the Communion wafers. It is held inside a bronze container that is about three feet tall, 17-18 inches in diameter and gold in color. The object itself wouldn't net much cash at a pawn shop, Weldon said.
"We're trying to understand why someone would do something like this to us," Weldon said. "It is very sacred to us, not so much for the box itself, but more the consecrated Host within it."
The items aren't regularly bought by and sold to churches, which is why the tabernacle and case are estimated to be so expensive. The church has contacted all the salvage yards and pawn shops in the area. If someone tries to sell it, they are likely to be reported to the police. Even then, the robbers "wouldn't get anything out of it because the metal's not expensive," Weldon said.
Nothing else was touched except for the tabernacle, the police report said.
Weldon said the Parish fears the consecrated Host may have been stolen in order to desecrate it. Catholics and people who worship Satan are the two main groups of people who believe the bread and wine of the Communion to be the body and blood of Christ. If the people who took the tabernacle believed the Communion wafers were just bread, they wouldn't have taken the time to do what they did, Weldon said.
"Our biggest fear is that somebody took it to profane it," he said. "It's a strange thing to steal. The fact that it was the only thing taken makes us think it's a case of sacrilege. We hope that's not the case, but it could be."
Weldon said that the Parish is grateful for the help that the university has provided during this situation by informing staff and presidents of organizations on campus about the robbery. Even with the support from Ball State's campus, this theft has been disconcerting, Weldon said.
"We've been a part of Ball State for the last 70 years," he said. "Nothing has ever happened like this. It doesn't happen at a lot of Catholic churches and it never has happened here at Saint Francis. We're just praying for the people who took it and for its safe return."
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