Thieves Responsible For Thousands Of Dollars Of Damage To Paterson Church
PATERSON, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- A Catholic church in Paterson is trying to come up with thousands of dollars to make repairs after someone broke in and did extensive damage to the building.
Father Benjamin Williams showed CBS2's Andrea Grymes the point of entry, where someone broke into Our Lady of Victories, stealing money from the poor box.
Our Lady of Victories is a struggling parish on Fair Street in the middle of Paterson, where members still donate what little they have for those who are less fortunate.
"From their meager means, they give to us to help others who are in worse situations than themselves," Williams said. "So it's just sad."
Paterson police said they're trying to figure out who's responsible. The break-in happened sometime Sunday into Monday, with the thief or thieves hitting the poor box as well as the donation box at their shrine of St. Jude.
Williams said about $250 was stolen, but whoever's responsible did thousands of dollars worth of damage, breaking through several doors to get into the church.
Replacing a pair of solid oak doors alone would cost tens of thousands of dollars, Williams said.
"We have to try to see if we can get somebody who has woodworking ability to rebuild, rebend, put new bars, try to fix the wood so that it functions, instead of replacing," the pastor said.
Now the money that would have gone to regular church maintenance -- or to those in real need of clothes or food -- will have to go toward break-in repairs instead
"We do not have enough money to fix," said parishioner Mack Peries. "And we are struggling."
Williams calls the church a slice of heaven in the middle of a lot of blight, saying its staff works very hard to keep the grounds beautiful, which makes the incident even more heartbreaking.
The pastor said thieves have hit the property twice in the last two years, also doing thousands of dollars in damage. He said in addition they've broken into their other church nearby within the last month.
Williams said he forgives whoever broke in this week, adding had they asked, he would have done what he could to help them.
