Father Edward Terry hopes whoever is responsible for breaking into Holy Redeemer Parish this past weekend is found out.
He is more concerned about helping to address the culprit’s personal issues, though, than having the law come down hard on them.
“If only the people who do these sorts of things realized they are doing damage only to themselves and their own dignity,” said the Roman Catholic parish priest.
The person who broke into the cathedral on Mount Bernard Avenue in Corner Brook sometime Friday overnight did do physical damage to both themselves and the church property. A smashed window in a door at the rear of the church was the point of entry and another door inside the church leading to the sacristy was also damaged.
Terry said there was blood at the scene, indicating whoever broke in must have cut themselves in the process.
He believes a jar of pennies that seems to have disappeared may have been the only thing stolen.
“It would have been very little money, certainly not worth cutting yourself like that for,” he said.
Terry, who said this was the second break-in at the cathedral in the last year or so, was at a loss as to why someone would go through such trouble to break into a place of worship. He said there is a safe in the church, but it is virtually impenetrable.
“They tried it before and beat the handles off (the safe), but they never got into it,” he said. “But this time, the safe wasn’t even touched.”
The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary was called to the scene after the break-in was reported to the church by a parishioner at 10:15 a.m. Saturday. Terry hopes any blood samples collected as part of the forensic investigation might lead to a match the authorities might already have on file.
No one was arrested for the break-in that happened a year ago.
“If we can identify them, it would be all for their good and ours,” said Terry. “If we could get them and have some sort of soul search with them, they might see that this is not worth their while. They really need a lot of support to turn their minds and attitudes around to see that to contribute is much better than this sort of carrying on. It gets you nowhere.”
