The statue of Our Lady of Fatima was returned to St. Andrew the Apostle Catholic Church in Gibbsboro, N.J., Sept. 7, 2022. / Msgr. Louis Marucci
Parishioners of St. Andrew the Apostle Catholic Church in Gibbsboro, New Jersey, wept as they watched their pastor carry the stolen Our Lady of Fatima statue into the adoration chapel on Wednesday. The statue was stolen last week.
“I was just bringing it back in to re-enthrone her for tomorrow,” Msgr. Louis Marucci, the pastor, told CNA Sept. 7. “And I could hear the visible expressions of people in tears, and I turned around and I thought that the faith of people is really just a beautiful experience.”
After the statue was taken on August 30, Marucci prayed that it would be returned before September 8: the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the day on which the church performs a litany of prayers from dawn to dusk in honour of Mary.
However, he opined that the police would be unable to discover the thief and reclaim the statue in such a short amount of time.
However, according to Marucci, on the morning of September 7, a police investigator contacted him and informed him: “I want you to know that the statue of the Blessed Mother is coming home.”
“That was the phrase he used,” Marucci said, “and I was just really moved by that.”
The Gibbsboro Police Department said on September 7 that Robert Adelman, 64, of Woodbury, about 15 miles from Gibbsboro, has been detained, charged with stealing, and issued a summons. The police were unaware of his motivations or a future court date.
Marucci commended the police’s efforts in locating the culprit.
Additionally, he said that the parish’s security system and cameras were important in catching video of the suspect committing the crime.
Marucci cited a $50,000 grant from the Department of Homeland Security that was awarded to the parish for technological improvements after Marucci requested for the funding some years ago.
“I would strongly advise every house of worship … to apply [for the grant],” Marucci said. “Churches are soft targets for terrorist activity.”
Since the announcement that Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court ruling that legalised abortion nationwide, would be overturned, Catholic churches have been the subject of scores of assaults around the country in previous years, but notably in recent months.
According to Marucci, the Our Lady of Fatima statue comes from Portugal and is one of four existing reproductions. He said that the statue’s spiritual and symbolic value is great. According to him, the statue’s crown contains a duplicate of the bullet found in the real Our Lady of Fatima monument in Portugal.
Police agencies engaged in the investigation, according to Marucci, will attend the parish’s 8 a.m. Mass on September 8. Then, he plans to bless the monument.