Thief Robs Chicago Priest, Steals Thousands in Church Donations

The bag contained roughly $2,900 in cash and about $16,000 in checks given to the church as part of a donation or fundraiser

A Chicago priest was robbed of thousands of dollars in donations for his church as he went to the bank to make a deposit just weeks before Christmas. 

Father Jim Barrett from St. Margaret Mary Parish on the city’s North Side, was walking into the Devon Bank, located at 6400 N. Western Ave., last Tuesday when a man walked up to him.

“I thought he was going to ask me a question and obviously he wasn’t asking me a question,” Barrett said.

Barrett said the man pushed him down and took a bag filled with donations made to the church. The bag contained roughly $2,900 in cash and about $16,000 in checks given to the church during two recent fundraisers, he said. 

“I was thinking, 'That’s the Sunday collection, you can’t take that,'” Barrett said.

The 69-year-old priest suffered minor injuries to his knee and hand during the incident, which he said took place in broad daylight just five minutes from his parish.

Barrett said he tries to avoid following a pattern when it comes to depositing the church donations, and noted that he was wearing normal clothes at the time of the robbery.

“Evidently I was in the right time for him, wrong time for me,” he said.

Police said an investigation into the incident is ongoing and no arrests have been made. Authorities are reviewing surveillance video from the bank, but have released few details on the investigation so far. 

Since the robbery, Barrett said he's counting his blessings as parishioners and fellow priests have rallied to support the church. 

“The police have been very good and all the parishioners have been phenomenal about it,” he said. “They were more worried about me than about the collection. The money can be replaced, they said, so they were just concerned that I was alright.”

He added that a number of parishioners have since said they would re-write checks or make an extra donation next week to help with the loss. 

Barrett said he plans to change up the routine again when it comes time to making the next deposit.

“In fact, one of the things a number of parishioners have said they would go to the bank with me or take the money,” he said.

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