Beloved Statue Stolen From Campbell Church

Members of a Campbell church are baffled and stunned after finding out that some has ripped off a statue of their beloved Saint Bernadette.

"I'm not sure why somebody would do something like this," St. Mary Assyrian Chaldean Catholic Church parish council president Gilbert Sangari said on Wednesday.

The statue showed the saint kneeling and was about four feet tall.

Police Sgt. Gary Berg said the statue was reported stolen by St. Mary Assyrian Chaldean Catholic Church volunteer on Friday morning. A troubling aspect of this theft, Berg noted, is that the statue was planted at the front of the church, right across the street from the Campbell police department office.

"The Assyrian community at St. Mary's church is very close-knit. It's always been a place to come together and worship amongst our fellow Assyrian Christians and I'm very surprised someone would steal a statue from the church," said member Mary Chamaki.

The statue, donated by an active parish family, and had been bolted down near the entrance since 1997.