Neighbors in a Burlingame neighborhood are coming together to try to find a missing crucifix that was reportedly stolen two weeks ago. It belongs to Our Lady of Angels Catholic Church.
“There was a little bit of righteous anger, and a lot of sadness too because it took us a year to get the crucifix,” said Father Joseph Seraphin Dederick. .
Father Joseph says the crucifix was supposed to go in their friary chapel. It’s currently being remodeled to make it more accessible for friars who are elderly.
He says construction workers had been working on it two weeks ago when one of them noticed a man with the crucifix. They decided to take a picture of him and the license plate of the car he drove off in.
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Father Joseph says they sent it to police, and last week, police told him they had arrested someone in connection to the theft.
“He had dropped it off maybe about a day after he stole it, he left it close to the Mills-Peninsula Hospital,” said Father Joseph, referencing what police had told him.
He also said the church had sent a message to all the dioceses in California saying their crucifix had been stolen.One pastor in Hayward sent them a photo, saying the sister-in-law of a parishioner had spotted the crucifix near her job by the hospital in Burlingame.
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On Monday morning, Father Joseph decided to make a Nextdoor account and he posted a picture of the crucifix asking for help to locate it. That’s when comments started to pour in, including one of a photo taken two weeks ago of two people holding onto the crucifix near Mills-Peninsula Hospital.
Father Seraphin Dederick also said that the sculptor who made this crucifix lives in Italy so the process of getting it to the Bay Area took about a year and cost around $7,000.
“If we do not get this crucifix, then we’re going to have to try and look to raise the money to get another one and to have that made will take another year probably,” said Seraphin Dederick.
He said the parish feels empty since it’s been gone and hopes someone realizes it was stolen and returns it to them.
NBC Bay Area contacted Burlingame police about this incident but has not heard back.
