Desecration in Scranton

This is not good:

It is believed that sometime overnight on Aug. 3 or early morning on Aug. 4 someone broke into St. Rose of Lima Church in Carbondale. The person was able to open the tabernacle, the receptacle on the side altar in which the vessels containing the Blessed Sacrament are kept.

The person removed the ciborium, the vessel which contains the small consecrated Hosts used for Holy Communion. These Hosts are the Body of Jesus Christ. [Emphasis mine – admin]

The Carbondale police were notified. Police and parish staff conducted a search in the immediate area of the church in hopes of finding the ciborium, but it was not located.

Since the consecrated hosts were removed from the church, this constitutes a desecration of the Blessed Sacrament. Therefore, Church law requires that one form of the special Rite of Reparation must be celebrated as soon as possible.

Via Women of Grace:

Satanism is on the rise – and its cruel and despicable rituals are taking place in the backyards of America on an ever increasing basis. To follow is a chilling account about the deliberate theft of a chalice full of consecrated hosts . . . WNEP-TV is reporting that someone broke into St. Rose of Lima parish in Carbondale, Pennsylvania for the sole purpose of stealing a chalice full of consecrated hosts.

Monsignor David Tressler, pastor of the parish, said the only thing stolen was the most precious item in the church – the Blessed Sacrament.

“What has been taken is the Blessed Sacrament, which is our Holy Communion, which is the the source and summit of who we are, the body and blood of Christ,” Tressler told WNEP.

Apparently, after climbing through the window, the thief opened the tabernacle on the altar and removed the chalice containing consecrated hosts. It was the only item stolen.

Older readers may remember that my son Buster and I have had serious discussions about this:

After Mass this evening Buster and I headed out for a quick hamburger and somehow the discussion came up about how the Holy Eucharist is sometimes accepted at Mass by someone only to remain unconsumed and spirited out of the church for use in various – always nefarious – ways.

“How exactly,” Buster asked me. “I’ve read that the Eucharist has been stolen for use in black masses – but what do they do with it, actually?”

I don’t like talking about this stuff, but I related a little – that some have put the Consecrated Host upon an “altar” and stabbed it, or sliced it, so as to “stab” Christ. “They believe, as we do, that the Eucharist is the actual, physical Presence, the Body and Blood of Christ,” I explained. “That’s why Wonder Bread and Grape Juice won’t do [nor will the unconsecrated wafers lying on the sacristy shelf of a Catholic church]. They want the Consecrated Host – they know what it is. Sometimes the desecrations can be tearing it up and stomping on it, or doing disgusting things to it. And sometimes the Host is even abused sexually. Just as sexual abuse or rape is about power and control and domination, someone who sexually abuses a Host, sees it as controlling and dominating Christ.”

“But, it’s a Gift,” Buster said, “So they only cheat and hurt themselves.”

I was a little confused. “What do you mean, which is the Gift, the Holy Eucharist, or sexuality?”

Let us pray for the return of our Blessed Sacrament from the hands of those who seek to do evil, and for God’s mercy on the souls of the thief or thieves.

And perhaps on this Vigil of the Feast of beloved St. Clare, who once faced down Saracen marauders by placing a Monstrance containing the Holy Eucharist before the mobs, and prostrating herself in prayer shall be our powerful partner in prayer and intercession.

(Crossposted at Patheos)