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Now they steal from churches - TUESDAY JUNE 29,2010

SACRED: One of two ornate chalices that have been stolen from Kerikeri's Catholic Church.SUPPLIED

Thieves have stooped to a new low, breaking into a church and stealing sacred vessels.
The parishioners of Kerikeri's Catholic Church are appealing for the return of the stolen property, saying it is worth little in monetary terms but has huge sentimental and religious value.
The break-in at the Church of the Holy Family on Cobham Road was discovered by Jane Berry on Wednesday morning. A window had been broken and the door to the sacristy, where the sacred vessels are kept, had been forced. Then, to her "utter amazement," she saw that a large safe had been taken.She later learned that someone had spotted the safe in the creek that passes under Cobham Road earlier that morning. With the help of a police officer and parishioner Rod Young she recovered the papers which had been in the safe, and which the thieves had unceremoniously scattered on the bank.
A number of sacred objects remain unaccounted for, however. They include three chalices, the largest of which is about 25cm high and very ornate, a cimborium (a vessel with a lid used to hold hosts for communion) about 15cm high, two ornate brass keys and a pair of antique cruets, donated in 1918 by a parishioner whose son had been killed in World War I.
One of the chalices and the cimborium were on loan from another church.
"It's upsetting to think what's happened to the vessels and how they're being treated," Miss Berry said, adding that mishandling sacred vessels amounted to sacrilege, "so it won't do [the thieves] any good."
She was convinced the thieves were after money, but cash was never kept on the premises.
Mr Young said the vessels were silver-plated, so had little monetary value. 
Security at the church had now been boosted with night-time patrols. Constable Sue van Hoppe said someone must have seen the thieves at work, given that they presumably wheeled the large, heavy safe about 300 metres down Cobham Road, past Hone Heke Road and Mill Lane, before dragging it into bushes near the bridge and breaking it open.
The police in Kerikeri (phone 407-9211) would be delighted to hear from anyone with any information. Alternatively, calls can be made anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555-111.