'No Boundaries' After Catholic Church Ransacked Overnight

CHICAGO, IL - There aren’t many places in Chicago immune to criminal activity.

Neighborhoods on the far South Side like Beverly and Mount Greenwood (places with a high volume of residents who are police officers) and places in the Northwest corner like Edison Park are safer than others in the city, but incidents of burglaries and thefts have been reported there too.

Until recently, churches have been seen as somewhat of a safe haven when it comes to those crimes.

But that changed last week when the rectory of a popular Catholic institution on the Southwest Side was burglarized overnight. While the pastors were sleeping.

According to Chicago police, officers responded to the rectory at St. Thomas More Church in the 2800 block of West 81st Street in the city’s Ashburn neighborhood the morning of Friday, Aug. 26 to a report of the overnight burglary.

Priests from the church woke up around 5:40 a.m. to find “numerous rooms dismantled” and several items taken. According to a DNAinfo Chicago report, drawers were opened with contents spilled onto the floor and two computers were stolen.

There were no injuries, but the church’s pastor has said the burglars must have known they were not alone. The priests’ dogs were barking around 2 a.m. Pastor Richard Zborowski told DNAinfo he suspects the burglars went up to his bedroom door to make sure he was still asleep.

Current and former members of the parish were surprised something like this could happen at a church.

“I’m saddened that someone would do that,” said Lisa Daly, a former Ashburn resident who attended church at St. Thomas More.

Zborowski called it a “scary” situation.

“There are no boundaries anymore,” he said. “The officers told us it was one of the worst trashings they have ever seen of a church.”

Police say they have no suspects in custody, and the matter is under investigation by Area Central detectives.

Photo: Tim Moran / Patch.com