Another Baby Jesus Statue Theft Reported At NJ Church: Reports

By DANIEL HUBBARD (Patch Staff)

A baby Jesus statue was stolen from another North Jersey church’s Nativity display this weekend, WNBC reported.

The statue was taken from St. Clare Church in Clifton between 7 p.m. Saturday and 7 a.m. Sunday, according to the report.

It is the fifth such statue to go missing in North Jersey since Christmas Eve, The Record reported. The other churches, the report said, are: Sacred Heart in Lyndhurst, Queen of Peace in North Arlington, and Our Lady of Sorrow and St. Cecilia, both in Kearny.

“It’s unfortunate and sad that someone’s going to do that,” Jim Goodness, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Newark, told NJ.com.

Goodness speculated that teenagers may be responsible, taking the statues as some kind of prank, NJ.com reported.

“We are deeply disturbed that some group or person stole the baby Jesus from the outdoor nativity last night on the second day of Christmas — The Feast of the Holy Family,” the Rev. Peter Glabik said in a statement on the church’s website. ”We need to let people know that a crime like this will not be tolerated. Also, let us continue to pray for the conversion of sinners, most especially those that did this act.”

Glabik also said he requests people post and repost the image of the missing Jesus on Facebook “over and over.”

The rest of the Nativity outside of the church, which is in the Paterson Diocese, remained as is with the shepherds, wise men, Mary, Joseph, and animals looking at the spot where the missing baby was located.

Photo: (A picture of the Nativity scene with the missing Baby Jesus outside of St. Claire Church in Clifton/Stclaire.com)