$50K reward offered for return of $2M gold tabernacle stolen from Brooklyn church
A $50,000 reward is being offered for the return of a centuries-old solid gold tabernacle worth an estimated $2 million ripped from the altar of the St. Augustine Roman Catholic Church in Brooklyn, New York, in May.
Robert Brennan, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, announced in a statement Tuesday that the insurance company that covers diocesan properties is offering the reward for information leading to the recovery of the multimillion-dollar relic in addition to a $3,500 reward offered by the New York Police Department.
"We continue to pray for the one-of-a-kind Tabernacle, made possible by the original parishioners of St. Augustine, to be returned and then restored, in all its glory, to the heart of this church. However, the theft of this historical item has not robbed the faith of the people of this parish," Brennan said in his statement.
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Police suspect the theft of the 18-karat gold tabernacle occurred sometime between 6:30 p.m. Thursday and 4 p.m. on May 28, according to reports. Thieves likely used power tools to "forcefully cut open" the altar to get to the tabernacle, police say. They decapitated angels flanking the relic and scattered the Holy Eucharist at the altar.
Diocese officials said that the tabernacle, which dates back to when the church was built in the late 1800s, "is irreplaceable due to its historical and artistic value."
The Park Slope church's priest, Father Frank Tumino, was the one who discovered the theft.
In a sermon after the robbery, Tumino explained why the church would keep such a valuable tabernacle.
"People might tell us, 'Why does the church have something that expensive? That should be sold,'" he said.
"That's a gift to us as part of our patrimony of those who have gone before us," he said. "Those, who like us, waited for the return of Jesus."
