The thief removed all but one of the 14 Stations of the Cross plaques from the chapel attached to St. Margaret of Cortona Church on Riverdale Avenue and West 260th Street.
Several years ago someone walked away with one of the representations of Christ’s passion and death. It had not been replaced.
“There was no damage, or signs of breaking and entering, so we believe the stations were taken sometime on Sunday, possibly the afternoon,” the pastor of St. Margaret’s, Msgr. John Farley, said.
He said he did not think that it was the same person who removed the sole station a few years back.
“A thief is probably not that patient,” Msgr. Farley said.
Farley said that the stations had been displayed in the old baptistery of the church, which now serves as a side chapel called Our Lady’s Chapel.
“They were a small set of stations, 8 or 9 inches high, which were hanging along the wall,” he said.
The stations, he said, were only hanging by nails and would have been easy to remove from the wall.
Detectives from the 50th Precinct are investigating and have dusted the chapel for fingerprints.
A member of the detective unit said that there is no solid lead in the investigation as yet but that investigators believed it was helpful that word was getting out to the public in the case.
Farley said he hoped that the thief would have a change of heart and return the stations by Holy Week.
“After all, the first saint was a thief who was on a cross beside Jesus,” he said.