Cut Out With Power Tools: A $2 Million Gold Tabernacle Is Stolen From an 1890s Brooklyn Church

• Thieves stole an 18-karat gold tabernacle from St Augustine Roman Catholic Church in Brooklyn
• It was valued at US$2 million and dated to the 1890s, when the church was built
• The burglars used power tools to cut through the altar’s security system
• The diocese said the tabernacle cannot be replaced

An 18-karat gold tabernacle valued at US$2 million was stolen from St Augustine Roman Catholic Church in Brooklyn, New York, according to a report carried by the Jamaica Observer. The thieves used power tools to break through the security system protecting the altar and remove it.

The tabernacle dates to the 1890s, when the church was built. The Diocese of Brooklyn said it cannot be replaced because of its historical and artistic value. The burglars also vandalised the church, cutting the heads off angel statues.

In a Catholic church the tabernacle holds the Eucharist, which is taken to the sick and homebound. The church’s pastor, Father Frank Tumino, said: “This is devastating, as the Tabernacle is the central focus of our church outside of worship, holding the Body of Christ, the Eucharist, which is delivered to the sick and homebound.” He added: “To know that a burglar entered the most sacred space of our beautiful Church and took great pains to cut into a security system is a heinous act of disrespect.”

Jamaican churches are unlikely to hold gold on this scale, but many hold more value than they realise: sound systems, instruments, pews made of rare hardwoods, memorial windows, communion silver, bells and historic fittings. In older buildings, some of these cannot be replaced at any price.

The Brooklyn theft is a reminder that a church’s property is more than its land and walls. Trustees should keep a dated, photographed inventory of valuable items, check whether insurance covers contents and heritage pieces as well as the structure, and review security at the altar, the vestry and the storeroom as well as the front door. Security systems work best in layers: lighting, locks, alarms, cameras and people who check the building. Diaspora donors who give fittings or equipment to their home churches can help by paying for insurance and security along with the gift.

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