VIDEO: Nothing is sacred: Thieves hit third church, steal stained glass windows

A third church in the region has been robbed.

The theft of two stained glass windows from St. Columba Presbyterian Church at Kirk Hill was discovered last Saturday, April 9 by the Reverend Julia Apps-Douglas and another church member who was there to prepare the church for the Sunday morning service.

The Review spoke to church elder Carlyle MacMillan last Sunday morning at 10:30 a.m.

"I'm off to church to give them the bad news," said MacMillan.

While the news of the theft had spread throughout much of the church community, there were still quite a few who would only learn of the theft when they showed up for church on Sunday morning, he said.

Thieves cut out four large stained glass panels and made off with three, but left one panel behind in the church. The culprits also tried to remove the larger, circa-1902 window at the front of the church, but were unsuccessful. While some of the woodwork around one of the four altar window panels was damaged, these built-in windows were left intact.

The theft has been reported to the police but the value of the stolen windows is not yet known. After the Sunday morning church service, many of those who had attended church that morning stayed after church to talk.

"Nothing is sacred," said long-time congregation member Roy MacMaster. He believed the thieves have done about $10,000 worth of damage to the church's woodwork.

The stolen windows were cut out from the frame, noted another member. "I wouldn't have known how to get these windows out, so it feels like these people knew what they were doing."

MacMillan had brought with him the original bill for one of the stained glass windows. It had cost $85 and had been shipped to St. Columba Presbyterian Church from Montreal at a cost of $5.

"They had collected subscriptions, or donations, worth $69, and it says here they had a deficit of $21," MacMillan pointed out.

One of the windows was installed in 1902, as a dedication to all of the ministers who had served the congregation between 1819 and 1901.

The second window was dedicated to Roderick McGillivary and Ann Bethune and pre-dates 1900. Because a panel of that window was left behind, some believe that the thieves were interrupted and left in a hurry.

Church member Doreen Howes expressed feelings that were voiced by many on Sunday.

"If you had been there at the start of the church service, it was as if we were at a funeral. It was like there had been a death in our church," Howes said.

"For so many of us, we were baptized there, married there and expect that our funerals will be there. I felt this way when our home was broken into. For so many of us, this church is like our home and we feel invaded. There is so much history... we are very rooted here."

Other church members voiced similar sentiments. "I was born here and I will be funeraled here too probably," said George MacLeod, saying that it was hard to accept that someone would break into the church.

Eighty-year-old R.D. MacLeod has attended St. Columba Presbyterian Church for all of his life. "I didn't even want to come to church this morning," he said. "We are just devastated."

Minister Apps-Douglas said that she addressed the loss during the Sunday morning service: "I told them they have the right to be angry and to be upset. This is their house and it was an invasion. Something has been taken from them. This is a place where we come to celebrate and to mourn. It is a safe place. But someone came here to do damage. It is very upsetting to us all."

This is the third such theft in the region. Recently, stained glass windows at St. Matthew's Anglican Church in Grenville, Quebec, were stolen. A large stained glass window was also stolen from St. Paul's Anglican Church in Dunany, Quebec.

St. Columba's Presbyterian Church was built in 1864, but the congregation dates back to 1819 and a previous, older church.

"Everyone is quite sad," MacMillan said. "These windows are irreplaceable."