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Father Michael Hurley, pastor of St. Dominic Parish in San Francisco, is pictured March 15 with sacramental records recovered after the safe in which they were kept was stolen March 12. The records, dating to 1873, were returned to the parish after being found in a nearby dumpster. (Photo courtesy St. Dominic Parish)
March 15, 2019
Christina Gray
Catholic San FranciscoUpdated March 18, 2019
The records of generations of Catholics who received the sacraments of baptism, Communion, confirmation and marriage at St. Dominic Parish in San Francisco are back in the hands of the Dominican parish three days after the safe in which they were kept at the priory was stolen in an early morning break-in.
“This is a holy moment of grace,” said pastor Dominican Father Michael Hurley in an announcement on the parish Facebook page March 15. He also asked for prayers for the perpetrators of the crime.
In a phone call with Catholic San Francisco, Dominican Father Isaiah Mary Molano described ebullient clergy and staff as large plastic bags holding the 20 leather-bound ledgers were carried back into the priory.
A woman who came to the parish earlier in the day claimed that she found the books in a dumpster outside the Safeway on Webster Street. The parish had posted a $10,000 reward for the return of the books but no one so far has claimed the reward."We are grateful for this Good Samaritan," said Father Hurley, in a March 18 press release.
"Anyone who can help close the ongoing investigation is welcome to come forward," he said.
The thieves boldly rolled the refrigerator-sized safe out of the priory without attracting the notice of sleeping friars and novices and cut it open before discarding it in the Bayview District, where it was located by police.
Parish administrator Michael Rossi told Catholic San Francisco the day after the break-in that the safe contained no cash or items of monetary value other than $9,000 in gift cards the parish keeps on hand to give to the poor. He said the sacramental records, dating back to 1873, while worthless to a thief were “invaluable” to the parish.
“My dad was baptized here in 1912,” he said. “He is in the books.”
Sacramental records are required for parishioners who want to get married in the church or have a marriage annulled, and for other purposes. They are also a valuable historical record of a parish.
Rossi joked that the thieves must not have been Catholic if they expected to find money in the safe on a Tuesday. “They would have known that the money collected at Sunday Mass goes directly into the bank on Monday,” he said.
In his Facebook post, Father Hurley said "we acknowledge that our church needs to upgrade our security efforts, and we are working on that straightaway. Thank you for your patience and care."