Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Zubik seeking return of stolen cross

Catholic Bishop David Zubik of Pittsburgh has a message for whoever stole a cross that has personal and spiritual value to him: "All I want is the cross back. I'm not interested in pressing charges."

The pectoral cross was blessed by Pope Benedict XVI on the night the pope was elected and had been the last gift that the bishop's mother, Susan, gave to him before her death in January 2006.

Although the cross is worth about $1,500, "the monetary value is inconsequential. What's important is the spiritual and heartfelt worth of it," Bishop Zubik said.

Pittsburgh police are investigating the theft, which occurred late last week in the chapel sacristy at St. Paul Seminary in East Carnegie, where Bishop Zubik lives.

It wasn't the cross he wears every day, which is on a chain. It was one he wore only with vestments and which he kept in the sacristy, he said.

It is a gold and silver rendition of the San Damiano cross, from which Jesus is said to have spoken to St. Francis of Assisi.

When he was bishop of Green Bay, Wis., Bishop Zubik visited Rome in April 2005. 

Because the 30th anniversary of his ordination was approaching, his mother had asked him to pick out a special religious item that would be his parents' gift to him.

He bought the San Damiano cross, then hurried to St. Peter's Square, where crowds were waiting to see whether white smoke would herald a new pope. He was standing with Green Bay seminarians when the white smoke rose.

Soon Pope Benedict XVI came to the balcony to bless the people and announced his intention to bless any religious articles that they had with them.

"So when I came home I had the back of the cross engraved with my name, that it was a gift from my mom and dad on the 30th anniversary of my priesthood, and that it had been blessed by Pope Benedict XVI on the occasion of his election on April 19, 2005," he said.

All of that -- or any attempt to remove the engraving -- will make it virtually impossible to sell, he said.

"I'm sure that whoever did it must have been in a tight squeeze," he said. "All I'm asking is that the cross be returned."

The disappearance of the cross happened in two stages, he said. When he went to the chapel for Mass on Friday, it wasn't in the drawer where he kept it, but he found it in another drawer.

When he went Saturday for Mass, the cross was missing, but the cord it hung on was snipped and left behind. Nothing else was missing, he said.

He began a thorough search of the property. When the cross was still missing Monday morning, the police were called.

Detective James Glick said he was interviewing possible witnesses but hadn't identified a suspect yet. 

Anyone with information is asked to call the detective at 412-937-3095.