[MSN] 3rd Omaha Church Reports Art Theft. St. Joseph Catholic Reports 16 Paintings Missing.

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3rd Omaha Church Reports Art Theft
St. Joseph Catholic Reports 16 Paintings Missing

POSTED: 3:56 pm CDT June 19, 2006
UPDATED: 5:15 pm CDT June 19, 2006



OMAHA, Neb. -- The third Omaha Catholic church in six weeks has reported the
theft of art from its building.

Sixteen paintings, including 14 stations of the cross and two paintings of
angels were reported by St. Joseph Catholic Church on Wednesday. Parishioner
Charles S. Monico, 93, said the paintings were ripped off the walls.

"The caretaker arrived here at 7:30, and I said, 'Oscar, they took our
pictures. You won't believe it.' And he said, 'Oh, my God,'" Monico said.

Monico has attended St. Joseph church for 66 years. The pictures that once
hung on the walls were all hand-painted. 
 

"Those things came from Germany," Monico said, stating that some may have
been more than 100 years old.

Monico said seeing that bare wall is heartbreaking.

"They're just pictures, but what those pictures stood for -- that's what we
live for every day. That's what we pray to every day," Monico said.

In light of the theft, the church will now keep all the doors locked.

In May, Immaculate Conception Church reported the theft of seven paintings.
A couple of weeks later, another painting was stolen from St. Thomas More
Catholic Church on Grover Street.

The thefts are all under investigation, according to Omaha police.

An art curator told KETV NewsWatch 7 that religious art like that taken from
the Omaha churches has more sentimental value than cash value.