From The Denver Post: Statue of St. Francis stolen from Denver parish

A brilliant white statue of St. Francis —” the Patron Saint of Animals —” was taken sometime Friday night from the front of the St. Francis National Catholic Church in southeast Denver.

Father John Kalabokes said that St. Francis had stood in front of the small church, which is near Leetsdale Drive, for 18 years.

“My reaction was one of a great deal of disappointment,” said Kalabokes. “I’ve had a lot of mixed emotions. I just got the feeling that they (the thieves) felt they needed him more and may have put him in their yard.”

Kalabokes said St. Francis National Catholic Church is a very small parish of mostly fixed income people.

“It is a big hit,” he said. “We struggle to make ends meet.”

A similar staute will cost about $3,500, he said.

Kalabokes said the thief or thieves tore the statue, located in front of the church at 556 S. Jersey St., off its base. It had been securely bolted to the ground, he said.

They then lifted it over the railing that surrounded the statue, leaving white scrapes on the railing. Kalabokes believes the statue was damaged.

“It had to be a pretty big guy or a bunch of them,” he said.

He said the parish landscaping is such that the thieves could have backed a vehicle up to the railing and loaded the statue into the back of the vehicle, possibly a pickup.

The statue includes a small bird which St. Francis is holding. Kalabokes said that thieves have taken the small bird several times in the past and each time the tiny bird was replaced.

The theft occurred sometime between 6 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m Saturday, when a woman who arranges flowers at the church arrived and discovered St. Francis missing.

Kalabokes said he has filed a police report. He said that police responded and he believed they lifted fingerprints of the culprits off the railing that surrounded St. Francis.

“I cannot understand the cruelty and thinking of those who did this despicable act,” said Kalabokes. “This symbol is a great loss to this small parish.”

The Parish is asking for help to defray the cost of replacing the statue. You may make a donation online via PayPal. I also ask of your prayers for those who took the statute, that their hearts be moved to return it and make amends.

O Savior of the World, Whose love embraces all mankind; we hear Thy prayer from the Cross: “Father forgive them.” In the name of universal pardon, we beseech the Heavenly Father to have mercy upon our enemies; and deliver us from their snares. May our prayer be for them a ministry of reconciliation. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. —” A Prayer for our Enemies from A Book of Devotions and Prayers According to the Use of the Polish National Catholic Church.