Even invoking the Eighth Commandment hasn’t helped. When the cabbage-sized roses that Monsignor Eamonn Lyng so lovingly nurtures started disappearing from the bushes outside his church, he posted a sign on the garden wall of Mary Star of the Sea Catholic Church in downtown La Jolla.
It exhorted: "Thou shalt not steal the roses." Didn’t work. Someone stole the sign. And the roses kept disappearing, too.
Lyng nailed up a second warning. It, too, was ripped down, but left on the ground. He isn’t giving up. "The sign is going back up," he vowed yesterday. [Source]
19 comments
When someone stole the statue of Our Lady of Fatima from in front of the rectory of my home parish, the assistant pastor put a curse on the thief. It was returned shortly…
Put a curse?!?? What, in the rectory, alongside the “Book of Blessings,” they also keep a “Book of Curses?!??” I hope you’re joking.
If I was Monsignor Eamonn Lyng I would be watching e-bay for “Rose Potpourri” from the Holy gardens of the Lord. Ingredients: Large rose petals, combined with wooden sign shavings.
Man, people’re dispickable.
“Deuce,” is Sony paying spammers, or is this your own initiative? Either way, I think Jeff needs to do some IP banning…
Regarding the curse, I’m not joking. This particular priest is the only one I’ve heard speak about actually putting a curse on anyone or anything. He told us a story of a missionary he knew (or perhaps he was with the missionary at the time, I don’t remember), who lived in a rural area. The native non-Christians were harassing the Christians, and so the priest cursed them, and their crops died.
Cursing is not necessarily evil, if it’s done by the proper authority and with good as the intention (e.g., causing a thief to repent and restore or protecting a mission parish). At least, that’s what St. Thomas and the Catholic Encyclopedia (third paragraph) seem to say.
Never mind, “Deuce” appears to be a script, now that I examine “his” posts more closely.
Instead of a curse, perhaps a serious-looking sign with BIOHAZARD markings and warnings about anything from EXPERIMENTAL KILLER ROSE VIRUS CULTURE PLANTS, to MARTIAN BLOOD PLANTS, or MILITARY TOXIC THORN PRODUCTION AREA, or even DEADLY ROSE SPIDER FARM might work!
I hate roses anyway, having had to care for the thorn-laden brutes as a kid for Mum…
Grow spike-encrusted cacti instead!!!
I like the way you think, Jack! (although I do like roses)
Not a curse per se, but how about a lovely apparition of Mary… with a finger wag to the culprit.
Somebody stole Mary from our local Nativity scene once. Our priest said that he was thinking of putting up a sign that said “Jesus wants his mommy back.” He also called the police to report the theft and the policeman asked him to *describe* the statue. Oy vey! The priest said “Well, she’s about yay high…”
Brad,
THe bible does say whatever you loose on earth is loosed in heavan. And last I read many church fathers and doctors prayed for the downfall of those opposing them.
Finger wag? They tyranny of “nice.”
Smite him, O Lord; smite him hip and thigh, say I.
Just goes to show that you can’t put much stock in that old saying, ‘if it ain’t nailed down it’s going to get nicked’
God Bless.
Thanks, Lynne… At least SOMEONE does…
Maybe transponders should be placed in these things (like moonrock sample disks), so that we can then track them whenever they are illegally removed… The offender(s) could then be put in stocks outside the Church or wherever the crime was committed – perhaps with a sign up describing the offence(s) – “I stole a statue of Our Lady and tried to pawn it for drug money.” – to receive whatever those visiting the locale choose to bestow upon them…!!!
Okay, perhaps I’m too harsh (I don’t think so…!). But having a right wing science, sci-fi and law enforcement background, you can expect no better from me…
When the statue of Mary was stolen from my old parish, a few of us were talking in the pews after mass. Two of us jokingly started talking about beating up the person who stole it. One of the girls pointed to the tabernacle and said “no violent talk in front of Jesus.”
To which I responded: “hey, it’s HIS mother!”
Got her to laugh…
I’d go with the curse myself. There’s a lovely one in the Old Testament, about being accursed in your going out and your coming in, in your eating and your drinking, and so on. I’m a gardener myself, and wouldn’t be surprised if the Monsignor installed a deadbolt shotgun by the rose bushes. Not that I care much for roses – the climate around here isn’t suitable, besides being Ground Zero for blackspot and thrips. By the way, what’s the deal with rose breeders these days? The botanical garden here has five hundred rose varieties, and about eight of them are fragrant. Why on earth would anyone go to the trouble of growing roses in this climate only to wind up with an seven-inch blob of twisted petals that has no scent at all and falls apart after one day?
Love the stocks image, Jack… or maybe the crook could parade up and down the street wearing a billboard announcing his crime in large neon letters.
A compromise, Lady Lynne: the stocks to keep him/her in position and unable to hide or escape, and the neon sign to make everyone aware of his/her crime…
This isn’t exactly the same, but I just remembered it. I’m President of the Newcastle Chapter of the (inter)National Space Society, and we hold monthly meetings as our mainstay of activities. The venue we hire is definitely not religious, and probably ideologically opposite to our own leanings anyway, but they’ve looked after us quite well and it’s an excellent site. We had some more senior (in age) people join us from a neighbouring area, two of whom were brought along by the others who were recent members. It was a terrible night for many reasons, and to crown it so, I saw them coo over flowers that were in the back garden, rush outside to see them (so I thought), and then return with literally armfuls of cuttings… Seeing my expression, one of the “ladies” muttered “You don’t have to tell them, you know…”. “Of course I do!” I exclaimed… “I owe them no less…”
When I rang the venue staff the next day, and after discussing the other problems we had (and being told what a great group we were), I haltingly began to explain about the plants, to wich the nice lady wailed “My prize flowers, which I was going to enter in the show!” I literally wilted, at which she then laughed and told me they could have taken the lot for all she knew or cared…!
These were people in their 60’s or so, and I suppose I expected better behaviour from them accordingly. Had they asked me about the flowers, I;d have asked the venue and, if granted permission to do so, would have presented them with cuttings at the next occasion in little pots I have spare here.
They did turn up once afterwards at their own Chapter meeting, and the one fellow I liked from them asked Tony (their President) if he thought they’d done the wrong thing… I’d had to inform Tony about this, and he told them they had. They never returned..
I don’t care if it’s a flower, a spoon, or the T.V./video player. From a legal and moral point of view, theft is theft, and this whole incident just appalled me…
Sorry to bore you all, just had to vent…
Too bad it’s so easy to forget that there’s a Commandment against theft…..maybe a word from the pulpit…?
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