Edmond Catholics Rejoice After Jesus Statue Returned

A Jesus statue thieves stole from an Edmond church last week has returned. Edmond Police say someone dropped it off to detectives Saturday night, much to the relief of many of the parishioners.

The stone statue went missing from St. John the Baptist Catholic Church on Tuesday. The church had surveillance footage of five young men taking the figure, but say they're relieved it's now back.

"When I came out of the 5:30 mass, there was an officer, who was holding the corpus in his hands, and so we were delighted to have it back," said Father Ray Ackerman.

It is well with the prayer garden at St. John the Baptist. The beloved Mary with Child statue and wooden cross won't be empty much longer since Jesus is back.

“I was sad about it. I love being a catholic. I wouldn't be anything else, and it just hurts me that people would do something like that,” said parishioner for 50 years, Theresa Husmann. “I'm happy. I'm glad it's back. I guess people have a conscience after all.”

10/4/2014 Related Story: Stolen Stone Jesus Staue Returned To Edmond Church

Thieves stole the Jesus statue five days ago in the middle of the night. The church's cameras show a white Honda and a white Jeep with five men running up and using special tools to separate Jesus from the cross. But two college students returned the statue to police, and church members are pleased.

"It belongs here, it should stay here, if they did it for a prank well, we'll forgive them for that, but thankfully, they brought it back, and it feels good to come back and not worry that it will never be returned," said Larry Vasquez, who's attended St. John the Baptist for a decade.

But although the statue has been returned to the church, it's not back in the garden yet because Jesus has to be re-nailed to the cross.

"We may super glue the bolts this time,” said Father Ray. “We're just hoping that because of what happened and the way this was so quickly resolved that people will learn from this, and hopefully it won't happen again."

The Jesus statue is safe inside Father Ray's office. He says it will be placed in the garden later this week. The church says it will not press charges against the thieves, but says the college, where the students who took the statue attend, could hand down some discipline.