Stolen from a redundant, closed church...
http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2013/03/01/pipe-organ-stolen-from-recently-closed-mt-washington-church/ (http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2013/03/01/pipe-organ-stolen-from-recently-closed-mt-washington-church/)
Quote
Ralph Iannotti
Reporting Ralph Iannotti
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Local, News, Syndicated Local
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Boggs Avenue, Fr. Manuel Osiqwe, Mount Washington, Mt. Washington, Musical Instrument, Pipe Organ, Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese, Ralph Iannotti, St. Justin Roman Catholic Church, Stolen
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Less than a month ago, St. Justin Roman Catholic Church on Boggs Avenue on Mount Washington, celebrated its final mass before merging with St. Mary of the Mount.
Now, Pittsburgh Police and the Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese confirm that the church's pipe organ has been stolen from the second-floor balcony.
Denise Chappel, who was baptized at St. Justin, and made her first communion there, said: "I can't believe someone would do that to the church. [Whoever stole it] would have had to come down the stairs with it, I don't think it could have come down in one piece."
Dolly D'Alessio, 90, was one of the hundreds of worshipers who attended the final Mass at the church on Feb. 10.
"I can't believe it, how could they do something like this?" said D'Alessio. "It's impossible."
A priest who celebrated Mass at St. Justine regularly, Fr. Manuel Osiqwe, said he was shocked that such a large musical instrument could be stolen.
But he quickly added he was confident that police would work hard to recover it because he said "that organ was used for the glory of God."
and recovered by police... from... the former organist of the closed church :o :o :o
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/ae/art-architecture/missing-pipe-organ-recovered-from-former-st-justin-musician-677859/ (http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/ae/art-architecture/missing-pipe-organ-recovered-from-former-st-justin-musician-677859/)
QuoteMissing pipe organ recovered from former St. Justin musician
March 4, 2013 2:44 pm
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Pittsburgh police have recovered a pipe organ worth an estimated $200,000 that was taken from St. Justin Catholic Church.
Police said they received a call Sunday and learned that the church's former organist removed it Feb. 22 for safekeeping. The church in Mount Washington closed two weeks ago after it merged with St. Mary of the Mount Parish.
Detectives said the organist, whose name was not released, had a key to the church and was worried that the organ would be damaged in the cold of winter and the heat of summer if left unattended.
Extreme temperatures cause the leather on the organ bellows to become brittle and crack.
The organist, who will not be charged, according to police, told investigators that he talked with a church officials about his desire to maintain the organ.
But police said the man had not received permission to remove it.
Police said in a news release that the man told detectives he was "thinking with his heart and not with his head" when he removed the organ.
In its own written statement, church representatives said not pursuing charges was the right thing to do.
"In this Lenten season of repentance and transforming mercy, one Pittsburgh church now has an opportunity to show the healing power of God's love and forgiveness in action," according to the statement.
The church's pastor, Father Michael Stumpf, said the organist promised to return the organ in the same condition it had been when installed.
"In our estimation, this was an imprudent and terrible mistake but not fully criminal," the pastor said in the statement. "There was no intention to sell, and there seemed to have been no malicious intent meant toward the parish community."
;)Eric
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