Someone Stole The Baby Jesus From Atlantic City, NJ Area Church

It’s a disgusting act … to actually steal the Baby Jesus from a church.

We have just learned that this is exactly what has happened to Our Lady of Sorrows Church … a self-proclaimed “A Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration Parish, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week" … located at 724 Maple Avenue, Linwood, New Jersey.

Pastor - Reverend Paul D. Harte is respectfully asking for the return of the Baby Jesus, with no questions asked.

Here is a hand written note about this theft that is on display at the church:

Believe or not, stealing the Baby Jesus is a real thing.

It is an "enduring (and illegal) practice" according to New York Times journalist Katie Rogers, "Believed to be part of a yearly tradition, often carried out by bored teenagers looking for an easy prank. Sometimes these are stolen for resale, other times the associated pranks are more involved and include dropping it off somewhere else,” according to Wikipedia.

This is not a new occurrence. The theft of Baby Jesus has been depicted on television … for example … a Dragnet episode, (titled “The Big Little Jesus) aired on Christmas Eve on December 24, 1953.

Sergeants Friday and Smith investigate the theft of a baby Jesus statue from a church nativity display on Christmas Eve.

Wikipedia writes about this television episode, “Unable to solve the crime, the officers tell the priest that mass must be celebrated without the baby Jesus. The figurine is restored when a boy arrives with it in a wagon. He tells the officers that he had vowed that if he got a wagon for Christmas, baby Jesus would have the first ride.”

Dragnet remade this episode in 1967 and called it "The Christmas Story."

It is a despicable act to steal Baby Jesus from a Nativity scene, which is the very representation of the birth of Christianity.

Whomever stole the Baby Jesus, please return to Our Lady of Sorrows Church, located at 724 Maple Avenue, Linwood, New Jersey.