Quest for the grails: Stolen chalices, sold for scrap, returned to Brewster church

BREWSTER – Two gold-plated chalices stolen last week from the sacristy at St. Lawrence O'Toole Catholic church and sold to an Elmsford scrap metal yard are back home, the parish administrator said Tuesday.

"They were returned. Thanks be to God," the Rev. Richard Gill said.

The theft of the chalices, worth about $2,000, happened between 9:15 and 10:15 a.m. Friday when someone entered the sacristy of the stone church on Prospect Street and stole them along with Communion wine and a box of donated CDs.

Later that day or on Saturday, the chalices were sold as scrap metal to Brookfield Resource Management, which has a policy of buying items that have been obviously stolen and then putting them aside in the hopes of reuniting them with their rightful owners, said Elmsford Mayor Robert Williams, who works at Brookfield.

Williams said he wasn't working when the chalices came in but he did receive an email from one of the owners of Brookfield on Sunday, who forwarded a link to a Journal News article about the stolen chalices. When the owner came to work Monday, he spotted the box of chalices and knew immediately where to return them, Williams said.

"Something like that, you want to get it back to the rightful owner," Williams said.

Information about the person who sold the chalices to the scrap yard was forwarded to the Putnam County Sheriff's Office, Williams said. By law, anyone selling materials to a scrap yard must present a government-issued photo identification that the yard must record, Williams said.

The Putnam County Sheriff's Office is continuing its investigation into the burglary.

While parishioners prayed for the return of the chalices, Gill reminded them to pray as well for the person who committed the crime. The chalices are considered sacred because they hold the wine which Catholics believe is transformed into the blood of Jesus Christ during Holy Communion.

Gill said his thoughts and prayers are with the burglar.

"It's a very sad situation to resort to that," Gill said. "Hopefully, he can find his way."

He noted Sunday that the theft happened during Lent, a season of repentance and fasting.

The Church of St. Lawrence O'Toole borrowed chalices from Sacred Heart Church in Patterson for last weekend's Masses but will use its own chalices at this weekend's services.

The church is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. It was built in 1914 and named after the medieval archbishop of Dublin. The parish has about 2,500 families.

Brookfield Resource Management was also where the body of a newborn baby was found by a recycling center worker last November. The baby's mother was subsequently arrested and charged in the death.

Twitter: @CorcoranTerence