Virgin Mary Statue Stolen - Found With Painted Mustache

[matcom]

<snip>

A life-size statue of the Virgin Mary has been returned to Calvary Cemetery.

When it has been perfectly restored, it will be returned to the place where it stood for over 30 years next to a cross of the crucified Jesus Christ.

“Everybody is happy about this,” Bud Johnson said.

Johnson, caretaker at Calvary Cemetery since last June, reported the plaster statue missing in late July.

“It was reported to me stolen on a Sunday morning and a police report was made, but we had absolutely no idea where it went,” Johnson said. “We looked up and down the Cedar River and Turtle Creek banks, looked all over the cemetery, talked to some of the neighbors, but nobody had any idea where it was.”

Unfortunately, acts of vandalism, such as tipping over tombstones, are common at cemeteries, and so is the theft of flowers placed on the graves of loved ones who passed away.

But, stealing a statue of Mary, the Mother of Jesus? Unthinkable.

That is, it was until someone ripped it from its moorings at one of the most conspicuous and revered places in Calvary Cemetery: the priests' burial place.

Ten Catholic priests are buried there in the landscaped area of the cemetery near the west portion of the grounds.

Summer passed and then came fall. Still the statue remained missing, and because it was such a conspicuous place where it had been displayed, every visit to the cemetery was heart-breaking for Catholics and others.

http://www.austindailyherald.com/articles/2006/11/15/news/news2.txt

[Anarcho-Socialist]

1. I don't like vandalism, but that is a tasteful moustache

An improvement.

[hedgehog]

3. It's not a joke to some people.

You and I may think it's silly to invest so much in an object, but it's wrong to desecrate other people's sacred objects. Whoever did this goes into the same box as people who burn churches of paint swastikas on synagogues.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

7. I don't disagree with that n/t

[GoddessOfGuinness]

2. Dammit! It's "Hail Mary", not "Hail Jerry"!

[XNASA]

5. Yes!

It's the "Virgin Queen", not "Virgin Gene".

Sheesh. ;)

[GoddessOfGuinness]

6. I should've said "Hail Harry"

Harry...hairy... :D

[slj0101]

4. She kind of looks like V with that mustache.