Alsace: a priest robbed during Christmas mass
The thieves left with the proceeds of the quests. An Alsatian village priest was robbed on Christmas night while celebrating midnight mass.
“I assume the burglars knew I was at the church. Mass times are posted,” Father Alain Riegert, parish priest of Ammerschwihr, near Colmar in Haut-Rhin, told AFP.
The priest had celebrated a first Christmas mass at 18 p.m. in his village of 1.700 inhabitants and was returning from midnight mass in a nearby town when he discovered the door of his presbytery smashed in, as reported by the local daily L'Alsace. .
“It's completely traumatic. To discover that when we return in a celebratory disposition, with people delighted with the mass...”, testifies the 59-year-old priest.
The thieves left with the proceeds of the last collections, but Father Riegert said he had no time to count the sums received. “These are big Christmas quests,” he remarks simply. The burglary “was carefully prepared”.
The gendarmes, who have opened an investigation, “have no leads yet,” said Father Riegert.
The Editorial Board (with AFP)
