Stolen statue returned

When a Tustin mom approached her son about the sudden appearance of a nearly 5-foot tall bronze statue of the Virgin Mary in her rose bed Sunday, he replied simply, “It’s a gift. Don’t ask; just say thank you.”

After all, he reasoned with her, that’s what his friends told him when they set the statue-from-nowhere on his driveway Saturday night while a party went on in the garage.

But lo and behold, as the mother, who asked that her name be withheld, found out in a bleary-eyed 5:30 a.m. phone call from a friend Wednesday, the statue from nowhere was from somewhere. It belonged to Our Lady Queen of Angels Roman Catholic church in Newport Beach, and members of the parish had been worrying about it since it vanished from outside the church overnight Friday.

When the mom arrived home from out of town Sunday, she said, she saw the statue, valued at $30,000 and created by the late Mexican artist Victor Salmones, in her rose bed. Immediately, she began asking questions. Who had given her such a gift?

She said her friends had no idea, and not until her son came home later that night did she find out it was a mysterious gift from some partygoers who said it could be her guardian angel because she had been sick recently.

But when the story of the stolen Virgin Mary hit the papers Wednesday, her friends immediately called her. Right away she called Newport Beach police with a heavy, scared heart.

“I was just sick to my stomach it was here. The spiritual nature of it bothers me a lot. I mean, a church? Baby Jesus’ angel, I mean, I just felt literally ill,” she said. “I do feel bad. I do feel horrible. I have two little kids, it’s something I don’t want to be associated with.”

Authorities picked up the statue and returned it to the church. It now sits in the church’s lobby.

“I think we have to wait and see what would be safe [out] there,” said Rosemary Quinn, the administrative assistant to the church’s pastor, Father Kerry Beaulieu.

“People go out to a lot of our art pieces and meditate and pray. It’s a shame to have to think about putting those things away.”

Quinn said that over the next few days experts will take a look at the statue, the podium it was attached to and other art pieces on the church’s property and assess how safe they are out in the open. She said one of her biggest fears is that that this could give criminals the idea of cashing in on other religious sites’ art pieces.

Quinn said authorities warned Beaulieu that the thieves could have potentially sold the bronze and other valuable metals in the statue for scrap — a growing practice among criminals.

Luckily, she said, that wasn’t the case with Mary.

“I think it was a prank. What a sad prank. Our young teens don’t always look ahead and see the ramifications of their actions,” Quinn said.

And yet, she rejoiced.

“This was very sad that she would be taken, but very, very exciting that she came back unhurt!”

News quickly spread throughout the parish. Parents pointed kids to the empty church column on the corner where the statue once stood were pointed to the lobby, where Mary was now subtly placed.

“I didn’t even know it was back, I sat right next to it and didn’t see it,” Quinn laughed. Not until she got a phone call, walked past it and heard it was back did she turn around and see it.

Police said the Tustin mother is cooperating with investigators to determine who took the statue.

Beaulieu saw the humor in the situation, Quinn said. Earlier in the week he e-mailed church staff about the statue, saying it was sad it was stolen and asking everyone to remain calm.

Wednesday morning, he had something else to say.

“I wanted you to know Mary’s back. Mary took a weekend off and went to Tustin.”

JOSEPH SERNA may be reached at (714) 966-4619 or at [email protected].