Chapel Of The Holy Cross

Church Community Shocked Over Vandalized Statue; Pray for Suspect

SANTA CRUZ, Calif--

The Chapel of the Holy Cross Church remained closed Sunday morning while church officials begin to pick up the pieces of a priceless statue destroyed.

"It's a priceless piece of artwork that came to us from the mission that was destroyed in the 1857 earthquake," said Betty Pedrazzi, Curator of the Mission Gift Shop and Museum.  "So it's part of our collection that we can't replace."

The Statue of Saint Joseph is now in several pieces on the chapel floor.  It was made around 1791 and normally sits in an archway, several feet off the ground.  Santa Cruz Police said Lee Wilson, 54, climbed on top of the altar, knocked it down and stole a piece of it.  He was later caught by police near Pacific Avenue and Cooper Street.

"I think it's like a stab in the heart because it's a holy object," said Pedrazzi.  "People really have a lot of reverence and respect for it."

So much, in fact, people travel from around the world to see it.  The Colbert family drove all the way from San Diego to visit the mission.  "Tragic for that to happen to a place of worship," said Amy Colbert.  "Any kind of worship. Terrible. It's really sad."

Parishioners told Central Coast News they're stunned Saint Joseph was vandalized but said they're not angry with Lee Wilson, instead, they're praying for him.

"I don't think it was a hostile thing to the church or to the community," said Francis Krebs, Parishioner.  "It was an issue of his mental illness and I don't think he was probably very well in control of what he was doing."

Santa Cruz Police said Wilson admitted to trying to steal the statue.  He's been charged with felony vandalism, grand theft and a probation violation and remains in the Santa Cruz County Jail.

Church officials said they're trying to fix the statue and expect it to cost thousands of dollars.  They said beefing up security at the chapel is under consideration.  They expect to re-open the chapel soon.

Where's Eldo?: Chapel of the Holy Cross

I'm not sure how I found this church, maybe read about it somewhere, but you can see it jutting out from the red rock mountain in Sedona as you drive into town and I told Eldy, we've just got to go see this church! It's a Frank Lloyd Wright inspired design. You drive out Chapel Hill Road, and then drive a winding climb to the top where the 200 ft. tall Catholic church sets between two red rock formations that accentuate the 90 foot tall cross. There is a massive stain glass window that gives you an incredible view of the red rock formations across the road. There are no mass services at the chapel but there is a short prayer service on Mondays at 5:00 PM. There is no charge to come and view the church and sit inside and reflect, but donations are appreciated.We spent some time inside and out feeling the inspirational setting of the church and its views. Across the way from the church is an unbelievable mansion that you can see from the viewing overlook. We were curious about the mansion, who lives there and what do they do? So I asked some lady trudging up the hill with a cane, as I overheard her say she was a resident of Sedona for many years.  I asked her who lives there. Her reply? "An asshole! We hate it that he built this monstrosity right here. He's a showoff! That structure doesn't belong here! We'd like to shoot him!"  Whoa! Sorry I asked! But I got the message and can certainly understand her feelings on that. Tomorrow we head for the Grand Canyon with all of the family in a cavalcade of cars...hopefully, we'll all get there. Now, this is my side of the family..and if you've been following our blog for awhile, you know that Sparky is spatially challenged, she can't find her way out of a paper bag, and other members of her family are spatially challenged as well, even with GPS! So we'll see...any time the Baughmans go anywhere en masse, somebody loses somebody and the conversation goes like this..We all start dialing on our cell phones, saying, "Well, we're here! Where are you?" "Well, we're here but you're someplace else. Where the he@@ are you?" "I thought you said we were leaving at 9:00." And so on and so on...the OTHER side of the family, the spouses of the all the Baughmans (and by the way, it's pronounced "Boffman") just roll their eyes and laugh. It's a longstanding family joke!  And this should be interesting as cell phone service is slim to not working around here in the canyons.

Chapel of the Holy Cross, 1891-1991 Santa Cruz Island ; prepared for the 100th anniversary of La Capilla de la Santa Cruz del Rosario, Santa Cruz Island, May 3, 1991

Chapel of the Holy Cross

William Shakespere, a biography

Proceedings of the ... convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of New-Hampshire

Journal of a convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the State [or Diocese] of Maryland