Are We Losing Our Faith in Tough Times?

This story is from the Times of India, but it could just as well have been St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York, although I do not believe the Virgin Mary statutes there wear valuable jewels. But valuable statues have been stolen out of churches - right here in Milwaukee - not this year (thank Goddess) but in the last bad economic downturn several statues were stolen, and several poor boxes broken into and their small contents stolen. How pathetic to steal money from a church poor box! Ask the person(s) who stole from the poor box in this temple in India! Antique jewellery stolen from Shivneri fort temple 21 Jan 2009, 0236 hrs IST, Asseem Shaikh, TNN PUNE: Antique jewellery that adorned the idol of goddess Shivai at the Shivneri fort in Junnar taluka were found stolen on early Tuesday morning. Chhatrapati Shivaji, who derived his name from goddess Shivai, was born here and learned warfare techniques. This is the second such incident in Pune rural in past four days. On January 17, some miscreants dug up the mausoleum of Mastani at Pabal near Shikrapur. They had apparently dug up the mausoleum in search of some hidden wealth, which they did not find. Inspector Rajaram Pardeshi, in-charge of the Junnar police station said the suspects in Shivneri cut three iron grills of the temple window with a sharp object and decamped with a mangalsutra and a nath (nose ring) and some money (totalling Rs 10,725) by breaking open the donation box sometime between Monday night and early Tuesday morning. Pardeshi said the incident came to light after the temple priest Sopan Durate opened the temple on Tuesday morning. There is no security guard posted at the temple during night because it is located in an isolated place at the foot hills of Shivneri fort. Pardeshi suspects involvement of local criminals behind the theft, but Additional superintendent of police (Pune rural) Ashok Morale said it looks to be the handy work of professionals since the grills were cut with sophistication. Morale also suspects role of some mischief mongers since other costly items like the television set and the compact disc player were not touched. The police have intensified patrolling and beefed up security at historically important temples to avert similar incidents. Meanwhile, the Sahaydri mountaineering group has appealed to the Pune rural police to set up a police chowkie at Shivneri for maintaining vigilance at Shivai and other temples in Junnar. Second theft in three years The theft at Shivai temple is the second incident of its kind reported in the last three years, according to inspector Rajaram Pardeshi, incharge of the Junnar police station on Tuesday. Pardeshi said that in 2006 the paduka' of goddess Shivai were stolen. However, the suspects had later quietly kept it back in the temple and hence the Kusgaon villagers did not pursue the matter further. Pardeshi said that there are several temples built during the Peshwa's regime like Shivai, Panchaling, Kukdeshwar, Bramhanath and Khanoba, but thefts happen only in goddess Shivai's temple.