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The statue of St Joseph was found by a parishioner in a shop where she proceeded to buy it and return it to the church. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt was extraordinary actually,\u201d said Fr William Kilgannon, who has been a priest at the church since 1977.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOn Monday evening I had evening mass and at the end I told them (the congregation) the story. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The lady was in Church and when she heard the story, she had a couple of days before that been into the antique shop and saw the statue of St Joseph and bought it, and that\u2019s how we got it back.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The shop in question had sold the statue of Jesus already, but was not aware that the pair had been stolen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey were there for over 40 years,\u201d said Fr Kilgannon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen they were put there they were worth over around \u00a3200 each,\u201d he continued. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI have Joseph back but I\u2019m not going to put him up there yet until I get a glass covering.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The statue that was returned is a standing wooden statue of St Joseph – the patron saint of working people, immigrants, house sellers\/buyers among other things. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The other missing statue, a figure of the Risen Christ has already been sold on and the chances of its return are unknown at this time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesperson for South Yorkshire Police said that the investigation is still in its early stage and that no arrests have been made so far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fr Kilgannon said he can only \u201chope and pray\u201d that it makes its way back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For any information regarding the whereabouts of the missing artwork contact South Yorkshire Police on 101.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Days after being stolen from Mother of God Catholic Church, a statue of St Joseph has been returned. Two statues, one of Jesus and one of St Joseph were taken last Sunday, however the Risen Christ statue has yet to be returned. Police were alerted of the theft and it is believed that they were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":637,"featured_media":58390,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[15,38],"class_list":["post-58369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-news","tag-sheffield"],"yoast_head":"\n