To the editor:

On Sunday evening, July 29, Saint Barnabas Episcopal Church suffered a break-in.

Some time in the night, a window in the rector’s office was forced open. It appears that someone reached into the office and took a fire-safety storage box that was on the floor, perhaps thinking that it contained valuables.

The thief must have been annoyed to force open the locked box only to discover that it contained parish registers, the record of baptisms, marriages, burials and confirmations done over the years at Saint Barnabas. These are of absolutely no value to outsiders and have no re-sale value at all. But to us, these records are beyond value for they hold the very historical core of the parish. Thus, I write to beg the responsible person to return these documents to us.

Further, I offer a reward for information leading to the return of these precious historical documents. The documents are green ledger-style books and have gold markings on the spine. They are quite distinctive.

While we wait, we also will work on praying for the person or persons so desperate and so lost that they would do this senseless thing. We grieve for them as we grieve their deed.

THE REV. DR. DENNIS S. TIERNEY, Rector

Saint Barnabas Episcopal Church