By David Karas | Correspondent

The community of St. Dorothea Parish, Eatontown, experienced some mixed emotions in the hours leading up to Christmas Day.

On Dec. 22, as pastor Father Charles Schwartz was hearing confessions and parish staff were preparing for various events and celebrations, more than $1,500 in donations from candle boxes and a Christmas collection that had been set aside for a bank deposit vanished from the rectory. It was not long afterward when they determined that the funds were not misplaced, but had been stolen.

But the very next evening, as Father Schwartz and parish staff members were still trying to put the crime behind them and focus on the celebration of Christmas, they received a call from the police that two suspects were arrested in Asbury Park and that the stolen funds were recovered.

“We have been told that what they took was still in the car when they were arrested,” said Father Schwartz. He said that since the pair was arrested in another jurisdiction, the local police department will have to go through the proper channels before the stolen funds could be returned to the parish.

He said that the burglary had an impact on parish leaders as they struggled to cope with what had happened.

“We were all upset initially, after we realized it wasn’t a case of misplacing the candle money bag,” he said, adding that the staff soon began to experience resignation about the event, feeling “that what was done was done and we had Christmas in two days and (we had to) concentrate on that.” Father Schwartz said that he and the staff were also thankful and relieved that no one was injured, and that only money was taken.

He said that the deposit included parishioner checks – and that those parishioners were notified and that the parish staff worked to obtain a new bank account as a precaution.

They were shocked to find out that the culprits were caught so soon after the theft, he added.

According to NJ Advance Media, a 44-year-old Brick man and a 49-year-old Wall Township woman were arrested after the man failed to stop his vehicle for two detectives from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office. He was arrested and charged with theft, burglary, eluding and resisting arrest, among other charges, and she was charged with burglary, theft and conspiracy, according to published reports.

Father Schwartz said that the parish has instituted stricter security measures as a result.