ManitobaA church kitty-corner to the Manitoba Legislative building was robbed of unique silver religious items late last month after a thief or thieves broke in by smashing through a stained-glass window with a rock.$3K in damage, $18K worth of communion plates, cups stolen in All Saints Anglican Church break-inBryce Hoye · CBC News · Posted: Aug 21, 2025 12:23 PM EDT | Last Updated: 7 hours agoRobert Schoeck, reverend of All Saints Anglican Church, says the theft of silver religious items used in chapel service is troubling, as are the social conditions that would drive such a theft. (Rudi Pawlychyn/CBC)Rev. Robert Schoeck was setting up for chapel service one day last month at All Saints Anglican Church when he noticed something was off.Communion plates, cups and various other pure silver plates and trays used in ceremony at the central Winnipeg church — some nearly a century old — were gone.”Everything had been taken,” Schoeck told CBC. “I was heartbroken, I was angry, I was upset.”The church at the corner of Osborne Street and Broadway, kitty-corner to the Manitoba Legislative Building, was robbed of unique silver religious items late last month after a thief or thieves broke in.The break-in happened sometime between the afternoon of July 29 and morning of July 30, Winnipeg police said in a Thursday news release.The thief or thieves went into the sacristy after breaking through an upstairs stained-glass window with a rock.Silver chalices, communion plates and more were stolen from All Saints Anglican Church on July 29 or 30, police say. (Joy Peters)Some of the silver and pewter items stolen from All Saints Anglican Church in late July. The lidded cup shown in the photo on the right has since been recovered by police. (Joy Peters )The damage alone is in the $3,000 range, police said. Schoeck said the stolen pieces are valued at more than $18,000.They have “sentimental and religious meaning” for the church and congregation, police said.”Every wedding, every funeral, every baptism, every service we did every week … used these very same items, and for them to no longer be a part of our worshipping experience has been a bit upsetting,” said Schoeck.Winnipeg church asks for return of nearly 100-year-old religious items after theftAll Saints Anglican Church, at the corner of Broadway and Osborne Street, says more than $18,000 worth of pure silver chalices, plates and trays were taken during a July break-in. The pieces have sentimental and religious importance dating back generations, the church says. Church administrator Joy Peters, a parishioner at All Saints for years, said the theft reflects something deeper going on socially in the neighbourhood.”It’s heartbreaking to know there are people in our neighbourhood right outside our doorstep who are so desperate they would do this,” said Peters. “They went to a lot of effort to steal them.”Items stolen from All Saints Anglican Church in Winnipeg’s Osborne Village include communion plates and cups. (Submitted by the Winnipeg Police Service)This type of crime in West Broadway and the surrounding area has worsened over the past five years, said Winnipeg Police Service Const. Claude Chancy.Days before the church break-in, the police service said it would be upping foot patrols nearby in Osborne Village in response to violent crime.Chancy said that will extend north into West Broadway, “whether it be our community support units or foot patrols or general patrol units that are providing a lot more attention to those areas.”Schoeck welcomed more patrols, though he, like Peters, is sympathetic to the social circumstances that would drive people to steal from a church.A stained glass window was smashed with a rock to get inside All Saints Anglican Church on Broadway and Osborne Street in late July, where a thief or thieves stole religious items. (Joy Peters)”To break into a church, to steal the silver, which really has no street value or resale value, tells me that there’s great suffering in this community that pushes someone to make that kind of choice,” he said.Schoeck said the church reached out to area pawn shops, who suggested they would not buy these kind of items because they can’t be resold.Gold and silver dealers in Winnipeg are also aware of items that might stand out as possible evidence of a theft, he said.”I honestly have no idea where someone would try to exchange this for some kind of cash or resources,” said Schoeck.All Saints Anglican Church is at the corner of Osborne Street and Broadway. Winnipeg police say increased foot patrols in nearby Osborne Village will extend north into the West Broadway area. (Rudi Pawlychyn/CBC)Police have already recovered one item — a lidded silver cup — and Schoeck hopes they’ll recover the rest soon.”It’s less about punishing them for doing what was wrong and more seo restoring what has been taken back from us and getting into a better relationship with these people,” said Schoeck.Police ask anyone with information to call investigators at 204-986-6219. Tips can also be submitted to Crime Stoppers online or at 204-786-8477.Up To SpeedNearly 100-year-old religious items missing after All Saints break-inRev. Robert Schoeck, the rector at All Saints Anglican Church in Winnipeg, says precious religious items were stolen during a July break-in. He says he has one request: please bring them back, no questions asked.ABOUT THE AUTHORBryce Hoye is a multi-platform journalist with a background in wildlife biology. He has worked for CBC Manitoba for over a decade with stints producing at CBC’s Quirks & Quarks and Front Burner. He was a 2024-25 Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT. He is also Prairie rep for outCBC. He has won a national Radio Television Digital News Association award for a 2017 feature on the history of the fur trade, and a 2023 Prairie region award for an audio documentary about a Chinese-Canadian father passing down his love for hockey to the next generation of Asian Canadians.Selected storiesEmail: bryce.hoye@cbc.caFacebookMore by Bryce HoyeWith files from Felisha Adam
‘Heartbroken’ over stolen religious items, reverend at Winnipeg church reflects on desperation behind theft
