Cemetery desecration described as significant
BY MICHAEL ACKER
Staff Writer

When the large crucifix and its attached statue of Jesus was destroyed at St. Stanislaus Kostka Cemetery on New Year’s weekend, the community lost a landmark that was more than 80 years old.

The desecration at the cemetery and related thefts of religious statues from private homes in Sayreville and Old Bridge resulted in the arrests of four Old Bridge teenagers Jan. 2 and drew broad media attention to the events.

Mayor Kennedy O’Brien and Borough Council members this week commended the Sayreville Police Department for apprehending the suspects. Councilman Stanley Drwal also thanked the informants who helped police locate the suspects and recover the stolen objects.

Council President Thomas Pollando noted that none of the suspects were residents of Sayreville.

“I work in New York and I am in other parts of New Jersey, and when this came out people asked me, ‘What is going on over there [in Sayreville]?’”

“It is not the children from Sayreville,” he said. “I believe the parents and leaders of Sayreville reach out to the children to give them jobs and all [sorts of] different activities.”

Pollando is involved in the Sayreville Athletic Association, which offers boys and girls baseball, softball, basketball and other activities for youths. He also said the theater group, skate park, and lighted basketball court for night play offer safe alternatives for children.

“There are great organizations that are working with children to keep them off the streets. I feel that our leaders in sports and [in the] schools are doing a good job,” Pollando said. “I am commending our leaders in all areas of Sayreville, from the churches to the schools, recreation, council, the police, as well as the parents.”

Pollando described the recent crimes as “terrible” and expressed his desire to see those responsible be prosecuted to the fullest extent.

“I would like to see them go to every Mass and apologize to parishioners,” he said. “For every one of these Jesus statues that they took, they should do community service for the families they stole them from and the cemetery. They should [also] have to pay reparations for what they had done.”

Joseph F. Ziemba, a lifelong member of St. Stanislaus Kostka parish, expressed relief that authorities identified the suspects, and that most of the statues were returned to their owners.

“The sad part is that the more lasting and permanent [symbol] containing the sacred image of Jesus nailed to the cross had been destroyed,” Ziemba, who is supervisor of the Middlesex County Department of Veterans Interment, wrote in a letter to the Suburban.

Ziemba recalled times that he prayed with his mother and other parishioners at the base of the cross.

“I remember kneeling as an adolescent with dozens of altar boys, priests and the entire parish as we gathered to celebrate outdoor memorial Masses,” he wrote. “Families would gather together on Cemetery Sunday, leave their respective grave sites and join in prayers said at the base of the cross.”

Ziemba noted that five priests were buried at the crucifix’s central mound, and “it is sad that the symbol of peace and comfort is gone now.”

The four suspects in the theft of more than 25 religious figurines and the desecration of the 15-foot-long crucifix at the cemetery are facing charges in Middlesex County Superior Court, New Brunswick, according to Detective Mathew Bandursky.

The Rev. Kenneth Murphy of St. Stanislaus Kostka Roman Catholic Church could not be reached earlier this week to discuss any progress being made on repairs at the cemetery. He said last week that the crucifix would have to be completely replaced, and that church officials were yet to determine the cost of the replacement and related repairs.