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Pipe Organ Stolen From Recently Closed Mt. Washington Church

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Less than a month ago, St. Justin Roman Catholic Church on Boggs Avenue on Mount Washington, celebrated its final mass before merging with St. Mary of the Mount.

Now, Pittsburgh Police and the Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese confirm that the church's pipe organ has been stolen from the second-floor balcony.

Denise Chappel, who was baptized at St. Justin, and made her first communion there, said: "I can't believe someone would do that to the church. [Whoever stole it] would have had to come down the stairs with it, I don't think it could have come down in one piece."

Dolly D'Alessio, 90, was one of the hundreds of worshipers who attended the final Mass at the church on Feb. 10.

"I can't believe it, how could they do something like this?" said D'Alessio. "It's impossible."

A priest who celebrated Mass at St. Justine regularly, Fr. Manuel Osiqwe, said he was shocked that such a large musical instrument could be stolen.

But he quickly added he was confident that police would work hard to recover it because he said "that organ was used for the glory of God."

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