Neighbors April 2011 | Page 5

“Coincidence is the word we use when we can't see the levers and pulleys.” Emma Bull Coincidences are sometimes described as “the chance encounter of seemingly unrelated circumstances, miraculously merged into a significant event, almost as if knitted together by invisible hands.” No matter what you call it, everyone agrees that the string of occurrences following the theft of a safe from a small parish was quite remarkable. THE SEQUENCE Sometime, in the early hours of March 3, 2010, thieves broke into St. Mary Immaculate Conception-Torun (also known as St. Mary’s) in Stevens Point, WI and stole their safe, an ancient, heavy square weighing about 425 pounds. Days later, authorities investigating a string of burglaries in Portage and Waupaca Counties, arrested three suspects. Police found St. Mary’s safe abandoned on a dead-end road. The safe was no longer useable because whoever took it chiseled and drilled out the safe’s bottom. (Continued on Page 6 Top: Parish priest, Father Wesley Janowski stands in from of St. Mary Immaculate Conception-Torun. Left: Lukas Vuorinen is in his element when he is around anything John Deere-related. Right: Lukas shows off his John Deere-themed bedroom. Page 5 Neighbors-April 2011