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He once was lost but now is found. The plastic baby Jesus figure that vandals ripped from the outdoor manger of a Timonium Nativity scene last January has been recovered and returned to Gil and Loretta Hoffman.

Baby Jesus returns

January 19, 2012
By George P. Matysek Jr.
Filed Under: Local News, News

He once was lost but now is found.

The plastic baby Jesus figure that vandals ripped from the outdoor manger of a Timonium Nativity scene last January has been recovered and returned to Gil and Loretta Hoffman.

The married parishioners of the Immaculate Conception in Towson said they were delighted by the reemergence of the stolen baby Jesus, and they plan to put him back in his rightful place on their front lawn as the Christmas holiday nears.

“Praise the Lord!” said an ecstatic Mrs. Hoffman, who received the Jesus figure in September – exactly nine months after vandals took it and toppled plastic figures of St. Joseph, the Blessed Virgin Mary and animals.

“I’ve been praying for it to come back and this is a story of faith in prayer,” she said.

Baby Jesus was discovered lying in the muck of a creek in New Freedom, Pa. by a friend of Mrs. Hoffman. The friend, who does not want to be identified, took it home, cleaned it and put it aside for possible use at Christmas. Then when she attended a prolife luncheon that was also attended by Mrs. Hoffman, the friend remembered reading about the stolen figure in local newspapers including The Catholic Review.

“Neither of us had planned to go to the luncheon, so I think the Lord was at work here,” said Mrs. Hoffman.

While she’s not 100 percent sure the figure is the same one that was stolen, Mrs. Hoffman said it looks exactly the same and she suspects it most likely is her kidnapped infant.

“How it got to New Freedom, God only knows,” she said.

When she sets up her Nativity scene in a few weeks, Mrs. Hoffman said she plans to secure the figure with wires just as she did last year, but she may take some added security measures.

“He was wired in last year and he was still ripped away by whoever did the dastardly deed,” she said. Then, with a laugh, she added: “I was thinking of putting a GPS monitor on him.”

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George P. Matysek Jr.

George Matysek, a member of the Catholic Review staff since 1997, has served as managing editor since September 2021. He previously served as a writer, senior correspondent, assistant managing editor and digital editor of the Catholic Review and the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

In his current role, he oversees news coverage of the Archdiocese of Baltimore and is a host of Catholic Review Radio.

George has won more than 100 national and regional journalism and broadcasting awards from the Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association, the Catholic Press Association, the Associated Church Press and National Right to Life. He has reported from Guyana, Guatemala, Italy, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland.

A native Baltimorean, George is a proud graduate of Our Lady of Mount Carmel High School in Essex. He holds a bachelor's degree from Loyola University Maryland in Baltimore and a master's degree from UMBC.

George, his wife and five children live in Rodgers Forge. He is a parishioner of the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Homeland.

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