Church leader offers amnesty to anyone who returns severed head of saint statue blessed by Pope

The beheaded statue of St. Volodymyr at Sts. Vladimir and Olga Church may remain headless unless the severed head is found, the monsignor of the church said.

"I think that it needs to leave a message that this is what has happened," said Right Rev. Monsignor Michael Buyachok, adding the church will leave a note on the statue promising not to pursue legal action against anyone who comes forward.

"That's not our intent. We just want to get the head back if it's possible," he said.

The statue of St. Volodymyr significant for Ukrainian Catholics for accepting Christianity in Ukraine in 988 when he was a prince was created by Winnipeg sculptor Leo Mol and blessed by Pope John Paul II when he visited Winnipeg in 1984.

Neighbours have said they woke up Tuesday morning to the sound of grinding noises outside, and Buyachok said residents of a seniors home across the street said they saw some youths playing around the statue the night before.

The next morning, the head and St. Volodymyr's staff had been removed, in what Buyachok said looked like a professional job.

"Those were not amateurish people. They were young but they knew what they were doing," he said.

No one knows where the original moulds used to create the statue are, or if they still exist.

"[Mol] did a large number of windows in our cathedral, the main windows, and we have copies of those, but other than that, we have nothing else from him, which is sad," said Buyachok.

Art dealer offers to help repair statue

If the head is returned, art dealer and gallery owner David Loch has offered to help repair the statue. Loch, president of Loch Galleries, was Mol's exclusive art dealer for the 45 years leading up to the artist's death in 2009, and has contacts with all the foundries where his statues were forged.

"This is not like graffiti being sprayed which can be removed. This is something that has been deliberately done, and I mean, why?" said Loch, who added hehasn't yet been in contact with the church about his offer.

The metal is "worthless" and selling the head would be difficult, given the extensive coverage, said Loch.

"[What] it then comes down to is just pure pure vandalism. And I'm hoping that whoever did it then has the courage to come forward," he said.

The church is holding a meeting Friday to decide what to do next.

If nobody comes forward with the missing pieces of the statue, Buyachoksaid the church will attempt to contact the company in Germany that worked with Mol to make the artwork to see if it still has the original moulds.

Loch expressed skepticism about that possibility, however. Toward the end of the artist's life, Loch said he advised Mol's wife,Margareth, to contact the foundry and order the moulds in the vault to be destroyed.

"You never want moulds to fall into the wrong hands," he said.

"Once you have an original mould, you can actually have a piece cast, and then that's when all the problems start with people doing things for financial gain that are illegal."