The Virgin Mary statue stolen from Our Lady of the Visitation Catholic Church in Darnestown, Maryland that was missing for more than two weeks was found and returned to the parish on Feb. 27.

Surveillance footage showed two suspects taking the statue on Feb. 10. According to FOX5, the roughly two-foot-tall statue was recovered unscathed outside River Road Unitarian Universalist Congregation Church in Bethesda on Sunday, Feb. 26. 

Father Greg Shaffer, the pastor of Our Lady of the Visitation, picked up the statue and said they are still waiting to hear on developments around who took the statue.

“It was funny because my first thought, just seeing [the statue] for the first time in two and a half weeks, after seeing her every morning and saying, ‘good morning, Mary,’ and bowing to her…to see her the first time, I was giddy like a little boy,” Father Shaffer said. “I started clapping and raced over to her.”

For now, however, Father Shaffer is glad to have the statue back and looks forward to taking measures to better affix the statue to the ground.

“I preached to the people two Sundays ago (about what) it means to turn the other cheek…in the gospel Jesus says it’s not eye for an eye, we’re not going to steal something from them now, and we’re not just going to let [the statue] sit there loose so they can come and steal anything they want from our property,” Father Shaffer said. “It means cementing her in place and not letting the evil happen again.”

He said he has been praying for two things: for the safe return of the Virgin statue and for the “conversion of hearts” of those who stole the statue. 

“[The latter] still remains true, that’s what we’re praying for, whatever means to that end, I don’t know at this point, I couldn’t tell you,” Father Shaffer said. “But that’s all we want: for these two young people to learn from it, to grow from it, and for their future to be changed for the better from this.”