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Stations of the Cross smashed during shipping

Newswatch 16's Chelsea Strub shows us the loss a parish is facing and what the shipping company says it's going to do to make it right.

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — Folks with St. Anthony/St. George Maronite Catholic Church in Wilkes-Barre tell Newswatch 16 they were met with 14 boxes of unrecognizable plaster after they tried to send 14 stations of the cross plaques to a church in Florida.

"When we shipped them, we prepared them. We boxed them; we covered them, sealed them. We shipped them. When they arrived in Fort Lauderdale, they were all 14 smashed beyond recognition in pieces, hundreds of pieces," said Linda Joseph.

Joseph, with the parish finance committee, says these stations were more than 100 years old and remained from a merger of churches in the city. They were to be displayed at the church in Florida like those in the parish's church on Park Avenue in Wilkes-Barre. They are used for services during Lent and Holy Week.

"We ordered the right size box so that they would be not moving around. They were wrapped in several layers of bubble wrap, and then they were sealed with duct tape and all kinds of packing tape, and 'fragile' was written all over the box, plus we had a sticker that said 'fragile.'"

Joseph says she's had trouble with UPS trying to get a refund of the $1,200 spent on shipping back and forth to Florida, and so far, she hasn't received an explanation for the destroyed artifacts. She says she hasn't had much luck, even though she paid for shipping insurance.

"Under the pandemic, no church can afford to just be putting out that kind of money, obviously, and we know they're a big corporation, but really have some caring about, especially about our church."

Newswatch 16 reached out to UPS for comment. UPS thanked Newswatch 16 for bringing it to its attention. It will refund the customer for the shipping costs but suggests the consumer check the packaging guidelines of ups.com tips on proper packaging.

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