KISSIMMEE, Fla. -- A church in Kissimmee is missing one of its most cherished religious symbols. Recently, someone stole a 5-foot statue of Jesus Christ from the church grounds.

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For the past two weeks, the Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in Kissimmee has distributed flyers to people who live in the area as parishioners try to find the statue that, they say, has been a huge part of their church since 1986.

"Our parishioners are shocked and appalled that somebody would do this. They can't understand why this would happen," says parish coordinator Linda Birchler.

The courtyard outside the church is a place where the faithful come to reflect on Christ's last moments on earth. But lately, people like Birchler have entered the garden to pray for whoever stole a 5-foot fiberglass replica of Jesus that had been nailed to a wooden cross.

"What's very interesting is that you can still see the shadow of the corpus, or statue," says Birchler.

Birchler says, the statue, with its arms extended and feet overlapped, was last seen July 22nd. The next morning, the statue misteriously disappeared.

Birchler says it's worth a couple thousand dollars, but to the church and its members, it's priceless.

The church says it is not offering a monetary reward to the person or person responsible. It is, however, offering forgiveness. The church is urging anyone with information to contact the Kissimmee Police Department.