Christmas came in a bit early at Queens church in New York after a newborn baby boy was found wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a creche, just like in the Nativity scene.
At noon on Monday, Nov. 23, a church personnel at the Holy Child Jesus Church on 86th Ave. in Richmond Hill was setting up a replica of the Nativity scene, which is a common practice in the church during Christmas time. As per tradition, the creche is left empty until Christmas Eve, when baby Jesus is revealed.
The man left the church at around 11:30 a.m. to have lunch and was surprised to see and hear a baby crying in the creche when he returned at around 1:10 p.m.
The child still has an umbilical cord attached when the man saw him. He was later brought to Jamaica Hospital, where he was assessed to have a birth weight and length of 5.2 pounds and 17 inches, respectively. He was found to be a well and healthy baby.
Father Christopher Heanue from the Queens church said that the boy still has no official name but two nicknames have already stood out. The first one is "Baby Jesus" and the second one is "John the Baptist," who was said to have preceded the coming of Jesus.
Certain locations like churches, hospitals and fire stations are recognized as "safe haven," where people can leave their unwanted newborns in, provided that the child was born 30 days within the discovery of the baby.
At present, the police department is still locating the mother of the child. In a surveillance video, a woman was seen walking inside the church, carrying and leaving the baby in the creche.
Bishop Octavio Cisneros asks the public to offer prayers to the baby and his mother.
"Pray for him and for his mother whoever she might be," he said.
The mother may still face charges for leaving her baby, because despite the church being a "safe haven," no individual was informed of the action.
Meanwhile, the baby seems to be anything but homeless.
"There are families within the parish who have inquired as to the adopting the baby already," said father Heanue. He added that the people think the baby was left in the parish so he should stay in it.
