Suspicious package at archdiocese office was communion kit

A suspicious package left inside an administrative building at the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis turned out to be a communion kit.

St. Paul police responded to the scene shortly after 9 a.m. and blasted the package with a high velocity water hose, said archdiocese spokesman James Accurso. That caused the box to open and reveal its harmless contents.

Accurso said that about 9 a.m. a receptionist saw an unidentified man leave a package outside 328 W. Kellogg Blvd., go inside, return outside and bring the package indoors. He left it on the bottom of a coatrack on the first floor and left. The receptionist saw him via surveillance camera footage, Accurso said.

She called an IT employee who moved the package outdoors.

"It was common sense precaution," Accurso said.

The church's recent issues in the courts over alleged sexual abuse and cover-ups did not factor into the precautions and concerns Tuesday, he said.

The suspicous package was left at an administrative building located about a block from the cathedral, which is pictured.