An investigation is on going into a burglary during Christmas morning at Church of Magdalene in Tarrytown, New York.

According to Mount Pleasant police, the thieves opened a back door during the 11am service, entered the rectory and broke into a desk drawer, according to the Journal News.

The thieves were able to steal $2,000 in cash and $18,000 in checks, a total of $20,000 in monies - all of the church's collection from their Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services.

Ninety per cent of the stolen money was in checks. The church immediately notified its parishioners of the incident and many took action to cancel the stolen checks, and write new ones.

In an interview with The Journal News, the Reverend Joseph Dietz says that the stolen money represents 20 per cent of their annual operating budget for the 400-family church.

Dietz called the theft sad and expressed that he would like to speak with whoever was responsible for the incident.

"I was shocked, and our parishioners were shocked," he was quoted as saying by the Journal News. "We've never had anything like this happen here."