By Walt Hunter

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — The 11 nuns who teach children and help feed the needy at St. Gabriel Parish in Grays Ferry are now victims of a burglar who turned their convent into a crime scene.

As reported exclusively by Eyewitness News, the intruder invaded the convent through a front window in the early morning hours, stealing $150 cash — money the nuns were using to buy their food and to help conduct classes at the parish grade school.

Sister Marian Gregory, the house superior for the 11 sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, says the convent alarm sounded twice during the night, but sisters who investigated the activation did not come face to face with the intruder.

Detectives spent the morning and early afternoon looking for possible evidence, including fingerprints they hope could lead to the suspect.

The detectives are also hoping surveillance video might help them identify the burglar.

St. Gabriel Parish has been part of the Grays Ferry community for more than a century. Crime has forced the sisters to cover some of their windows with iron bars.

As church members, parents and neighbors learned of the burglary, they were outraged, saying they would work together to restore the stolen money to the sisters.

Anyone with information about the burglary is asked to call South Detectives Division at 215-686-3013.