A priest in east Cork has issued an appeal to thieves to return a sacred silver host box stolen from his parish church.
Father Padraig Keogh, of the Sacred Heart Church, in Leamlara, Co Cork, has asked for public assistance in tracking down a precious Communion box stolen from his church two weeks ago.
A gang broke into the Sacred Heart Church on February 15th and opened the tabernacle at the back of the altar stealing the host box and damaging sacred vessels.
The Rockchapel-born priest said he was horrified by the callous actions of the gang and puzzled as to why they chose to break into the church.
"They did some awful damage to the church, trampled upon religious vessels, such as the chalice amongst other items. We think they may have been looking for money but they obviously don't know very much about us. Priests would never put anything like that in the tabernacle, it is a sacred place and only for the holy vessels."
Father Keogh said the robbery was a "great act of sacrilege" and had shocked the local community. He appealed to relatives of the robbers who may have seen the box around the house to get in touch with gardaí.
Meanwhile, gardaí in east Cork are continuing to investigate a spate of robberies involving churches in the area. In recent weeks churches at Dungourney, Mogeey, Inch and Leamlara have been targeted by youths. It is not known if the same individuals are responsible for all the incidents.