A Kilkenny priest has condemned as "inspired by demons" thugs who defaced a statue of the Sacred Heart at the entrance to his church. The vandalised statue at the Dominican Black Abbey church has been removed for repair by a local builder.
Fr Dominic Browne said he was praying for the perpetrators and observed that the incident happened on the Feast of the Archangels “who are messengers of goodness".
"The statue is made of iron and is extremely heavy, so it must have taken several people to knock it off its pedestal” he remarked.
The incident “was as stupid as it is wicked” and the people responsible “must have been inspired by demons,” Fr Browne added.
“It would be marvellous if the people responsible came forward and confessed, but I think for that to happen would be hoping for a miracle".
He said he harboured no ill feeling to the vandals because they “don't realise that as well as committing criminal damage, they are also committing sacrilege”.
“I pray for the poor people who did this as these people need to be prayed for” Fr Browne said.
“They need prayer to purify them and we have to ask why they have such viciousness in their lives”.
“This sort of mindless and sacrilegious behaviour towards holy objects shows bad and negative will and I would associate it with drink and drugs”.
He said that up to recently, such incidents “would only happen once in a decade in Ireland”.
“But now it happens all too frequently," he remarked, noting that six months ago another statue in the grounds of the Black Abbey had been vandalised.
“These are the only two acts of violence that I can remember in the 13 years that I have been in the Black Abbey”.
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(Source: CIN)