Gardaí in Wexford and Carlow and investigating a spate of church
thefts that saw a gang of thieves make off with two tabernacles as well
as other church property.
The gang, which is operating from Carlow and Wexford, struck at five
different churches ahead of Easter week celebrations stealing
tabernacles, records, ledgers and a priceless chalice.
During the
course of the crime spree, the gang lifted the safe from the church in
Ballymitty in County Wexford, tabernacles from churches in Little
Cullenstown in Wexford and Saint Mullins in Carlow and a priceless
300-year-old chalice from Ramsgrange in Wexford.
Speaking this week Fr Colm Murphy of Little Cullenstown church, from
where the tabernacle was stolen, said that it also contained, “A small
number of hosts which were inside the tabernacle.”
He added, “It certainly adds to the seriousness of the situation for
us. It's bad enough that these people would enter a church and steal
the tabernacle but certainly the fact that there were a small number of
hosts inside makes this worse.”
His comments were echoed by Fr Brendan Cushen who is the parish
priest of Ramsgrange.
His church was broken into and the safe with the
priceless chalice inside was stolen.
The gang later dumped the safe with the chalice inside in the sea.
A
walker who found it at St Kearns Saltmills returned it to the church.
Fr Cushen said, “The people of the parish were heartbroken because that chalice has been here since the 1740's.”
It is also believed that a fifth church in Taghmon just outside
Wexford Town would have suffered a similar fate but the gang was
disturbed in the process.
Gardaí in both Wexford and Carlow are continuing to investigate the thefts.