Thursday, November 15, 2012

Stolen chalices found in field as Louth church incidents continue

Ciboria Sacred vessels taken from a County Louth church last month have been found dumped in a field.

The four ciboria, containing communion hosts, and a chalice, had been taken from the Church of St Catherine of Alexandria at Ballapousta, near Ardee.  

As a result, the church had to be closed ahead of a re-consecration ceremony by auxiliary Bishop Clifford.

The church in Ballapousta is a chapel of ease of Ardee parish and is best known as the burial place of Olivia Mary Taaffe, founder of the St Joseph's Young Priests Society.  

Fr Peter Murphy, who is parish priest in Ardee, told CiNews that the sacred objects were all found intact.

“They were discovered by a man out walking his dog about two and a half kilometres from the church and he brought them in to the presbytery,” he revealed. “The Gardaí took it from there and interviewed the man who found them and they haven’t briefed us on developments since but have said that their investigation is ongoing,” Fr Byrne added.

“We’re all very happy to get them back undamaged, it’s great.”

But just as one church robbery in Louth has been put to right, Gardaí have had to focus on a second one, this time at Holy Family Church in the Muirhevnamor area of Dundalk.  

A window and an interior door was smashed open, the tabernacle ripped from the wall and thrown to the ground.

Communion hosts were thrown onto the floor around the altar area and a monstrance and a small amount of money in a donation box were stolen.