'Sick' church vandals guilty of 'sacrilege'

The vandals who broke into a west Belfast church and upset a coffin prepared for funeral Mass and smeared excrement across the altar have been described as "sick".

The Bishop of Down and Connor Dr Patrick Walsh described the attack on St Agnes's Church on the Andersonstown Road - which occurred sometime between Friday evening and 9am on Saturday morning - as "an appalling act of desecration".

The church suffered minor damage – a few statues were broken, a lectern was smashed and the confession box will also have to be replaced.

The Church said that the removal of the coffin of Maureen Melly from its base was described as "sacrilege". The funeral had to be postponed and relocated to St Michael's, and a 1pm Mass was also cancelled.

However, the parish priest - Father Gerard McCluskey - said that he was thankful that there had not been more damage. He said: "The people feel they have been defiled in some way, because a church is not just a building - it is made up of the people who make up the living church.

"But our thoughts are with the Melly family. It is distressing enough when a loved one dies but to find a church unable to be used for a funeral must have been very difficult for them."

Fr McCluskey said that the people who had carried out the attack must be "depraved or sick in some way" and said that they were "certainly in need of our prayers".

He said that sympathisers from across the communities had offered their support to the parish.

"It brings the community together in a marvellous way, and there has been a marvellous atmosphere at all the masses. I think that a lot of good will come out of this I really do," he said.

Dr Walsh met the Melly family earlier today to pay his respects.

(GMcG)