A church congregation in Co Donegal has prayed for an intruder who broke into a church and stole a valuable cross.
The thief broke into St Finian’s Church of Ireland building in Greencastle on Thursday night or Friday morning.
The burglars broke into the building by forcing open the door into the vestry at the rear of the building.
The break-in was discovered on Friday by two members of the congregation.
At Sunday morning’s Service of Morning Prayer in St Finian’s, the Bishop’s Curate-in-Charge of the Grouped Parishes of Moville Union, Donagh, Culdaff and Cloncha (Malin), Rev Suzanne Cousins, led prayers for whoever was responsible for the break-in.
“The congregation asked God’s blessing on them,” Rev Cousins said afterwards, “and asked that the symbol of the cross would be a reminder to them of God’s deep and wonderful love, shown through Jesus’ coming to us, his death for us, and his resurrection which saves us.
Rev Cousins
“In the grand scheme of things,” she said, “this is a small incident. No physical damage was done to any person or to the church building or furniture, and for this we are thankful. However, the incident is unsettling and disappointing for the parishioners.”
St Finian’s, which overlooks the fishing port of Greencastle in north Inishowen, is a pre-disestablishment church and the oldest of the five churches in the Moville group of parishes.
“It would be best for everyone if the person or persons responsible quietly came forward and returned the cross,” Rev Cousins said.
She thanked gardai for their response to the incident and confirmed that officers had taken materials away from the church to help their investigation.
Rev Cousins also revealed how another parishioner has offered to donate a replacement cross if the original wasn’t found or returned soon.
“For this, we are very grateful and quite moved,” she said.
“We’re also grateful to our bishop, Rt Rev Ken Good, to the Archdeacon of Raphoe, Ven. David Huss, and to the Archdeacon of Derry, Ven. Robert Miller, who have kindly conveyed to the parishioners their prayerful support and offered to help in any way they can. Thank you on behalf of the parish for all the prayers and expressions of support.”
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