Bizarre theft of Blessed Sacrament from church.

A County Laois priest has said he is puzzled at the theft from a church of the Blessed Sacrament.

Monsignor John Byrne, parish priest in Portlaoise, said thieves had taken the Blessed Sacrament while it was on public exposition in St Peter and Paul's Church.  The sacred host had been in exposition in a small container in a prayer room within the church.  But it was found to have disappeared in the course of an afternoon last week.

Msgr Byrne said the container in which the Host was on display - which is known as a lunette - was not of any great monetary value and he was baffled as to why anyone would steal it.  He added that it was the first time in his career that he had come across such an incident.

"Certainly from experience, I have never experienced anything like this in any parish I've been in -it's never happened before," he remarked.  "It's hard to understand the motivation behind this -you can only speculate on that.”

Msgr Byrne appealed to the whoever took the Eucharist to return it immediately.  "We would very much appreciate its return and to find out the thinking behind taking it," he said.

And expressing the hope that there was no sinister aspect to the incident, he added that he "would like to be assured the Sacrament is being treated with respect and that it has not been consumed or destroyed.”

The church was extensively renovated recently and a new CCTV system installed, which is understood to have recorded the theft.

The Gardaí are now investigating the incident.

by Fintan Deere