A FALLS Road Parish Priest has praised the local community for their support after expensive technology stolen from the church on Wednesday afternoon was recovered.
Father Martin Magill of St John’s Parish Church said an appeal regarding the theft received “an amazing response” on Facebook being shared over 600 times.
On Wednesday afternoon a silver MacBook Pro, an iPad mini and an Apple keyboard were stolen from the sacristy in the church. The items allow for Mass to be live streamed and without the equipment it would have been impossible to deliver the service that has become a lifeline to many elderly parishioners.
Since the Facebook post was published, several people contacted the church with information including a local youth club leader who was able to retrieve the stolen items which were found in Lisburn.
Father Magill said enquiries regarding the theft are ongoing but that the “opportunistic” person who stole the items “was not a young person and not from West Belfast".
“Forensics were out with us yesterday and we are awaiting the results from that," he said.
Father Magill also said he believes a sum of money was also stolen but has not been returned.
He said the church has always been regarded as being a “safe space".
St John's Church on Falls Road
He continued: “We leave the church open as much as we can each day and we won’t let something like that put us off.
“So many churches depend on elderly volunteers, and we want that to be a safe space for them. The thought of somebody possibly coming in and frightening someone like that.”
Since the equipment was returned, the night prayer was able to be streamed live last night.
“We’re back to business as usual,” Father Magill said.
“We were very well supported by the local community. People were very good in getting in contact and sending messages. We could not have asked better from a local community. We have much appreciated the response.”
A spokesperson from the PSNI has said enquiries are ongoing and are appealing for anyone with information to come forward.
"Anyone who may have noticed anyone suspicious in the area around the time of the burglary or anyone with CCTV or mobile phone footage that could help with our enquiries, to contact police on 101 quoting reference 1304 of 11/01/22."
