Opihi parish property manager David Attwood said some of the items recovered had to be fished out of a river and that some had been damaged.

A statue of an angel, a procession cross, and a chalice dating back to 1949 were recovered from the river. The cross and chalice were able to be cleaned up, however the statue was badly damaged.

Other items returned, including lectionaries, crucifixes, an aspergillum (holy water sprinkler) and two large candle sticks have been in the church since it was built in 1936. Read more

Thieves entered through the main doors of the Catholic Church of the Immaculate Conception on Peel St, by forcing them open.

A gold chalice, a small silver cyborium (plate) (sic), crystal vessels with communion wine in them and a wooden cross were also taken from the unlocked sacristy (a room where the priest keeps vestments). A Roman Missal, used for readings, and a lectionary, which has the gospel and the epistles in it were also stolen.

However what was most offensive to the parishioners was that the thieves had tampered with the tabernacle.

Opihi Parish property manager David Atwood said he felt violated, as did the other more than 50 parishioners at mass on Sunday morning, once they discovered what had happened. Read more

"It was a spontaneous demonstration to denounce the repeated attacks against holy places carried out by an irresponsible minority, that threatens the peaceful coexistence among peoples," said Bishop William Shomali, vicar of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

Since February last year, militant groups have attacked Christian churches, monasteries, and cemeteries, as well as Islamic mosques.

The most recent attack was aimed at the Protestant cemetery on Mount Zion in Jerusalem, where tombstones were damaged and racist graffiti written on the walls.

Some of the damaged graves belong to famous figures from the 19th and 20th centuries, a key period in Jerusalem's history. Among them are a German diplomat, the founder of an orphanage who was a significant contributor to modernising the city, and a relative of the owners of a prominent hotel.

More than 100 Christians took part in the demonstration, which went from the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre to Catholic and Protestant cemeteries which had been vandalised.

The participants sang and recited prayers along the way, spreading a statement in which they denounced acts of intimidation against monasteries, cemeteries, churches and mosques.

High-profile Christian sites that have been vandalised within the past year include the Trappist monastery at Latrun, outside Jerusalem, where vandals burned a door and spray-painted "Jesus is a monkey" on the century-old building, a Baptist church in Jerusalem, and other monasteries.

Christian clergymen often speak of being spat at by ultra-Orthodox religious students while walking around Jerusalem's Old City.

Over the past three years, 17 Christian sites in the Holy Land have been reported vandalised, apparently by militant extremist groups close to the Jewish settler movement.

But Search for Common Ground, a nongovernmental group that monitors press reports of attacks on religious sites, says the number is actually higher, but Christian leaders choose not to report many attacks.

Sources:

Associated Press

Fides

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