“The church needs to work creatively with the government and local community in making the Christian faith real to a whole generation of people who find themselves distanced from the church,” said the Bishop of Down and Dromore in a statement last week.
The Rt Rev Harold Miller was responding to the recent spate of vandalism involving children at St Donard’s Church, east Belfast. The child vandals have climbed onto the church roof, thrown down slates from the roof, smashed windows set firecrackers off during services.The story of this church building is a symbol of what is happening in our society.
The Bishop of Down and Dromore, the Rt Rev Harold Miller
Bishop Miller praised the rector at St Donard’s, the Rev Charles McCartney for his handling of the situation, saying he was “to be congratulated for his courage and leadership in seeking to deal with some of these issues which are important for everybody as we build a positive society for the future”.
Rev McCartney last week criticised local police for failing to respond adequately to the incidents.
"Unfortunately, because the local station (Willowfield) that looks after us during the day is closed in the evening, then we have police from neighbouring stations who come and simply take a few details," he said.
"Then they pass it back to the local station the next day, so they're not really interested," he said.
Rev McCartney also received a cool response from police for taking pictures of the young culprits in the act of vandalising the church in order to help identify them.
"The police were actually almost upset by this route and really advised us that we should not be taking photographs of children," he said.
