While breaking into someone's home is always a despicable act, there is something particularly regrettable about a crime in which a parochial house is deliberately targeted.
Priests and other ministers of religion will inevitably have to spend much of their time attending to the needs of their congregations, leaving their residences regularly unattended.
There will be considerable anger that, as we report today, a four-figure sum, including a charitable donation, was stolen during such a burglary in Castlewellan, Co Down, earlier this week,
If those responsible do not simply return the money, it must be hoped that they are arrested and dealt with firmly by the courts.
