A WEST Belfast priest has told of his relief after expensive equipment stolen from his church - which would have meant Mass and night prayer could not be streamed - was returned.
A silver MacBook Pro, an iPad mini and Apple keyboard, believed to be worth up to £1,500, were stolen from the sacristy of St John's Church on the Falls Road on Wednesday afternoon. On the theft being discovered, the PSNI was notified and a post put up on Facebook asking people to keep an eye out for the thief and the items.
The post was shared more than 500 times. At around 10.30pm on Wednesday, a youth worker contacted parish priest Fr Martin Magill asking him if he could take a video call, which he did.
During the call, Fr Magill was shown a number of items which the priest identified as the stolen equipment.
The items, which were found in Lisburn, were returned to St John's Church yesterday.
Speaking to The Irish News, Fr Magill said the items look to be "in working order".
He said the theft of the equipment had been "opportunistic", adding that it had not been carried out by a young person or someone from west Belfast.
"The whole experience of just the amount of people sharing it for us, that was very supportive and we had a number of people contact us directly with possible sightings," he said.
"All the sightings were accurate. All the information was passed on to police".
Fr Magill said without the equipment, the church would have had problems streaming night prayer.
"We have a group of people who regularly watch us for night prayer," he said.
"It started the second day of the pandemic and we have kept it going on a nightly basis. We have a group of very loyal compline family and they have come to really appreciate it and they are committed to it. We would have been unable to do it. We are very relieved to have it back."
A PSNI spokesman said enquiries into the theft are "ongoing".
