THE discovery of a wooden sculpture of St Patrick in mangroves at Brisbane’s Kangaroo Point last weekend highlighted the growing problem of vandalism “battering” inner city churches.
The sculpture was discovered to have been stolen from St Patrick’s Church, Fortitude Valley, where vandals had caused damage worth thousands of dollars.
St Stephen’s Cathedral dean Fr Ken Howell, within whose parish the church is located, said the thieves had smashed a valuable leadlight window to enter the church and steal the sculpture.
He blamed this and other incidents of damage to Church property on “drunken and silly behaviour” which meant inner city churches, including St Stephen’s Cathedral, were “copping a bit of a battering at times”.
Four leadlight windows have been vandalised at the cathedral in recent times.
“It’s often caused by people who’ve been at nightclubs in the area fuelling themselves up and being silly,” Fr Howell said.
“In the case of St Patrick’s Church, someone has broken in through one of the leadlight windows then got the bright idea of carting the statue away.
“The thing is, whoever it was probably didn’t realise they were destroying a piece of art worth thousands of dollars crafted by artisans.
“It’s like going over to an art gallery with a knife and carving up a painting.”
Fr Howell said it was hard to see a solution to the ongoing incidents of vandalism of Church property.
“People can easily climb over walls to access these properties and in the case of St Stephen’s Cathedral it’s located in a thoroughfare,” he said.
“Basically nothing will change until society learns to deal with drug and alcohol abuse.”
