Parish left in ‘shock’ after nativity scene attack

A parish community has been left “shocked” after vandals kicked in a nativity crib and smashed a statue of the baby Jesus in an early morning attack on the religious scene, a local parish priest has said.

The perpetrators of the attack, which occurred in Newbridge, Co. Kildare earlier this month, were identified on CCTV jumping on the crib, smashing its window and removing the small statue at the Town Hall around 5.10am.

Fr Paul Dempsey of Newbridge told The Irish Catholic that the local community were a bit “taken aback” by the attack, adding that he hopes it was just a one-off rather than something more “sinister”.

Around a dozen drawings by local school children for display on the crib were also destroyed or damaged in the incident.

The Newbridge Eucharistic Adoration Chapel Committee, which raised more than €2,000 to bring the nativity scene back to the town centre for the first time in four years, estimated the damage has run into hundreds of euro.

The incident comes the wake of multiple attacks of religious nativity scenes this month across the country. In Freshford, Co. Kilkenny, a statue of the baby Jesus was stolen from its crib on December 9, and similarly a nativity scene was trespassed and vandalised in Cork’s Red Abbey Crib on December 2.