Gardaí in Clane, Co Kildare, are investigating damage costing an estimated €80,000 to €90,000 caused by an attack on the Church of St Michael's and All Angels, at Millicent, near the town, on Saturday.
Four stained-glass windows at the church, depicting Old Testament figures Adam, Joshua, Joseph, and Elijah, were badly damaged, while electric cable along the church wall was ripped out, and an oil tank tap nearby was broken. The oil was used in the church heating system.
Mr Mervyn Black, church warden at St Michael's and All Angels, described the weekend damage to the building as "pure and utter, wilful vandalism by a demon rather than someone of sound mind". He said the church had been "thrashed".
A diocesan spokesman said the attack was "not vandalism but desecration".
The local rector, Rev David Frazer, said he only became aware of the damage to the church on Monday, and had no idea as to who might be responsible. He recalled similar attacks on the local parish hall over recent months in which fittings and the tank supplying heating oil to the building were damaged a number of times. He said he "would hate to think there was sectarianism involved".
Last year the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, who lives nearby, allocated €300,000 to a restoration fund for the church, built in 1883. The money has not yet been spent due to a bitter row in the Church of Ireland parish.
Last December a diocesan court of Meath and Kildare diocese suspended Mr Frazer for six months and his stipend was ordered to be reduced by a quarter for six months after he was found guilty of conduct "unbecoming to the sacred calling of a clergyman" and of being in "breach of the canons of the Church of Ireland".
This followed three days of hearings into six charges brought against Mr Frazer by parishioners, among them Mr Black. Mr Frazer was found guilty of calling him "a f---ing bastard" at a select vestry meeting on March 4th last year.
Mr Frazer has appealed the findings of the diocesan court to the Court of the Church of Ireland General Synod. Last weekend he was informed that the court will sit in Armagh on March 21st, when it is expected that among the officers presiding will be the Archbishop of Armagh, Most Rev Robin Eames, and the Archbishop of Dublin, Most Rev John Neill.
Pending his appeal, the sentences against Rev Frazer have not been enforced. He has remained based at the rectory in Millicent but has been on sick leave since Easter last year.
He expressed surprise that his appeal hearing was taking place in Armagh rather than Dublin. It would be of great inconvenience for witnesses and for his counsel, who lives in Tralee, he said.