“It holds the bread that we believe has been transformed into the body of Christ. That is what we believe and that is why this act of desecration is so distressing” – Bishop Francis Duffy.

“The determination of the bishops, priests and people ... to restore St Mel’s is a source of encouragement and a sign of faith in the community” - Bishop Smith.

"For some, God is an irrelevance, for some an irritant and for others an invention. For those who have faith, God is the centre of all things.”

More than 100,000 people have visited St Mel’s Cathedral since it re-opened last Christmas five years after it was burnt to a shell on Christmas Day 2009.

"No person should ever be marginalised or set aside," Bishop Duffy.