St. Catherine’s Church To Hold It’s First Service On Sunday

The reopening of St. Catherines Church has been getting a lot of mainstream media attention over the past few days, with the doors open for locals, and the media, to view the incredible restoration work that has taken place.

The layers of paint that had built up over the decades were completely damaged by the fire, and after they were removed, beautiful stonework revealed itself. The newly-uncovered stone walls were never seen before by our generation, or generations going back possibly hundreds of years either!

St. Catherine’s Church cost a total of €4.1m to renovate, after a homeless man admitted setting fire to the Roman Catholic church in 2012. He was subsequently committed to the Central Mental Hospital in May 2013.

Apparently, according to the Irish Times, he lit the crib on fire, subsequently the firefighters came and inadvertently created a backdraft by opening the church doors, and the entire place was in flames within 30 seconds. That’s 30 seconds from the firefighters coming on the scene, not 30 seconds after the crib was lit!

Along with the fire-damage, there were other renovation costs which were not related to the fire, and the local community raised almost a quarter of a million Euro to facilitate these added outlays.

The first service is to take place in the newly re-furbished St. Catherines Church on Meath Street this Sunday at 12.15pm.

IMAGE: The refurbished altar in St. Catherine’s Church on Meath Street – image credit: Damien Hughes/FRG.ie

Here is a press release from the parish (published on www.meathstreetparish.ie)

St. Catherine’s will re-open it’s doors on Sunday 15th December 2013

A procession will leave from John’s Lane Church arriving at Meath St. for Mass 12.15p.m. Bishop Eamonn Walsh has agreed to return to the parish for this wonderful occasion.

This is a day for Parishioners and all are welcome to attend (seats are on a first come first served basis but we hope that people will be kind enough to give up their seats for the elderly and/or disabled).

Viewing of the Church prior to opening:

The Church will be open for viewing from Thursday 12th Dec to Saturday 14th Dec from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. If you have an hour or two free on any of these days we would ask you to consider being a guide to show people around the Church or make tea/coffee for the visitors.

Reception after opening Mass:

We need volunteers to help with the preparation of the reception in the Little Flower Hall after the Mass on the Sunday 15th December. If you can lend a hand please give your name and phone number into the parish house on Meath Street or e-mail us at info@meathstreetperish.ie

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