Re: Re: 2006 Highlights

St Colman’s Preserved:

A victory that never should have had to have been accomplished but that was achieved without triumphalism or vindictiveness, in spite of provocations.

A victory for the laity and their forefathers, whose pennies combined to create so rich a work. The clergy should ask themselves, if the ordinary person in the pew insists on kneeling at the altar rail to receive communion or to get their ashes it might be because they have a more intuitive grasp of the sacred than they themselves do…? ….Rather than inflicting guerilla catechetics on them by ripping out bits of furniture.

For beauty and integrity, obviously. And timelessness.

This is the last untouched neo-Gothic cathedral in Ireland. It will remain so. As a foreigner, I thank the FOSCC and the people of Cobh for saving an unsung part of Europe’s cultural patrimony.