reorganisation and destruction of irish catholic churches
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“I also notice that the Christmas crib was still hanginga round the place at Easter!!! What kind of liturgical insight is conveyed by this haphazard coincidence?”
How else is the Easter Bunny supposed to find the Little Drummer Boy? Is it true that in Ireland three Leprechauns visit the manger on March 17th? Or is that only in those leap years when the groundhog sees his shadow?
The latest trend over this way, by the bye, is the installation of labyrinths in modern churches. At first it was only in churches of the other persuasion. But now Catholics are installing them with great gusto. ‘Getting back to their pagan roots,’ so I’ve been told. The propaganda preceding and accompanying the installation of the labyrinth alleges that walking the labyrinth provides good therapy for the mind oppressed by worldly and weighty cares. I should have thought that such ‘therapy’ might be found rather in the confessional.
Do readers of this thread use the labyrinth much? Comments? … Reflections? … Confessions?
I notice a fair number of publications, nearly all of them quite dubious, about the famous labyrinth in the cathedral of Chartres. A number of them promote a kind of “spirituality” of the labyrinth. Are there any labyrinths in Irish churches?
It all seems rather tiresome. I have no idea what people are seeking to accomplish by this New Age stuff. Then again, how does one address the ‘conversion’ of a church like St Mary’s, Dublin into a pub??
Here is picture of the strapwork on the main door of Cobh Cathedral. The metal has been left to corrode for several years.
@Praxiteles wrote:
St. Colman’s Cathedral, Cobh Co. Cork
Here is aphotograph of the interior taken in February 2007. You will note that the Christmas decorations are still hanging from the choir gallery. Can soem one tell me why the liturgically sensitive who are running Cobh Cathedral were so slovenly and lazy that they could get around to taking these decoration down at the end of the liturgical season?
I also notice that the Christmas crib was still hanginga round the place at Easter!!! WHat kind of liturgical insight is conveyed by this haphazard coincidence?
They finally took away the figures from the crib just before Easter and in the crib itself they inserted an “Easter Scene”. Now that the Easter Season has ended they have taken down the drapes etc. and the sign which told us that this was an “Easter Scene”, but the crib structure still remains. It is in the Pieta Chapel which has been hidden now for over six months. I expect they will leave the structure in place until next Christmas and it is likely that the Pieta Chapel will never be seen again.
On another note. The ornate cover of the Baptismal font was once again left swinging in mid air for about three months. This was recently rectified by a couple of “grannies” who went in and through trial and error discovered what turned out to be a fairly simple mechanism for returning the cover to its proper position on the font. It will never hang in mid air again.!!!!:)@corcaighboy wrote:
sad state of affairs when cathedral maintenance has to be undertaken by an odd granny or two!
Sad indeed……….. and when you think of all the money that has been squandered by those in control….even a minute portion of the Re-ordering costs…could have bought alot of sandpaper, varnish and hammerite for the doors…
Yes indeed!
It is reported that some 200,000 Euro was wasted on the enterprise and it is said that the funds were provided by a prominent business man who had been seeply involved in the unfortunate mess – he evidently thought that wrecking Cobh cathedral was a philanthropic opportunity.
@corcaighboy wrote:
sad state of affairs when cathedral maintenance has to be undertaken by an odd granny or two!
Well, there you have it!
something from You Tube:
I don’t know if its been mentioned on this thread, but Pete McCarthy’s book “The road to McCarthy” has a rather amusing chapter about Cobh, including the proposed changes to the Cathedral..
@Fearg wrote:
I don’t know if its been mentioned on this thread, but Pete McCarthy’s book “The road to McCarthy” has a rather amusing chapter about Cobh, including the proposed changes to the Cathedral..
For those of us who have no access to the book mentioned, please give us the highlights of the chapter on Cobh. We eagerly await your summary! Good to hear from you Fearg!
@samuel j wrote:
Sad indeed……….. and when you think of all the money that has been squandered by those in control….even a minute portion of the Re-ordering costs…could have bought alot of sandpaper, varnish and hammerite for the doors…
Has no one in responsibility addressed the matter of the doors? Not just a waste of money but also of time. The longer this mess is postponed, hte more costly will be the repair.
Why the shilly-shallying? Have the coffers been depleted as a result of reckless spending elsewhere? Such as architect fees for the proposed ‘alterations’ to the cathedral sanctuary?
@ake wrote:
Was a before picture of St.Macartan’s ever posted on the forum?
Closest I’ve come to seeing one is the print I posted a few months back:
https://archiseek.com/content/showthread.php?t=4691&page=110 post 2773 I think..
@ake wrote:
Was a before picture of St.Macartan’s ever posted on the forum?
The short answer is no. The mind police have ensured that nothing is available. Perhaps someone might ask the bishop of Clogher to supply one so as to evaluate his efforts on the building. Or perhaps that might explain why there are no photographs!
In the meantime, I am, as the police say, following a line of enquiry!!!
@Fearg wrote:
Closest I’ve come to seeing one is the print I posted a few months back:
https://archiseek.com/content/showthread.php?t=4691&page=110 post 2773 I think..
Thanks.
I’d love to see a few of the churches with the seating temporarily removed, they look so much grander.How can there be no before picture? Surely there MUST have been one in that quite lavish book ‘A Cathedral Renewed’? They couldn’t have published a book about the ‘renewal’ of a building without a picture of what needed to be ‘renewed’ in the first place, could they?
@ake wrote:
Thanks.
I’d love to see a few of the churches with the seating temporarily removed, they look so much grander.How can there be no before picture? Surely there MUST have been one in that quite lavish book ‘A Cathedral Renewed’? They couldn’t have published a book about the ‘renewal’ of a building without a picture of what needed to be ‘renewed’ in the first place, could they?
Just give me a while qnd I will answer that question; I have located a copy and after much difficulty expect to have it before mid July. However, I would not a priori rule out the possibility of the book“s not having a “before” picture.
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