reorganisation and destruction of irish catholic churches

@Rhabanus wrote:

The interior is a wretched contrast with the original. The tabernacle atop a pillar looks utterly ridiculous. Can someone identify the altarpiece in the background of that photo? The sculpted relief at the bottom looks like Christ being laid in the sepulchre. Was this a mortuary chapel or does it commemorate Our Lady of Sorrows or the Death of St Joseph?

Thank you, Austin Flannery, wherever you are, for having destroyed the interior of a once-magnificent church. For shame!

This was the altar before it wrecked and demolished by Austin Flannery. I think that the relief depicts a version of the compianto sul Cristo morto very similar to John Hogan’s versions in Douglas CHurch in Cork, the Car,melite Church in Clarendon Street, Dublin and in the Cathedral of S. John’s in Nova Scotia.

What ever was gained by ripping off the raredos of this altar is quite beyond me – apart form vandalism of isaurian proportions.

@Fearg wrote:

Its got to be up there with Monaghan and Killarney in the top 3 worst reorderings in the country. The ceiling looks to be similar in concept to that of the chapel in maynooth – oil on canvas attached to the plaster – it would need a good cleaning though, its so grimy you can barely make out any detail at all.

Once you move out of the category of wrecked Cathedrals in Ireland, St. Savour’s in Dublin is undoubtedly one of the VERY VERY VERY worst examples of sheer gratitutious iconoclastic vandalism – all perpetrated by Austin Flannery.

@Praxiteles wrote:

Once you move out of the category of wrecked Cathedrals in Ireland, St. Savour’s in Dublin is undoubtedly one of the VERY VERY VERY worst examples of sheer gratitutious iconoclastic vandalism – all perpetrated by Austin Flannery.

Plenty room now for “squatting on the floor” for Taize Masses and that kind of Jazz…. as once described to me by a wise owl….

Flannery et al must have been squatting, smoking some dodgy substances and have been in a psychedelic trance not to see the vandanism they were committing.

@Praxiteles wrote:

Indeed, all very much part of the Irish Catholic Church’s response to Woodstock!!

There are very few benches left alright, I’m sure the nave seating capacity was reduced by half in the reordering. The aisles are also mostly empty now. As for sitting on the floor, the bare stone of the reordered sanctuary has now been covered in a very comfy looking thick pile carpet! Makes me mad, its probably one of the best McCarthy churches around, the nave arcade is magnificent – and the double aisles, surely they must be unique in Ireland?

“What is all that trash atop the altar in the ‘chapel’ of the Blessed Sacrament? It looks like a heap of dead flower stalks”

Joss sticks after the Restoration Committees final planning meeting…….

“And that is how liturgical dance came to the Emerald Isle.
Care to share your favourite recollections of The Liturgical Movement in dear old Erin?”

ah now don’t start me on the singing priest 70s/80s phenomenon
.. I dont want to wake up tonight with cringe nightmares watching Michael Cleary and Brian Darcy on the Late Late Show….oh no not going down in that abyss..

And these are the neglected main porch doors, just inside the West portal

@Praxiteles wrote:

Just to change the abyss: after a trip to St. Colman’s Cathedral, Cobh, Co. Cork earlier to-day, Praxiteles is able to bring you some interesting photographs of the present state and condition of this internationally significant monument. On a board, we are told that some £3,200,000 have been spend on the “restoration” of Cobh Cathedral. WHat have we to show for it? I will leave the readers to judge for themselves.

Let us start with a tour of the doors of the Cathedral. They are in a most deplorable state of neglect, nay abandonment. While the main doors are not as visibly effected by decay, they are nevertheless in need of attention especially the hinges and strapwork which appears to have some form of cancerous oxidization which is eating away at the metalwork underneath the paint. To my knowledge, nothing has been done to address this problem.

The main porch doors are all in a state of sad neglect, dirt, broken panels, and hinges that need repairs. Again noithing done.

The lesser doors leading into the Northa dn South transepts are beyond description – so shoking is their state of neglect. At this point the timers of the door are exposed to the elements and, as everybody knows, this is not the thing to do on a costal location. The same is truie of the lesser doors to the mortuary, and to the main door to the baptistry.

I publicly call on Denis Deasey, the former town architect of Cobh -who has stuill not cut his connections with St. Colman’s Cathedral- to explain why he allowede this state of affairs to develop and why he never lifted a finger to anything to remedy it? To quote someone else: je t’accuse!!

Je m’excuse un moment, s’il vous plait … mais qu’est-ce qu’ il y a sur la porte interieure?

Is it a note to the milkman?
Perhaps a calling card from the demolition squad [or reordering committee]?
Could it be His Lordship’s letter of resignation? “Gone north; please say the 10 am.”

Did you manage to read the note, Prax? We are all eager to know its contents!

And here is a close up of one of the main West doors giving some idea of the disintegration of the wrought iron strap work

@samuel j wrote:

With the Salt Air and continous gales we’ve been having, if something isn’t done soon there will be little wrought iron left and/or the finer detail will be rusted away

Has the Bishop gone into some form of a sulk seeing the ‘people’ spoke and would not let him get away with destroying the inside…… is this some form of silent protest by him to let St.Colmans rot…. if so it makes a mockery of collections for the restoration if not a penny is being spent on maintenance….

I think the psychological term for it is “passive-aggressive behaviour.” ‘Tis an ill bird that befouls its own nest.

@Fearg wrote:

Its enough to make me want to go down there with a tin of hamerite myself!
At least the original ironwork is still there – on one of the side doors in Derry, it was replaced with some fake victoriana picked up at the local DIY store!

Unlike some famous Paint Manufactruers advertisements…

The Collection Can in St. Colmans

DOES NOT DO AS IT SAYS ON THE TIN………..