To conclude the 40th Anniversary celebrations of our church a special Mass was celebrated on Sunday, the 4th of December, at 3pm by the Archbishop of Cashel and Emly, Archbishop Kieran O’Reilly, SMA. All donors and benefactors of the church were remembered in the Mass. Some of the former priests who served in the parish also concelebrated the Mass.

Jim Connolly, chairperson of the parish assembly, extended a warm welcome to all present. He gave a special welcome to the McCarthy family, as the site for the church was donated by Patrick McCarthy in Curragh Conway South. Mr McCarthy also arranged for the purchase of a small plot of land from Jack and Maud Kelly, members of the Holy Trinity Church nearby, to provide road frontage onto Grange Road. 

Jim went on then to give a brief history of our church. The church was originally built as a chapel-of-ease to St Columba’s Church in Douglas Parish, to alleviate overcrowding. 

The site was blessed by Bishop Cornelius Lucey on May 3rd 1974 and the new church was consecrated by the Coadjutor Bishop, Michael Murphy – on the 28th July 1976 – who was also parish priest of Douglas at the time.

The first baptism in the new church took place two days later and four days after that the first marriage was solemnised. 

In 1982 Frankfield/Grange became a parish in its own right with the late Fr Humphrey Mulcahy appointed as parish priest. It is now the fourth largest parish in the diocese.

Just 15 years after its opening the church underwent major refurbishment due to dampness. This provided an opportunity to improve the natural lighting by inserting a dome window over the altar and by draining and enhancing the grounds. 

Jim went on to welcome former priests who ministered previously in the parish – Frs John Walsh, Colin Doocey and David McAuliffe – and who concelebrated the Mass with Archbishop Kieran O’Reilly and our current clergy, Frs Kevin O’Regan and Ben Hodnett.

Jim gave a brief history of the Archbishop’s life and his work. For this information please click on the link http://cashel-emly.ie/our-diocese/our-archbishop/ 

The archbishop, in his homily, told us how as a young lad growing up in Turner’s Cross, that Frankfield/Grange seemed like the end of the world to him and his friends as it was all country. However, someone had a vision, that person being Bishop Lucey, who decided the people of Frankfield/Grange needed their own church to pray and worship, to celebrate the sacrament and to build community. Just as the prophet Isaiah, the psalmist, St Paul and John the Baptist and Jesus himself in today’s readings all had a vision of what it means to be church, so we need to ask ourselves what is our vision of church going forward. It’s important we respect each other’s differences and live in harmony with one another. 

At the end of Mass, and before the final prayer, Jim Connolly thanked all who contributed to the success of the celebratory events that marked the 40th anniversary of our church. He thanked Archbishop O’Reilly for making the journey from Thurles to be with us this afternoon, to former priests who have ministered in the parish previously and you joined us today for the Mass. He thanked Frs Kevin and Ben, our current clergy, and also Fr Christy, who was our parish priest up to last summer, for their wise counsel and input into the planning of the events; members of the parish assembly, the choir, the altar society, Doreen, the church sacristan and Marion, the parish secretary, were all thanked as were those people who led many of the events, some indeed from outside the parish and even some from further afield. 

Jim concluded his talk by inviting everyone over to the parish centre for some light refreshments.