We’re getting the church painted by degrees. There has been
ongoing restoration work done during my time as parish priest and before my
time. Naturally, the cost of the work done has been great and we have developed
ways for people to donate and contribute. We are one of the oldest churches in
the diocese and indeed perhaps the oldest parish on the north side of the city, and people from all over the world have contacted us for information about their
ancestry. This, among other initiatives helps us to continue to tip away with
our restoration work.
Last year, 2016, as we looked towards the bi centenary of the
parish, 1817 – 2017, we began to paint the walls of the church which were badly
in need of cleaning and painting since the last time the church was painted was
1991. Because the lower part of the walls was quite marked and dirty, and because
they were accessible with ladders, we painted them first. Before Christmas
2016, we painted the sanctuary; the high altar and the two side altars. A generous
benefactor kindly offered to pay for this phase of the work which greatly
helped us to plan for the third phase, which we’re at as I write. The third
phase necessitates high scaffolding around the walls as we paint them all the
way to the ceiling. Next year please God, we will see about phase four; painting
the ceiling itself.
So, at the moment we have scaffolding around the front of the
sanctuary and all along the walls of the church. It is a tight squeeze to say
Mass on the altar although it’s a small sacrifice as we look forward to the
completion of this stage. of the works. We look forward to the Archbishop of
Dublin coming to celebrate our Mass of Thanksgiving on August 25th,
the feast of St. Michan, the patron of our parish.
I was sitting in the church for a short while the other day
as Stephen and John were on the scaffolding painting. As I looked around at the
scaffolding, I was reminded that the scaffolding with its bars, and platforms,
and its planks, and its pins and rivets, it just that, a scaffolding. The
scaffold helps us to look beyond and make things new. As it stands along the
high walls of our church on this two hundredth year of its opening, it tells a
story of faith not just over two centuries but of a millennium since St. Michan
called a people together in the name of Jesus Christ. The scaffolding also
reminds us of the story of our parish from Capel Street to Parkgate Street and
from the north banks of the River Liffey at the Four Courts to Constitution
Hill. It also tells us of a people who were born here in this parish and who
now live all over the world and who are part of the Christian community in all
five continents.
The scaffolding assists us. It raises us to great heights
safely and it helps us to see things in a new way. The faith story of the
people of this parish down through the years is a scaffolding to support the
parishioners of the future to carry of the message. The scaffolding is helping
us to paint and refurbish the walls of the church. And indeed, the walls of the
church are just bricks and mortar, but our church is more than that, it is family,
it is community, it is young people, it is schools, it is neighbours, it is
history. It’s heart beats with stories and prayers, and it’s blood courses
through the very soul of the people here.
