Press Releases11 Oct 04

Bishop calls for community help in protecting church buildings

BISHOP CALLS FOR COMMUNITY HELP IN PROTECTING CHURCH BUILDINGS

Preaching on Sunday 10 October 2004 at the rededication of Cloneyhurke Church in County Laois following the recent refurbishment of the church, the Bishop of Meath and Kildare, the Most Revd Dr Richard Clarke, asked why it is that church buildings, whether in town or country, can no longer safely be left open and unattended on week-days.

Preaching at the service, Bishop Richard Clarke said that part of the function of any church building was not only as a shrine but also as a symbol of Gods presence in the world. It therefore exists not only for the churchgoer but also for the searching non-church goer.

In this setting, the Bishop quoted from Philip Larkin's poem Church Going:

.. someone will forever be surprising
A hunger in himself to be more serious,
And gravitating with it to this ground.

Much of what we ask of a church building seems to require, he suggested, that it is a place available to people at times other than public worship. And yet in Ireland this is often no longer practicable.

He concluded by posing the challenge -

"In recent years, I have certainly been able to enter empty and unprotected village churches on weekdays in France, Germany, Italy, as well as in Britain. What kind of society have we become here in Ireland that we are now a society where constant malicious damage to unprotected public buildings schools and social centres as much as churches is regarded as just another sad fact of life in the country as much as in cities? What can we do to work towards a better sense of local community and of communal responsibility? Can we allow people access to our buildings other than for worship or on particular business? There is the practical challenge for us, as we dedicate this lovely church again to Gods praise and glory, not only as place for worship but as a symbol of His presence here with us, as a sanctuary of spiritual serenity and stillness and a place where the seeker after God may find encouragement and companionship."