Greg Daly
A religious archives repository along the lines of one newly established at Boston College in the US would be “a really good idea” for the Irish Church, Dublin’s diocesan archivist has said.
“I think it’s a really good idea,” Noelle Dowling told The Irish Catholic. “I think instead of people trying to invest in archives and putting money into building new repositories and everything when really there is an uncertain future ahead, I think personally the way to go would be to have some sort of Catholic depository, though it would need an awful lot of careful assessment, because it couldn’t become a dumping ground.”
Conversation
Cautioning that such a project could take 20 years to happen, she praised the work of the Delaney Trust for laying down a template for such a body by drawing together the archives of the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin with those of Carlow College, the Brigidines and the Patrician Brothers.
“It’s a conversation that’s been going on for the past five-odd years among the archival and historical communities,” she said.