Tyrone parish delighted to be back home

The parish of Donaghmore, Co. Tyrone took on an ambitious project back in 2014 with the complete stripping out and refurbishment of the 170-year-old St Patrick’s Church. However, the fundraising and hard work has now paid off as they once again celebrate Mass in the breath-taking surrounds of one of the first churches built after Catholic Emancipation.

Construction of the church began early in 1845 at the instigation of Fr Neal McGuckin, who ordered the pulling down of the old Mass house in Donaghmore. The new church was consecrated by Archbishop Crolly of Armagh on October 23, 1846. Various works have been carried out in the intervening years but this major restoration project was one of the biggest undertakings.

“The church had fallen into disrepair and really it is a new building now for all intents and purposes,” Fr Gerard McAleer PP told The Irish Catholic. “We stripped it back to the stone and even the windows were removed and re-leaded.”

The restoration was led by local company QMAC Construction, and the contracts manager, Sean Mullen explained the project tested the company’s skills to the limit. “In the end, such was the extent of our work, that the only original elements of the building that remain are the walls, but even these have been extensively restored and repaired,” he said.

Bomb

One of the major aspects of the work undertaken was the roof, which had been badly damaged by a bomb in the village during the Troubles. In addition the sacristy had to be demolished, all the flooring was completely renewed, new pews installed and the organ was restored.

The ornate and detailed altar, the reredos and baldacchino, as well as the ambo and the baptismal font were donated to the parish by the former Holy Rosary Church on the Ormeau Road in Belfast, while all the stained glass windows have been restored, including the main feature windows above the altar which were originally made by Mayer of Munich in 1895. The Stations of the Cross originally came from a church in Belgium and have been repaired and repainted in contemporary colours.

Yet despite the use of traditional methods and materials, the building also boasts modern technology, including a state-of-the-art AV system, new lighting and CCTV, all of which have been sensitively integrated into the traditional design of the church.

The project cost more than €1.5m and the parish had a major fundraising campaign where parishioners were asked to make one-off donations or pledge a donation per month over a number of years. “People have tremendous pride in the chapel and they realised it needed to be done,” Fr McAleer said of the generosity of the parishioners.

During the refurbishment daily Mass continued to be offered in the assembly hall of St Joseph’s Grammar School, but the community is now delighted to be back in the much-loved church.

Dedication

Parishioners packed St Patrick’s Church to capacity for a Mass and Rite of Dedication led by Archbishop Eamon Martin, assisted by Cardinal Seán Brady, back in September after 18 months of refurbishment.

“We set up a screen in the local school so more people could watch the ceremony and we had  a meal afterwards for everyone who attended,” said Sean T. Hughes, a member of the organising committee. “The whole parish is very proud of the church. Our PP Fr Gerard McAleer and QMAC did a tremendous job inside and out. There is great workmanship and painstaking attention to detail.”

Fr McAleer said Archbishop Martin “captured the mood of the day when he said he was overwhelmed with the beauty of it all”. “We aimed to restore the church to its original splendour and we managed to achieve that,” Fr McAleer said.