Celebrations have been held in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary to mark the 200th anniversary of the town’s Saints Peter and Paul Church. Mayor of Clonmel, Siobhan Ambrose, Cardinal Seán Brady and Bishop William Lee of Waterford and Lismore led the attendance at a rededication ceremony to give thanks for two hundred years of the church and all that happened there since it was built.
Three hundred local groups and clubs also participated along with representatives of other nationalities now living in Clonmel, whose national flags hung from the ceiling.
During the ceremony, Cardinal Brady prayed that the church would continue to be “a place for the gathering of the people of God, for bringing life and hope to us and to this community.”
“We remember with gratitude those who through their time, talent and treasure have worked on the planning, design and construction of this church so many years ago,” he remarked.
“We pray that God will protect and keep safe all who will work to restore and renew this building".
The primate said it was a real joy for him to be in Clonmel and he was hugely impressed with the bicentenary programme.
Cardinal Brady said the Church today is "under siege" as it had been in the late 18th and early 19th centuries and the commitment that allowed the parish to grow was needed now in the country as a whole.
He said he was aware he was in the land of Bishop John Brennan, a friend of St Oliver Plunkett, and that when laws restricting Catholics were relaxed, the first of Ireland's new cathedrals was started in Waterford in 1793 and Clonmel followed in 1810.
Parish priest Fr Brendan Crowley presented Cardinal Brady and Bishop Lee each with a copy of a new parish history written for the anniversary, which had been launched a few days earlier by former SS Peter and Paul's parish priest and Maynooth president, Msgr Michael Olden, in the Tipperary County Museum
The book, co-written by journalist Margaret Rossister, Michael Ahern, Sean O'Donnell and historian Liam Ó’Duibhir, recounts the story of the parish from 1810.
At its launch, Msgr Olden said it told the story of a proud people and their relationship with each other and with their God.
SIC: CIN