The Franciscan Friars are to leave their Henry Street friary in Limerick next month, marking the end of an era spanning eight hundred years But Fr Joe McMahon said their property in the city would now be left for community use and the order was not going to benefit financially from the departure.
He confirmed that the friary will close on June 13 and the remaining friars will withdraw from Limerick in the meantime.
"We can't sustain the level of commitments we were able to manage with ease when we had plentiful vocations and while we don't know what the future holds, we must entrust the future to God”, Fr McMahon explained.
He said the decision had been a painful one but there was comfort in the fact that a Franciscan presence will remain through the recently arrived American Friars of the Renewal in Moyross, as well as the secular Franciscan Missionaries of Mary.
"We're very pleased that the Church and Friary will continue in the service of the church as the property will be passed to the Bonaventure Trust, under the chairmanship of Bishop Murray and will be at the service of the Department of Theology and Religious Studies of Mary Immaculate College” Fr McMahon added.
“The college already works closely with the Benedictines, Redemptorists and Dominicans in Limerick”, he pointed out.
Stressing that his order was not going to profit from its property in Limerick, he said that whatever the order owned had been given to them by benefactors there in the first place and would now be returned in ways that will benefit the community.
A hall at the back of the friary will be handed over to the Bedford Row Family Project, which was originally founded by the Franciscans to provide support services for prisoners and their families.
A special ceremony is to take place on June 13th to mark the end of the friars’ direct presence in Limerick.
The four Franciscans currently in Limerick will transfer to the orders other houses in Cork, Ennis and Waterford.
The Franciscans arrived in Limerick in 1279, when they set up St Francis’ Abbey in what is now known as Harry’s Mall.
Though forced out temporarily by religious persecution in the sixteenth century, they returned when circumstances eased and their current premises in Henry Street were established in 1824.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.
The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.
Sotto Voce