The Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnois, Dr Colm O'Reilly, has announced
that St Mary’s Church in Athlone is to act as pro-cathedral - or
interim cathedral - for the diocese until St Mel’s Cathedral in Longford
is restored, following the fire which destroyed it last year.
The Bishop said that he believed St Mary's was the church best suited
to serve for major diocesan functions and liturgies pending the
restoration of the cathedral.
Important occasions such as the blessing
of oils during Holy Week would, he explained, now take place at St
Mary's "along with other events of diocesan interest and importance.”
"Losing St Mel's was a double loss in the sense that it served as a
parish church and as a diocesan institution,” said Dr O’Reilly.
“We
were able to make alternative arrangements for the parish church, when a
replacement was found last February, but we had to find an alternative
place for occasions of diocesan importance."
“I felt that St Mary's in Athlone was best suited to serving that
purpose, as Athlone is the biggest centre of population in the diocese
and also, because I wanted somewhere with elegance.”
He said St. Mary's is, “a fine church and almost as old as the
cathedral” and could accommodate 600 people.
“It was completed around
1856 or so and is the best church in the diocese if you leave out St.
Mel's Cathedral".
Bishop O’Reilly said that as part of this arrangement, a long-serving
bishop's chair which had been used at St Mel's Cathedral from 1890 to
1975 and which was not damaged in the fire because it had been moved to
his own house, is to be relocated at St Mary's next month.
"The chair is a link with the past and I expect it will be relocated
to St Mary's for the first Sunday of Advent this year, and we will have a
ceremony for that."
Work on restoring St Mel's Cathedral could take four years to conclude, the bishop revealed.
SIC: CIN/IE