The stole of Fr Ragheed Ganni, the Chaldean Catholic cleric murdered
in Mosul in Iraq in 2007, after a Sunday Divine Liturgy, was placed in
the altar of the Church of St Colmcille in Inistioge, Co. Kilkenny, when
it was rededicated following refurbishment.
Bishop Seamus Freeman of Ossory used a piece of the stole to wrap a
relic of St Oliver Plunkett, which was then placed under the altar stone
during the ceremony.
The bishop concelebrated Mass with 26 priests, most of them local, to
mark the reopening of St Colmcille’s which was closed for the past
eight months.
In that time, it was completely refurbished, its stained
glass windows were restored, the ambo and chair were moved forward
outside the altar rails and the baptismal font was moved from the
sanctuary to inside the door of the building.
In his homily, Dr Freeman said, “all of us agree that the results of the intervention give great beauty to the church.”
While work was in progress, Mass was celebrated in the village school and library.
PP Fr Richard Scriven said the main contractors for the project were
local and therefore “a lot of the people working on it were parishioners
and it was a great team.”
He told ciNews that the cost of the
refurbishment came to €750,000, some of which the parish had already
raised but that fundraising would continue for some time to find the
balance.
Coincidentally, Fr Scriven, was a contemporary of Fr Ganni in the Irish College in Rome. He was appointed to Inistioge parish while the project was under way; his predecessor, Fr Seamus McEvoy, had initiated the task but retired before it was completed.
Coincidentally, Fr Scriven, was a contemporary of Fr Ganni in the Irish College in Rome. He was appointed to Inistioge parish while the project was under way; his predecessor, Fr Seamus McEvoy, had initiated the task but retired before it was completed.
Before the reopening ceremony, children of a local primary school had laid a time capsule at the altar.