12.09.2013
St Catherine’s Church (CORE) Celebrates 20 Years of Work and Witness in Dublin’s Inner City
Members of St Catherine’s Church (CORE) in Dublin, past and present, joined together on Sunday night to celebrate the church’s 20th anniversary. At a special service the congregation was recommissioned for their church’s work ahead by Archbishop Michael Jackson while members, led by the Revd Craig Cooney, gave thanks for the work and witness of the church over the last two decades.
Addressing the congregation, the Archbishop said it was important that people should be free to enjoy and worship and give thanks. He said that people honoured St Catherine as, having been put on a wheel to be tortured to death, she broke free. Pointing to the window depicting the spokes of the Catherine Wheel in the church, he said this represented a triumph of light over darkness, of good over evil.
Dr Jackson explained that the recommisioning represented “a fresh dedication of ourselves as the current custodions of the witness and forward march of this church. As we look again at the Wheel of St Catherine people are free to come and go, to bring the spirit of St Catherine’s elsewhere”.
Craig Cooney asked the congregation to think back to what they were doing 20 years ago when a handful of people were dreaming of a new community within the Church of Ireland but different from that tradtion. The community would be in the heart of the city and would reach out to those who were drawn to the city. It was called CORE and within six to eight months the group grew from 30 people to 300 people at times.
He recalled the difficult times the church went through and thanked those who had helped them through the stormy days. He recalled his own introduction as Minister in Charge and said over the past two years he and his wife Becky had grown to love the people and the place. He said thousands of people had been through the church, many had come to faith through the church, broken lives had been restored and hearts had been healed.
During the service Nigel Reid, Andrew McNeile and the Revd Rob Jones, who had played key roles in St Catherine’s past, spoke of their memories of CORE and their hopes for the future of St Catherine’s. Mick and Helena Goss and Ray Murphy, Emily Morrissey and Emma Doherty all told of their experiences with St Catherine’s.
An evangelical and charismatic expression within the Church of Ireland, located at St. Catherine’s Church in inner–city Dublin, CORE stands for City Outreach through Renewal and Evangelism. It was started in 1993 when the Revd Willi Stewart gathered a small group for contemporary worship in St Werburgh’s Church. This group grew rapidly over the next few years, to such an extent that they soon began to look at acquiring a building of their own.
In 1998, after raising £1.5 million to restore St Catherine’s Church in Thomas Street, they moved into their new home where they have remained ever since. The refurbishment of St Catherine’s was the first Church of Ireland to be reconsecrated following its closure in 1966.
Photo Caption: Nigel Reid, Becky Cooney, the Revd Craig Cooney, Archbishop Michael Jackson, Andrew McNeile, the Revd Rob Jones and Dilys Jones following the service marking the 20th anniversary of St Catherine’s Church (CORE), Thomas Street, Dublin, on Sunday September 8.