20.11.2017
St Mary’s Howth Dedicated for Worship Anew Following Extensive Works
Work carried out on St Mary’s Church in Howth was dedicated yesterday (Sunday November 19) by Archbishop Michael Jackson. The Archbishop also had the rare opportunity to baptise two babies, Emily Rose McMurtry and Shane Teddy Caldwell Ryan, during the special service.
Over a number of months, extensive work was undertaken to restore the roof of St Mary’s. In addition new rainwater goods were added, underground drainage works were carried out and work on the adjacent tower was undertaken. During the course of the drainage works, 31 intact skeletons were discovered in the church grounds resulting in archaeologists being called in to examine the site.
In his sermon, Archbishop Jackson encouraged parishioners to continue to develop their initiative in their parish and their energy and openness to others and to change. He said the heritage of the parish and the area dated back to the very early stages of Christianity in Ireland. In the Dark Ages of the fifth and sixth centuries following the collapse of the Roman Empire, Ireland became a place of custodianship of worship, manuscripts, prayer and fasting, because it was far from the rest of Europe.
“This is the heritage which you have carried for us all since Saint Nessan and his three sons worshipped on Ireland’s Eye in 530 and wrote The Garland of Howth, a Latin manuscript of the New Testament so precious and so unique that it is housed now in the Library of Trinity College. The church moved to the people and King Sitric in 1042 was responsible for the first church in the village of Howth, The Abbey, where parishioners worshipped until 1650,” he said adding that Howth had responded to a series of turbulent times during the Reformation.
The Archbishop spoke of the need to claim our heritage as ours. “This does not mean it does not belong to others; but it is also ours. Our Garland as Anglicans, as Howth has pointed the way from the year 530, needs to be ‘The Garland of Invitation and Inclusion’. As Anglicans we need to grasp this opportunity. It is my hope and prayer that St Mary’s Howth will claim afresh its spiritual heritage and simply go ahead and do this, leading the way for the Diocese of Dublin and Glendalough from within its own people for the total community, to do something simple and profound in your 150th Year of Celebration: finding ourselves at the heart of our neighbour and at the heart of The Other within the love of God,” he stated.
He suggested that it was the invitation of the dioceses to St Mary’s Parish to look around and enjoy the clues and footprints of faith and discipleship to be found in the area. These include the legacy of St Nessan in the form of The Gospels and his zeal and confidence in building a church on Ireland’s Eye; surviving the traumatic days of the Reformation and Disestablishment; the East Window of the church which depicts Christ the Healer, Patrick, Brigid, Columba and Nessan holding The Garland; and the fact that Howth is one of the areas in the Dioceses which will see huge growth in new homes.
“It is no longer enough to say: But our churches are in the wrong place. The only thing that can be said is: These are souls for whom Christ died. The only next thing that can be said is: I want to meet them and I want them to know God. The argument is no longer about us and about our survival,” Archbishop Jackson stated.
He highlighted the forthcoming 150th anniversary of Disestablishment and said it contained exciting opportunities for all, not just in the Church of Ireland.
