News/Events
Introduction from Souvenir Booklet for reopening
18 December 2006
.jpg&width=150)
Souvenir Booklet
Church of St Oliver Plunkett. Introduction & History
The Church of St Oliver Plunkett in Clady in the parish of Greenlough was dedicated on
the 8th December, 1980.The officiating prelate was the Bishop of the diocese, Most Rev. Edward Daly. The parish priest was Fr. Thomas Hegarty,
The foundation stone had been blessed the previous year by Pope John Paul II at Knock on his visit to Ireland.
The Architect was Mr Michael Hegarty, B. Arch of the firm of F M Corr and Associates, Derry, and the main contractor was P and J McNicholl & Co. of Dungiven. The contract cost was £197,000.00.
The sanctuary furniture was designed by the celebrated artist, Michael Biggs, of Dublin
and the tabernacle is the work of Bill Steenson of Carnlough, Co. Antrim. The impressive main entrance doors have plaques designed by Carolyn Mulholland.
The church was designed to have a capacity of 600 persons seated. The church is curvilinear with no sharp corners or square edges and is unusual in its span and shape. It is ideal for the modern liturgical requirements because of its spacious interior with no obstructions in the interior space, excellent acoustics and the pleasant ambience which lends itself to devotion and meditation while encouraging active participation in the liturgy.
At a crowded public meeting called by the present parish priest on the 19th August, 2004
It was decided to solicit submissions from architects for the restoration and furbishment of St Oliver Plunkett’s church, on its Silver Jubilee,- and especially to remedy problems with the roof and with the lighting system and to provide ambient facilities for the congregation.
A Finance Committee and a Building Committee were constituted at this meeting and they willingly and enthusiastically undertook the daunting task of raising the funds and organising the restoration scheme. The membership of these committees is given elsewhere in this booklet. The whole parish is indebted to them for their dedication and for the thoroughness of their work.
The Committee also carried out a survey of other pressing needs in the parish including:
St Mary’s Church, Greenlough; St Oliver Plunkett’s Parochial Hall, Clady; Greenlough Graveyard; Old Schoolhouse and Stables, Greenlough.
These projects will make further demands on the parishioners in the near future. In addition to all this work, there have been extensive additions and improvements to the Secondary School, StMary’s College and to Greenlough Primary School. Although the work to the schools is funded to a certain extent from government funds, the parish has to meet the initial costs and expenses and funding by the government is subject to certain conditions which may not always be met. Another consideration about school funding is that the grants have to be repaaid to the government if a school reverts to other use.
I congratulate the parishioners on the completion of the furbishment of our Church and I
thank our Architects, Consultants, Building Contractors, sub-Contractors and all our Tradesmen for their excellent work. I thank especially his Lordship, the Bishop, Most Rev. Seamus Hegarty for his personal interest in the project and for his advice and encouragement throughout. The long hours of work effected by our Committees have finally been rewarded by the accomplishment of this noble task. Our motto is “Domine, dilexi decorem domus tuae, et locum habitationis gloriae tuae “ from the 25th Psalm which means “I have loved, O Lord, the beauty of thy house and the place where dwelleth thy glory.”
ARTHUR P. O’REILLY.
Parish Priest
