Saint Colmcille’s Church, Knocklyon, Co Dublin … the parish is celebrating its jubilee in October 2024 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Patrick Comerford
Saint Colmcille’s Church in Knocklyon, south Co Dublin, is celebrating the jubilee of the parish this month (October 2024). The year 1974 was the pivotal year in the birth of what is now Knocklyon Saint Colmcille’s Parish. The celebrations include a jubilee concert next Friday evening (18 October).
I lived in Knocklyon for over 20 years, from 1996, when I moved from Carrigleas in Firhouse to Glenvara Park off Ballycullen, until 2017, when I moved to Askeaton, Co Limerick, where I lived until 2022.
I still return to Knocklyon throughout the year, and I got to know Saint Colmcille’s Church through invitations from neighbours and friends to baptisms and funerals, and spoke at events in the parish occasionally.
Inside Saint Colmcille’s Church, Knocklyon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Knocklyon takes its name from cnoc (hill) and linn (pool), close to Knocklyon Castle, on Ballycullen Road, which was once a bend off the old Knocklyon Road. Ballycullen Road leads up to Saint Colmcille’s Well, from which the parish and the church take their name.
Hundreds and thousands of new houses were being built throughout the early 1970s, on the green fields that formed what became Knocklyon Parish. Knocklyon lacked a local village for a new suburb to develop around, but there were several historical houses, including Woodstown, Orlagh, Idrone, Castlefield, Delaford, Scholarstown and Prospect House. In time, these landmark buildings all gave their names to housing estates in Knocklyon.
Amenities were inadequate or non-existent, there was no street lighting, no shops, emergency phones only and limited public bus service. The nearest Sunday Mass was in the small chapel in the Carmelite Convent on Firhouse Road.
Inside Saint Colmcille’s Church, Knocklyon … the foundation stone was blessed by Pope John Paul II (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Archbishop Dermot Ryan of Dublin invited the Carmelite Provincial, Father Joseph Ryan, to send the Carmelites to the young parish in 1974. The parish was formed on 1 October 1974 and was placed under the patronage of Saint Colmcille.
Father Paddy Staunton, later the Assistant Provincial of the Carmelites, and Father Seán Dunne were two of the first Carmelites in the parish, and Father Paddy was the first Parish Priest.
They began their new mission in a rented house on Knocklyon Avenue, then known as Firhouse Avenue. Initially, Ballyroan Parish Church nearby was used by new priests for celebrating Mass, but evening masses were said in the homes of parishioners, building a sense of local parish.
The first parish council was formed at a meeting in Terenure College in November 1974. A committee meeting later that month discussed a Mass centre, a school, a residence and fundraising.
One of the major housing developers in the area, McInerny’s, donated their site-office-canteen as a temporary church building, a rough wooden building and the first parish Mass was celebrated in that canteen space on 15 December 1974.
A church site was bought in 1975, and The temporary church opened on 10 August 1975, when the first official parish Mass was celebrated in the new Saint Colmcille’s Church. That new temporary church also became a hub for the growing community.
During the long hot summer of 1975, for several weeks, Mass was said in the open on the green opposite the temporary church.
As the houses were built, the congregation grew and a larger centre became necessary. The parish committee approached Archbishop’s House and secured permission to build a temporary church.
Saint Colmcille’s Church, Knocklyon, has a batik-style set of Stations of the Cross (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
When Pope John Paul II visited Maynooth during his visit to Ireland in 1979, he blessed the foundation stone of the new Church of Saint Colmcille, which opened in April 1980. Ten years later, the Youth and Community Centre opened in 1989, thanks to a fundraising effort spearheaded by Liam Mongey of Glenvara Park.
Meanwhile, a seven-acre site on Idrone Avenue was bought in 1975 for £36,000 to provide a primary school for the Knocklyon area. The 16-classroom school was completed in July 1976 and admitted its first pupils in September 1976.
The school was officially opened in March 1977 by the then Taoiseach, Liam Cosgrave, who lived on Scholarstown Road. A second building was erected in 1982 and the original building became the junior school and the second new building became the senior school. Knocklyon Community School opened in 2000.
Bishop Eamonn Walsh opened the Iona Centre on 9 June 2000, the Feast of Saint Colmcille, and it has become the focal point of parish activity. Saint Colmcille’s Community School opened on 4 September 2000.
The Iona Centre opened on 9 June 2000, the Feast of Saint Colmcille (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
The relics of Saint Thérèse de Lisieux were brought to the parish on 5/6 May 2001 during their visit to Ireland.
In recent years, the Carmelite community in Knocklyon included Father Fintan Burke, Father Martin Parokaaran, Father Joe Mothersill and Father Michael Morrissey. However, the Council of the Carmelites in Ireland informed the parish of the intention to return the care of the parish to the Archdiocese of Dublin from 30 January 2022.
The parish is now under the patronage of the Divine Word Missionaries. The Parish Priest is Father Cyril Ma Ming, the curate is Father Adrian Boysala, and the deacon is the Revd Michael Giblin.
• Sunday Masses are at 9:30, when it is streamed on YouTube, and 12 noon, with the Saturday Vigil Mass at 7 pm. Weekday Masses, Monday to Saturday, are at 10 am.
Looking out on the world from Saint Colmcille’s Church, Knocklyon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
1 comment:
My aunt was one of the Carmelite sisters in Firhouse
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