Dedication of the Altar

8th September 2006, The Birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The following is taken from the cover of the service booklet used that evening:

Tonight we are celebrating the Birthday of Our Lady, and during this Mass the Archbishop (Kevin McDonald) will dedicate and anoint the new altar, and the relics will be deposited in its base. As you can see, those of you who know the parish, the whole sanctuary has been renewed and reshaped, the lighting has been updated and the building repainted and re-carpeted.

All this has been possible through the tremendous generosity of the people of the parish. We also have been helped through loans from individuals and parishes in the diocese. Our special thanks go to the architect, Javier Castanon and his associates, especially Ignacio Melero, David Barnett and John Larsen. The artist Theodore Gillick has given us some beautiful visual expressions of our faith in the stonework of the various pieces and also in his Crucifix. The builders were Collinstown who have done an excellent job. We would like to thank Mark Nolan, Gerry Brogue and his men, and Roland Skelcher.

The work began in the January of this year and we were able to celebrate the Triduum using the new sanctuary. The first baptism, which was of a young adult woman, took place at the new font at the Easter Vigil.

The following pictures were taken during the Mass of the Dedication of the Altar: