Carrigaline Union of Parishes has been recognised as a Place of Sanctuary on 11th December 2022.
The Sanctuary Award has been presented to four churches representing different denominations right and across the island. The presentations have fallen within the Christian observance of the season of Advent under the theme ’No Room at the Inn’, highlighting the significant pressures on the system to provide basic housing and safety to those seeking sanctuary in Ireland.
The Revd Canon Elaine Murray, Rector of the Carrigaline Union of Parishes said:
We are delighted that we received Church of Sanctuary status on 11th December. We really hope that our parish journey will continue under the guidance of the Places of Sanctuary movement and that our efforts will make even a small difference in the lives of people seeking sanctuary in Ireland.
From left to right: Places of Sanctuary Ireland board member Kevin Macarenas, SaraJane Cromwell, the Rev. Canon Elaine Murray, Hilary Dring, the Rev. Richard Dring, and Rowland Newenham.
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Friday 9th and Saturday 10th December were big days for the choir of St Fin Barre’s Cathedral as they undertook performances of Handel’s Messiah. Both evenings were sold out and there was still demand for tickets right up until the day itself. It was noted in the introduction to the evening that of the forty-six singers in the choir, only six were over the age of eighteen, and for those remaining forty youngsters it was their first time singing the work.
The four soloists for the evening were all in fine voice and they included former chorister Eoghan Desmond singing the bass arias and Douglas native Emma Nash singing her first Messiah soprano solos. Dublin based Raphaela Mangan and Andrew Gavin completed the team, and they all joined in singing the Hallelujah Chorus and ensuring the roof was raised.
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DIY SOS: The Big Build Ireland, the show that rebuilds people’s lives by rebuilding their homes is back for a Christmas special featuring the six houses owned by the Kingston Charity Trust in Mitchelstown in the Church of Ireland Dioceses of Cork, Cloyne and Ross.
Mark Friday 30th December (6.30 p.m.) and Saturday 31st December (8.30 p.m.) in your TV schedules on RTE One!
The popular series presented by Baz Ashmawy will return to RTÉ One over the Christmas break with a two-part special focusing on re-housing Ukrainian refugees, a project taken on by the local Church of Ireland Dioceses, some of its charities and its parishes.
Charities (Kingston Charity Trust and Lapp’s Charity) and parishes in the United Dioceses of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, so far, have provided stand alone accommodation for 18 Ukrainian households (some extended families sharing accommodation) since the war started. This is in addition to the many parishioners who have received Ukrainian families into their own homes in the Diocese.
The TV programmes featured work on six houses undertaken by DIY SOS. The TV Series is officially Sponsored by SSE Airtricity. Build and Design materials were kindly donated by hundreds of generous multi-national, national and local companies across Ireland.
Episode 1 will be Broadcast at 6.30 PM on Friday, 30th of December and Episode 2 will be Broadcast at 8.30 PM on Saturday 31st of December.
A break from the work. Bishop Paul Colton and Baz Ashmawy share a joke. DIY SOS Picture: Miki Barlok
Bishop Colton explains how it all started:
Our small Church of Ireland Diocese has been blessed greatly by a number of housing charities which, for centuries, have been providing houses to people in need or to those who wish to live in a sheltered setting. Before the war in Ukraine started we had been in negotiations with various State agencies and other bodies about the future of eight of the houses in Kingston College, Mitchelstown as we simply did not have the funds to make them habitable.
When the war started and the Government made its appeal, I mentioned the empty houses to our secretary Billy Skuse. It was a lightbulb moment. He said ‘I was thinking the same thing.’ We left it at that, but then I decided to lash out an email to a few hundred people saying ‘this is a long shot, but do you think this is a runner?’ Many said it was impossible. But within about a fortnight people had sent in €200,000 and, even more important, Charlie Daly, and a team of like-minded volunteers – among them Denis McGrath, Nik Haubold, Alan Dowling and a host of others – stepped up and said that they would voluntarily do the work on four of the houses. Then The One Foundation also came on board with a generous grant.
The team at Motive Television saw photographs in the newspapers of our team of volunteers, and before we knew it, by last April, DIYSOS were offering to do six of the houses.
It is an amazing, heart-warming story of voluntary effort, outpouring of generosity and solidarity.
Quite simply on behalf of the trustees and the families who have been housed I cannot thank everyone enough: all the DIY SOS volunteers and, in this particular context, the team at Motive Television, and RTE.
One of the photos of some of the first volunteers and captions in the newspapers that caught the public eye – The Church of Ireland is doing up eight houses it owns in Kingston College in Mitchelstown to house Ukrainian refugees. Bishop Paul Colton is shown the properties by CoOrdinator Charlie Daly , builders and volunteers Pic Michael Mac Sweeney/Provision
Kingston College in Mitchelstown, North Cork, is a community of 31 small, terraced houses which are grouped around a large square with a chapel as its central focus. The houses were built by James, fourth Lord Baron Kingston to cater for former tenants on his estate and have been providing housing to people in need since 1761. The trustees of the Kingston Charity Trust are three Church of Ireland Bishops – Dr Paul Colton, Bishop Michael Burrows and Bishop Adrian Wilkinson – as well as Mr Keith Roberts.
The Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross Dr Paul Colton chairs the trust. It was he and Diocesan Secretary Billy Skuse who, having watched the plight of the Ukrainian people and their current exodus due to the Russian invasion of their country, as well as the Irish Government’s appeal for accommodation, decided to put out an appeal to try and raise money to do up some of the vacant houses to house refugees and their families. Among those first up to help and volunteer were Cobh-based Solicitor Charlie Daly and Mitchelstown Business man Denis McGrath, who also worked tirelessly to assist the DIYSOS team’s efforts in the lead up to and across the Build itself.
From left: Alan Dowling, Bishop Paul Colton, Charlie Daly and Nik Haubold DIY SOS Picture: Miki Barlok
The support they received was beyond expectations. There are currently thousands of Ukrainian refugees in temporary homes in Cork, and the support and goodwill from the community towards them has been immense. They needed the help of Baz Ashmawy and his DIY SOS team however, to turn six homes around quickly and to draw on the existing support received from traders, suppliers and volunteers from within the community of Cork and beyond. Timing is everything with this project, and the DIY SOS family is no stranger to time pressure!
Six houses, six gardens and a communal garden for good measure, made this by far our biggest build yet and by turning it all around in this short time, we provided temporary housing for six very needy families from the Ukrainian community. Kingston College is situated right in the middle of the friendly and welcoming town of Mitchelstown and the community really rallied around us for this build. Volunteers from all nationalities came together to help these families, and the community garden itself provided further opportunity for local integration as our garden designer Diarmuid Gavin was well qualified to turn it into a legacy space that will benefit the town and the community for many, many years to come.
Even Ryan Tubridy dropped in to lend a hand. DIY SOS Picture: Miki Barlok
The Most Reverend Dr Fintan Gavin and the Right Reverend Dr Paul Colton write:
Christmas 2022 is here. Yet another year has passed with all its many changes and immense challenges. Yet, the Christmas message remains timeless. ‘The Word became flesh and lived for a while among us.’ God is with us. Jesus Christ is the light who shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not put out that light.
More than that, in a time of so many threats to our humanity and our well-being – the continuing pandemic, war in Europe and conflicts around the world, poverty, famine, migration on a massive scale, poverty, homelessness – the Christmas Message speaks pointedly and timelessly once more into these and many other situations too.
What could be more challenging to us all individually and as a society at this time than the experience of the Holy Family? ‘There was no room for them at the inn.’ In their country at the time the whole world was in upheaval and on the move. The lives of Mary and Joseph were turned upside down by the unexpected. Their baby was born in a vulnerable and unsuitable place. Many wondered what was going on and what it all meant. Many still struggle to understand. That young family had to leave in a hurry to escape the threat of violence and death. They were given safety and shelter in a neighbouring country. All of this, seems to speak to so much in our own time and context still.
Our calling as followers of the baby born that Christmas Day in the manger is to love the baby born in the stable and the adult he became, to love God whose love for us is unending and never limited, and, because of that love, to love our neighbour. As an adult Jesus taught us that our neighbour isn’t just the familiar person next door. Again and again, we are called, by him whom we follow, to love and to respond to the needs of strangers and to offer hospitality to them. The generosity of so many Irish people at Christmas time is inspiring as we reach out to support those who are most vulnerable in our society. As we respond to the seemingly timeless challenges of people in our communities we become instruments of God’s timeless love and presence.
Together, at this Christmas, we pray for God’s blessing on you all and thank you for all that you do as neighbours to and for each other, friend and stranger. May the peace of the Christ-child be yours this Christmas.
+Fintan Gavin
Bishop of Cork and Ross.
+Paul Colton
Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross
The Bishops of Cork out and about this week at the blessing of the SHARE Crib in Cork with the Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr Deirdre Forde. Bishop Fintan Gavin, Bishop of Cork and Ross (left) and Bishop Paul Colton, Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross (right). Photography By Gerard McCarthy
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The United Dioceses of Cork, Cloyne and Ross will hold over 130 services throughout the 12 Days of Christmas and the days leading up to the Christmas Festival. Announcing the schedule of Services for the Christmas season, the Bishop, Dr Paul Colton said:
Given the disruption of our Christmas celebrations in recent years caused by the Coronavirus Pandemic, I hope that everyone in the Diocese, as well as visitors to our City and County during the holidays, will take the opportunity to reconnect with each other in Church this Christmas, and join us in celebrating the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.
This schedule, from north to south and east to west in our Diocese, offers countless choices and opportunities to do just that throughout the 12 days of Christmas.
I wish everyone a blessed, safe, joyful and peaceful Christmas.
The following list gives details of church services in the parishes and chaplaincies across the diocese. The list is organised by parish/location. If you would like to see a list organised by date/festival please visit our website.
For further information on specific services contact the local clergy HERE.
Abbeystrewry (Skibbereen)
Saturday 24th December ~ Christmas Eve
04.00pm Family Crib Service, Abbeystrewry, Skibbereen Church
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