“Combined talents” of local tradespeople praised at Clara thanksgiving Mass

Local tradespeople who worked on a major renovation project at St Brigid's Church in Clara took centre stage at a special thanksgiving Mass which was celebrated last weekend to mark the conclusion of the works.

During the Mass, which was celebrated by the Bishop of Meath, Most. Rev. Tom Deenihan, tradespeople who had worked with “dedication and commitment” were invited to bring items to the Altar to signify the particular skills they had brought to the renovation project.

The church renovations, which saw St Brigid's Church being closed for a six-week period from August 1 to September 9 last, included the installation of an innovative underseat heating system; electrical rewiring; new carpets and repainting and decoration of the interior.

Parish Priest Fr Joe Deegan, who oversaw the renovation works, said St Brigid's Church had “always battled” with heating issues while Noel Brady from the Parish Committee, said Bishop Deenihan had been invited to Clara to celebrate the special thanksgiving Mass as an acknowledgment of the amount of “work, time, effort, planning, coordination and teamwork” that had been invested by the contractors and tradespeople who worked on the project. “Most of them are local people,” he pointed out to the congregation.

Mr Brady said it was “very refreshing” to see so many parents bringing their young children into the local church “at odd hours of the day and evening” since the building re-opened to see the renovations and he said the local contractors and tradespeople had “contributed greatly to the magnificent work” that had been completed on the building.

Bishop Deenihan described churches and church buildings as “important places” and places of “welcome and prayer” and added that it is also important to keep them in good condition “I am delighted that the new heating system is up and running in time for winter,” he said.

The underseat heating system in St Brigid's Church, which involved the installation of heating under each individual seat in the church, was described by Noel Brady as “a very novel system” which had involved a lot of “head scratching, planning, thought and effort.”

He paid tribute to Fr Joe Deegan, who had first started researching a suitable heating system three years ago, and who had got “great assistance” from the team at Energy Superstore in Tullamore in devising the underheat heating system.

Tributes were also paid to more than a dozen other contractors and tradespeople who had worked on the renovation project, with everyone from plumbers, plasterers, painters, carpenters, electricians, joiners and floor laying teams being acknowledged for their work at last Sunday's Mass.

The Gothic-style church, which dates back to 1874, has already undergone two renovations – in 1972 and 2000 – and Fr Joe Deegan told the congregation that there was “a very short window” to complete the current renovation project as two weddings had been booked at the church six weeks apart.

“So really we only had five weeks to carry out the work,” he said, “and the way that each tradesperson worked individually and the way we all worked together to complete the work was exemplary,” he said.

At a time when some smaller churches may be “looking at closure” Fr Deegan said it was great to see that the people of Clara and the local faith community was “looking forward in hope.”