Closed church will take on new life as community facility

Ireland’s first modern church, inspired by the spirit of Vatican II in the 1960s, is to be converted into a state-of-the-art library and auditorium for the local community.

St Dominic’s Church in Athy, Co. Kildare will close on November 22, when the town’s Dominican community will celebrate its final Mass before a joint ceremony of thanksgiving at the nearby parish church.

The community, first established in the town in 1257, has been based at its present site since the 1850s, with the current church having been built in 1965.

Explaining that the church, priory, and surrounding lands had been sold for €1.39 million to Kildare County Council, prior Fr John Walsh OP told The Irish Catholic that the church’s modern architecture would facilitate its transformation and said “the land will be used for a town park and some sheltered accommodation will be built on another field adjacent”, adding that the priory would also be used for housing. About €8 million is expected to be invested in developing the site.

Fr Walsh had been approached about the possibility of the site being purchased for the benefit of the people and town of Athy, he said. The Dominicans had believed the site should be used “for the good of the people and not for commercial reasons, with the possibility that the church building would remain open, but not as a church”, he said, and the Provincial Council agreed to the sale following advice from the Athy community.

Although the church has been well-attended, and the town has a thriving Dominican tertiary group, manpower shortages have compelled the friars to leave the town, Fr Walsh said. Eight student brothers are expected to be ordained as priests next year, but fewer than half of Ireland’s Dominicans are under 65, with Fr John’s Athy brothers including three 88-year-olds and two brothers in nursing care.

“The Mid Term Chapter of Priors and Superiors after a visitation of the Master General two years ago asked that we withdraw from some priories in order to build up the Province and better its apostolate in fewer places,” Fr Walsh told The Irish Catholic.

While the Dominican site will be used “to build up the town, and bring some needed renewal of the town which badly needs it”, Fr Walsh said the friars’ departure need not be permanent. “We have left four times before and always returned in a new form,” he said, continuing, “we may return again, but for now we remain obedient to the will of our superiors which bring us great peace and thanksgiving for centuries of ministry and for the love of the local people.”