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You are > Home > Burden of saving Church windows falls on parishioners
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Friday, February 17, 2006
Burden of saving Church windows falls on parishioners
By Aileen Mulhall
A WATERFORD City church’s mainly elderly congregation faces paying the full cost of saving its beautiful old stained glass windows because the parish can’t secure grant aid for the €360,000 project.
The situation has prompted the committee set up to raise money for the restoration of St. John’s Church’s windows to appeal to businesses in their community to sponsor the renovation of a windows or even part of a window.
The windows, considered to be fine works of religious art, are in danger of falling in if conservation work is not carried out on them.
They depict various saints, including the patrons of this diocese, well known biblical scenes as well as the church’s founder Bishop Foran with the plans for St. John’s Church.
The fundraising committee set up by St. John’s Parish Council two years ago has to date raised €71,199 through the generous donations of their parishoners but has been unable to secure any funds from local or central government and other agencies.
Three of the windows have been fully restored to their former splendour. But St John’s parish priest Fr. Gerry McNamara and fundraising committee member Kathleen O’Hagan say they face an uphill battle to raise the rest of the funds to restore the remaining six windows located behind the altar.
The fundraising committee has sought grant aid from Waterford City Council and National Lottery and lobbied several local politicians. Senator Brendan Kenneally has lobbied the Department of Environment on the parish’s behalf but no funding has been forthcoming to date.
This has left the full burden of paying for the restoration of the windows falling on St. John’s estimated 3000 parishoners, many of whom are elderly. Fr. McNamara and Mrs O’Hagan argue it’s a burden their generous parishoners shouldn’t have to carry alone.
“St. John’s Church has just been repainted and that project was funded by the parish with no outside help. Now we have to go back to the community again to raise money for the restoration of the windows,” said Kathleen O’Hagan. “Many of our parishoners are old age pensioners and they have been fantastic considering what they are getting into their hands every week.
“They fund the normal collection every week and now we have to turn around and ask them for more.”
Fr Gerry McNamara agreed. He said their parishoners took great pride in St. John’s Church and recalled that when the first renovated window returned to the church there was a queue of people to see it
“ There is a great sense of belonging by the people. Only for them you might as well close St. John’s. It’s the people of the parish that keep the church going and it’s they who had funded the renovation of the church and windows so far. Some elderly people have given us donations of as much as €500.
He fears that if the parish can’t raise enough money to conserve the remaining windows they will be lost to the church forever.
“If we were allowed to sell one window it would keep us going in the church and we would still have money left over. That is how important they are. It would be a shame to lose them,” he said.
A car raffle and the distribution of special collection boxes to households throughout the city centre parish are among the fundraising initiatives being organised for the window restoration project to supplement the special monthly basket collection at masses.
Mrs O’Hagan said the collection boxes will be sent to households around the parish after the Trocaire Easter collection is over.
She and Fr McNamara called on local businesses and property developers building in the city centre to give something back to St. John’s Parish by sponsoring the conservation of one of the church’s windows or by making a donation to the fund.
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