Dedication of the St Colmcille’s Church

in Glendowan (Parish of Gartan and Termon),  27th FEB. 2005

Homily by Most Rev Philip Boyce, DD, Bishop of Raphoe  

          To set aside a building in the community for the purpose of prayer and divine worship is a custom that springs from the faith of the people and from their reverence for God their Creator and Saviour.  All peoples throughout history have had such buildings giving them such names as temples or pagodas, synagogues or mosques, pantheons or churches.  Their purpose is the same, namely, to have a building reserved for the public worship of the Creator by the whole community.  

          The chosen people of Israel , led by Abraham, Moses and the Prophets, had their Temple and their synagogues.  When the Jewish temple in Jerusalem was completed, it was solemnly dedicated to the Lord.  King Solomon admired the condescension of the Almighty who promises that ‘his Name’ will be present in the new temple. Although present everywhere and keeping all things in existence, God is present in a special way where his ‘Name’ dwells. Therefore, Solomon prayed: Lord God, “the highest of the heavens cannot contain you. How much less this temple built by me.  Even so, listen favourably to my prayer:  day and night may your eyes watch over this temple, over this place of which you have said: “My name will be there... Listen to the entreaty of...your people...from the place in which you reside in heaven; and when you hear, forgive” (cf. 1 Kings 8:27 -29).  

          The Christian community’s place of worship we call a church. That means a place where the congregation is called together to pray, to adore, to offer sacrifice and to give thanks.  If God was present in the temple of old, if He is present where “two or three are gathered together in his name” (cf. Mt 18:20 ), how much more intense and real in his presence where the baptized are gathered for the celebration of holy Mass, the Eucharist, and where He abides in the tabernacle.  

          No wonder we spare no cost and put up our best buildings for divine worship, for communal and personal prayer before the Most High God, and for the administration of the seven streams of grace, that is the Sacraments, that flow from the pierced Heart of the Crucified and Risen Christ.  

          My dear people of Glendowan , Churchill, Gartan and surrounding areas, this church is your house of prayer. It is God’s house in your midst.  He said through his prophet Isaiah, as we heard in the first Reading :  “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples” (Is 56:7).  The former church served you well for over 150 years. It was built in far more difficult times and witnessed to the deep faith of your ancestors whose wealth was simply their trust and faith in God and in his Son, Jesus Christ.  The passage of the years meant that the construction itself was no longer able to resist the ravages of time. A new church was urgently needed.  

          I wish to offer sincere thanks and congratulations to all the people of this parish area.  You took the correct and courageous decision to have the old church demolished and a new one built on the very same site.  The building and fund-raising committee worked extremely well , with admirable enthusiasm.  For a small parish area of a little more than a hundred families you have collected a substantial part of the eight hundred thousand Euro that the new church will cost. Donations, collections, raffle tickets on various occasions and the excellent web site put up by Fr. Michael McKeever himself contacting people who emigrated from here down the years and now live all over the world - all made this venture possible and shows what the generosity and common effort of even a small community can do.  You have done what the Holy Father said in his Encyclical Letter on the Eucharist, namely, that the church community “has feared no ‘extravagance’ devoting the best of her resources to expressing her wonder and adoration before the unsurpassing gift of the Eucharist” (No.48).  It is now a fine monument to your faith and daring trust in the Lord. May it endure as long and even longer than the former church.  I thank the priests of the parish, your parish priest in Termon, Fr. Patrick McHugh, and your resident curate here, Fr. Michael McKeever.  I know that they have put in an enormous effort to make this new church, which was a dream for many years, become a reality.        

It is a replica of the old building, but the new material and interior decor has been tastefully chosen and arranged.  A special word of thanks to the contractors (from the local area Trentagh), Donal and Eugene Boyle.  They took the project to heart as if it were their own family home they were building.  Similarly, special thanks to the architect Tony Carr from Ballybofey for a fine project that answered the needs and wishes of the local community.  

          For all of you, especially for the parishioners, it has been a labour of love.  Your church is situated in this historic spot on the shores of Gartan Lake , where the beauty of the landscape reflects the master touch of a divine artist.  If this area is a place of enchanting beauty, then your church is a jewel in the crown.  Treasure it, maintain it and decorate it, for nothing is too good for the Most High God who dwells within its walls.  

          And, of course, it is St Colmcille’s Church, with a stone incorporated from various foundation sites of his:  Derry , Durrow, Iona , Lindisfarne , etc.  What other patron could it have in this historic area?  Colmcille was born in Gartan;  nearby in Templedouglas we are told he was baptized;  in Kilmacrenan he received his first schooling.  Although from a royal clan and a ruling dynasty, he renounced a worldly career and followed a higher call.  He became a monk, a pilgrim and an exile for Christ.  He dearly loved the soft undulating hills and the placid lakes around Gartan, but he chose to go forth, to found monasteries and churches and became one of Ireland ’s first renowned missionaries.  At a time when many monastic houses of prayer and praise were springing up throughout Ireland, Colmcille became a founder of abbeys and churches himself, leading many disciples on the road of prayer, penance and conversion to union with Him whom he called “the High Creator, the Unbegotten Ancient of Days”, and of whom he professed:  “My druid is Christ, the Son of God, the Son of Mary, the Great Abbot, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit”.  

          St Colmcille was a man of God, a man of prayer.  Pope John Paul II told us in his message for the 14th centenary of his death (in 1997) that “the secret of Colmcille’s greatness” lay in the fact that “he was first and foremost a man of prayer”.  You have built your ‘house of prayer’ to God’s glory.  May it awaken and foster a new spirit of prayer and praise in the parish community, and make the Lord’s day and the Sunday Eucharist the focal point of your week and spiritual nourishment of your lives in the years that lie ahead.  

          Lord, make this church a house of prayer in this new millennium, a temple of worship, a spiritual home where many will be nourished by your word and your sacraments,  and a gateway to heaven.