17.11.2014
St Doulagh’s Marks Milestone in Life of Centuries Old Church
The beautiful St Doulagh’s Church in Balgriffin was filled to capacity last night (Sunday November 16) for a Service of Thanksgiving and Rededication to mark the 150th anniversary of the rebuilding of the present nave. The preacher was the Revd Andrew Studdert Kennedy, the great grandson of the Revd William Studdert Kennedy who was perpetual curate of St Doulagh’s at the time of the rebuilding project. The church was rededicated by Archbishop Michael Jackson.
The congregation was welcomed by the Rector, the Revd Norman Gamble, who outlined a bit of the history of the church which is on a site which, records indicate, has been a place of Christian worship since the anchorite St Doulagh found his church in the sixth century.
The medieval church building dates from the 12th century with a later 15th century addition of a tower. In 1959, led by William Studdert Kennedy, a group of clergy met in the Royal Irish Academy to discuss the state of the ancient building with a view to preserving it for future generations. The existing 1781 Georgian aisle was replaced with a Victorian structure and the work was completed in 1864 when it was reconsecrated by Archbishop Trench.
In his sermon Mr Studdert Kennedy explored the relationship between the present and the past and between the people of today and their ancestors. Exploring his own connection to his great grandfather, he referred to his grandfather, Anglican priest and poet, Geoffrey Suddert Kennedy, who was nicknamed ‘Woodbine Willie’ during World War I. He suggested that William Studdert Kennedy had a great influence over his son who became a well known public figure.
One of those influences, he proposed, may have been the passion for being real and the importance of deeds rather than words. Being real and avoiding pretence must also have influenced St Doulagh as anchorites retreated from the world to encounter God, the preacher said.
“Centuries later , the same quest to be real led William Studdert Kennedy to serve in the poorest of places [in the slums of Leeds] and his son in the most hazardous of places in the trenches in World War I. That same quest to be real brings people to St Doulagh’s today,” Mr Studdert Kennedy said.
He added that in some senses the past is inaccessible but on another level we have the most direct connection with our forbearers in Jesus Christ who remained the same in the past, present and future.
He put forward three ways through which this connection with our forbearers was visible with Christ as our foundation: we are united by our desire to be real, as people of faith we have patience and trust and we all live with uncertainty and complexity.
Photo captions:
Top – Archbishop Michael Jackson, the Revd Norman Gamble and the Revd Andrew Studdert Kennedy at the plaque marking the building of the Victorian aisle of St Doulagh’s Church.
Bottom – Clergy who attended the Service of Thanksgiving and Rededication of St Doulagh’s with the Mayor of Fingal, Cllr Mags Murray.