12.03.2025
Christ Church Leeson Park Will Live on in the Spirit of All Inspired There
Tuesday March 11 2025 marked the end of an era at Christ Church Leeson Park. The imposing south Dublin church was deconsecrated following a final service of Evening Prayer during which the congregation was encouraged to cherish the memories of all that had happened there over 150 years and recognise that nothing God gives goes to waste.
The origins of the church lie in the Molyneux Asylum for the Female Blind which moved from Peter Street to Leeson Park in the 1860s. The Molyneux Chapel was rebuilt and renamed Christ Church Leeson Park in 1874. It became a parish in 1892 and was united with St Bartholomew’s, Clyde Road in 1972.
The church, which could accommodate hundreds of worshippers, was closed in 2007. It operated, with a modified right of use, with a Eucharist every Wednesday from 2008. A licence agreement for use by the Romanian Orthodox Church also functioned well for many years. Unfortunately, the building was too large for the parish’s purposes. The Select Vestry made the difficult decision to sell the property last year.
On Friday March 7 there was a final said Eucharist in Christ Church Leeson Park. Archbishop Michael Jackson undertook an Act of Deconsecration of the church on March 11.
In his sermon, Archbishop Jackson drew on the readings for the day [Genesis 4 starting at verse 6 and Galatians 4 starting at verse 8] as the context for the evening’s service noting that Scripture was written for our learning and could speak into any situation including the deconsecration of a church.
He said that the reading from Genesis saw Joseph planning for the future in the time of plenty which meant there were stores of food when famine struck. “I encourage all who have memories of this gracious, extensive church in the past to bring those memories with them into the future. No gift from God is wasted so we are encouraged to take the spiritual harvest of this church into the seven years of famine,” he said.
The Epistle sees St Paul talk to the Galatians who have turned to other ways of understanding the world. He tells them that they are known by God. The Archbishop said that we need to be given to God as circumstances change. “We cannot control how God knows us,” he said. “The way this church was used by worshipers and organisations in the past lives on in the spirit of those who were inspired here. That inspiration will continue to mark and celebrate Christ Church Leeson Park.”
Prayers were said for all who served God over generations in Christ Church Leeson Park. Members of the Romanian Orthodox Church in Dublin were also remembered in prayer.
Following the service, Canon Andrew McCroskery read the petition to the Archbishop requesting him to secularise the church and release it from consecration. Archbishop Michael Jackson read the Act of Deconsecration.
