Church Review Notes December 2016

The Parish of Saint Catherine & Saint James with Saint Audoen
Canon Mark Gardner (Editor) Tel: 01 454 2274 Mobile 087 266 0228
Email: markgardner@eircom.net
Review Distribution: Margery Bell Tel: 01 4542067
Website: cja.dublin.anglican.org
Organist: Derek Moylan

Service times every Sunday
10.00 Eucharist, St Audoen, Cornmarket. (Parking in Francis Street is free on Sundays)
11.30 Eucharist (and Sunday School, in term time) St Catherine & St James, Donore Avenue. (Family Service and Church Coffee, usually Second Sundays)

Parish Carols
The Parish Carol Service will be at 11.30 Sunday 18 December in St Catherine & St James, followed by festive fare. Services in both Churches on Sunday 25 December, Christmas Day, will be at the usual Sunday times.

Remembrance Sunday
Ann Baker and other members of the Warbrook family brought a wreath of carnations to the Service of the Word and Act of Remembrance at St Catherine & St James’. This year is the centenary year of the deaths of two Warbrook brothers. Members of the Scouts also attended and John Lawlor, Chief Scout, read the first lesson. The Parish Priest Fr Cormack MacNamara’s address on the subject of remembering the fallen Irishmen of the First Word War was much appreciated. Personal military memorabilia were displayed. The short service was followed by tea and coffee. We are most grateful to those who provide this hospitality so regularly.

St Catherine’s NS Donore Avenue
Our new Scholastic Book Club is up and running! Shopping with Scholastic has raised €437.68 in Scholastic Rewards in the last year for St Catherine’s NS to spend on books and resources.
The School Board of Management is currently revising the enrolment policy. One of its aims is to increase the percentage of Church of Ireland children, which has only been an aspiration for many years, but the number of Church of Ireland children in the School has now greatly increased. We are in the happy position that this is a part of the city where young people are moving into old houses, and bring their children to the School and the Sunday School.

Awards for Choristers
The annual ceremony for boy choristers was recently held at St Patrick’s Cathedral. One medal commemorates St Peter’s Aungier Street, and was awarded to Angelo Morales. The most recent medal was presented by Ida Reed in memory of the late precentor, Bob Reed, and awarded to James Parminter.

St Kevin’s South Circular Road
As a student, I attended a prayer meeting at St Kevin’s where one of two sisters who lived nearby played ‘Lord dismiss us with thy Blessing’. The Revd Ian Sherwood was Curate-Assistant at the time. The harmonium was recently repaired by Stephen Adams, free of charge, which was very kind of him indeed. It now stands beside the organ in St Catherine & St James’, and makes a sweet sound.

History in the Making
The 1688 Germantown Quaker petition ‘Against Slavery’ was the first protest against African-American slavery, signed on a table bearing a remarkable similarity to the Altar from St Luke’s Church (1708) in the Coombe, where restoration work has begun. The Churchyard is being laid out as a public park. The porch, a later addition, has been taken down, revealing the original doorcase. The floor of the Church is weak, on account of the vaults underneath, so a mezzanine floor will be suspended from the new steel roof, resting on the stronger outer walls.

A living link
Nicolette Hayes has written to me about her father Joe Eustace, formerly of the Carpet Mills, Thomas Street. Joe has been a regular visitor to his ancestor Lord Portlester’s monument at St Audoen’s. Various branches of the Eustace family live in the vicinity of Manor Kilbride and Nicolette tells me that her father has been a participant in a DNA project linked to Vicount Baltinglass, son of Lord Portlester, and after more than two and a half years of testing it has returned a 100 percent match. No need to say, he is delighted with the findings!

St James’ Church
Dr Susan Hood, Church of Ireland archivist, brought architectural drawings of the Church and two burial registers to show Dr Pearse Lyons in St James’ Parochial House, James’ Street early in November. Another archivist, Sean Murphy, has been following the family tree of the new owner and restorer of St James’ Church, and he lists the various Liberties churches and clergy and details of ancestors of Dr Pearse Lyons recorded in their registers: St James’ Catholic Church, James’ Street, Fr John Collins, Moderator. Baptism of grandfather John Hubert Lyons, 6 November 1887. Marriage of great-grandparents Thomas Lyons and Bridget Marum, 25 February 1884. St Catherine and St James with St Audoen, Church of Ireland, Canon Mark Gardner, Rector. Burial of grandfather John H Lyons, 1 October 1948. Burial of great-grandfather Thomas Lyons, 7 July 1910 (both burials in St James’s Churchyard). St Catherine’s Catholic Church, Meath Street, Fr Niall Coghlan OSA, Parish Priest. Marriage of grandparents John Lyons and Annie Conway, 8 January 1911. Baptism of father Thomas Kevin Lyons, 16 October 1914.
Many of the burials were children, including one called Arthur Guinness. Dr Susan Hood speculates that he may have been one of the twenty-one children of the celebrated brewer of that name.
Sean J Murphy MA genealogist, lecturer and author writes: here for your information are a few biographical details of Dr Pearse Lyons: He was born in Ireland and his family has close links with the Liberties. He founded Alltech, an animal nutrition and health company in Kentucky, in 1980. The firm conducts business in 120 countries and employs over 5,000 people, its main Irish facility being located in Dunboyne. Dr Lyons is a trained distiller and brewer, his company is also involved in the alcohol industry and he is particularly interested in bringing new enterprise to the Liberties and celebrating its history. Dr Lyons is married to Mrs Deirdre Lyons and the couple have two children, Aoife and Mark, all of whom work with Alltech.