Canon Mark Gardner Tel: 01 454 2274 Mobile 087 266 0228
Email: markgardner300@gmail.com
Diocesan Lay Reader: James Kilbey
Parish Reader: Cletus Ogbata
Organist: Olesia Borsuk
Review Distribution: Margery Bell Tel: 01 4542067
Website: stcatherineandstjameswithstaudoen.ie
St Audoen’s Cornmarket, 10.00 Eucharist (every Sunday) with Hymns and Anglican Chant. Organist, Olesia Borsuk. Access on foot through St Audoen’s Park. Cars may be parked between Francis Street and Christ Church. The Church and the OPW Visitor Centre are open every day.
St Catherine & St James, Donore Avenue, 11.30 Service of the Word (Eucharist on the first Sunday of the month). Organist, Olesia Borsuk. Cars may be parked in the Churchyard.
Diary Dates
On Sunday 6 October Stuart Nicholson will bring the choristers to sing at St Catherine & St James. Monday 21 October, 12.50, School Assembly in Church.
Holy Baptism
At the Church of St Catherine & St James, on Saturday 21 September, Poppy and Jude, children of Isabel O’Brien, followed by a visit by the friends of the National Gallery of Ireland to see the stained glass windows by Michael Healy and Kate O’Brien. On Sunday 20 October, Michelle, infant daughter of Helga and Eoin Conway.
St Catherine’s Avenue
When I came here, Stella Hayden and her late sister lived in St Catherine’s Avenue. She has just celebrated her 100th birthday with a street party in the Avenue and a cup of tea with birthday cake and lots of candles after Mass the following Sunday at St Teresa’s Donore Avenue. Stella was still driving her car until recently and would walk to Church. She is well cared for by her helpers and neighbours of long standing.
St Audoen’s Visitor Centre
We recently welcomed the Spanish Ambassador to Ireland, Ion de la Riva Guzmán de Frutos. The Ambassador’s visit was in recognition of the ancient cultural connections between Ireland and Spain, evidence of which is preserved at St. Audoen’s Church. The baptismal font dates to the late 12th century and is decorated with a scallop shell motif on each side. The scallop shell has long been associated with St. James, and with the ‘Way of St. James’ pilgrimage to his shrine at the city of Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain.
The shrine dates back to the 9th century, and the various pilgrimage routes became immensely popular with devout Christians in Western and Northern Europe from the early 12th century onwards, being easier for them to access than Rome or Jerusalem. It was also encouraged by local rulers as a way to re-establish Christian identity as the Islamic Moors gradually retreated from Spain. Most Irish pilgrims sailed as far as the port of La Coruna, close to Santiago, or to Bordeaux for a longer overland journey, but the sea crossing itself was no picnic, with the risk of illness, shipwreck or piracy. The typical Irish pilgrim was a member of a religious community or a high-ranking member of society; someone who could afford the journey and an extended period abroad. Making the journey was regarded as reducing the burden of accumulated sin at the final judgement after death. After the devastation of the Black Death, the pilgrimage reached its peak of popularity in the 15th century. It declined after the Reformation, but has enjoyed a huge revival in recent decades.
OPW
Delays installing security gate at Robinson’s Court
At a recent Dublin City Council meeting, Councillor Máire Devine said she was frustrated with the continued delays in installing a security gate at Robinson’s Court, a complex for senior citizens off Cork Street in Dublin 8. “Over a year ago the gates at Robinson’s Court were agreed after a long session of fighting for them,” Devine said. “When you can get the gates at Leinster House done in the same day, and you can get gates put for laneways, but where three elderly people have been murdered and lots more activity down there, it’s shameful,” she said. In 2006, 80-year-old Vincent Plunkett was murdered in his flat at Robinson’s Court, a senior citizens’ complex off Cork Street. In 2016, 61-year-old Anthony Rogers was murdered in his. In 2021, 76-year-old Kwok Ping Chen was murdered in his. In a 13 December 2023 report, council managers said “The new security gate [for Robinson’s Court] is currently being fabricated and is scheduled for installation in the early New Year.” But it wasn’t.
At a meeting of the council’s South Central Area Committee on 7 May, executive manager Bruce Phillips told Devine that “it is disappointing to see this work taking such a long time We took much longer to sort our way through the issues than we ever envisioned.” “But we’re absolutely committed to providing those gates, and they will be provided,” Phillips says.
Dublin Inquirer
