Fr Tom Healy, Administrator of St Mel’s
Almost one million euro has been received by St Mel’s Cathedral in Longford in voluntary donations which has enabled the restoration project incorporate disability-friendly lifts and other enhancements.
Speaking to CatholicIreland.net, Fr Tom Healy, Administrator of St Mel’s, explained that “From the start we set ourselves a five-year target to achieve a functional cathedral for Christmas 2014. We didn’t say we wanted it to be finished but we said we wanted it to be functional. So we are going to be functional – we are opening on Saturday 20th December.”
In the New Year, another six to eight weeks may be spent snagging and tidying things up but “all told we have met our target,” the priest said.
Explaining that St Mel’s Cathedral is “at the very heart of Longford” and a beautiful old classical building, Fr Healy recalled that on Christmas Eve 2009, “We had had a wonderful celebration of midnight Mass. It was just an almighty shock to be woken in the middle of the night and told the cathedral was on fire. We just stood in the streets literally crying – helpless as we watched the flames break through the roof as it succumbed. So it was a time of enormous shock for everybody in Longford.”
However, under the leadership of Bishop Colm O’Reilly and Fr Healy, along with all the members of the building committee, the art procurement committee, the architects and design team, the contractors and engineers and the Friends of St Mel’s, that initial decision to go down the route of restoration appears to have been an inspired one.
Nonetheless, there were many headaches along the way. Of the €30m restoration work, Fr Healy explained that for a long time there was a lot of uncertainty as to whether the cathedral was adequately insured to cover this.
“To this day we don’t know the final cost until we wrap up final accounts with our builders,” Fr Healy explained.
Of the almost one million euro in donations, it has been invested in enhancements to the building, these are improvements to the building which the insurers wouldn’t see it as part of their remit to pay for.
“We have put in two lifts, we have improved audio visual systems, provided kitchenettes and toilet facilities. There are a number of rooms at the back and at the front which in the past were a bit inaccessible because they were accessed by difficult stairways. They are serviced with lifts, kitchenettes and toilets and are much more accessible. The hope would be that in time to come they would be great resource rooms for various parish groups.”
The cathedral showcases restored Harry Clark stained glass windows. The original windows were scorched and shattered in the fire.
A stained glass image of St Patrick ordaining St Mel which was given to Bishop Colm O’Reilly by President Mary McAleese as a gift the day after the fire will also figure prominently.
According to Fr Healy, on the day of the fire, he received texts and emails from people around the world, notably from the US and Australia.
