Tullamore church to mark its 40th anniversary this Saturday

The 40-year anniversary of the opening of the present Church of the Assumption in Tullamore will be celebrated this weekend.

A special Vigil Mass is to be held at the church at 6.30pm on Saturday, August 15, celebrated by the Bishop of the Diocese of Meath, Tom Deenihan. All parishioners, past and present, are invited.

The new church was built in the mid-80s after the previous, 77-year-old, Church of the Assumption was destroyed by fire on October 31, 1983.

Contemporary news coverage of the blaze stated that the church building had been "ravished" in just half an hour.

"The alarm was first raised at 1.44am by Garda Willie O'Grady and Garda Matt Connor who were on patrol car duty and who reported a trickle of smoke seeping from beneath the eaves on the Habour Street side and the glow of a possible fire within," stated a report in the Westmeath-Offaly Independent at the time.

"After that the fire erupted with incredible speed and when this newspaper arrived at the scene at 2.05am - just 20 minutes after the initial discovery - the church was already doomed.

"By that stage part of the roof had already collapsed and flames leaping into the night sky cast an eerie light over the developing drama.

"Tullamore fire brigade members, soon to be joined by colleagues from Clara, Kilcormac, Kilbeggan and Daingean, were already fighting a lost cause."

The report went on to say that residents of houses in the four streets flanking the church were evacuated, as was the community of the Convent of Mercy.

"Such was the intensity of the heat that the paintwork on the doors and windows of houses in Chapel Street blistered, and at least one window was shattered," our report stated.

A rebuilding fund was soon launched to develop a new church on the site of the old one.

Building contractor John Flanagan was enlisted to lead the project, with up to 35 workers employed on the development at certain stages.

The solemn dedication of the redeveloped church took place on Sunday, August 17, 1986, with a two and a half-hour ceremony that was celebrated by a number of bishops and attended by the Papal Nuncio.

The first Mass in the reopened church took place the previous weekend, with the congregation bursting into spontaneous applause when the celebrant, Fr Patrick Fallon, addressed them and said "welcome home".

Tullamore parish said that, in the four decades since then, the church has "been at the heart of the parish community, a place where generations have gathered in prayer, celebrated the sacraments, shared in times of joy and sorrow, and found strength and comfort in their faith".

Inviting people to Saturday's celebration, the parish said it would be an occasion to "give thanks to God for the life and faith of our parish community and for all who have helped to make our church such an important part of our lives.

"We look forward to gathering together in thanksgiving and celebrating this milestone in the life of our parish," it added.