Alternative Mass arrangements rolled out in Longford

A chapel in St Mel’s College in Longford has been renovated to give people of the town access to weekday Masses following the destruction of the town’s cathedral in a fire over Christmas.

The first weekday Masses have now been celebrated in the chapel that had been lying dormant for seven years. 

Weekend Masses in Longford, meanwhile, have been held in the Temperance Hall.  This will continue for another two weeks or so, pending refurbishments, which are under way at the Sports Hall in St Mel’s College.  The hall will then become the regular venue for Masses until St Mel’s Cathedral can be restored.

One of the town’s clergy, Fr Tom Healy, said at the weekend that the former chapel in St Mel’s College was working out satisfactorily as a weekday morning Mass venue and that so, far, he was delighted with how things were going.  “The college chapel provides a comfortable surrounding,” he remarked.  “It is a beautiful architectural setting.”

Fr Healy said that some 200 people had been attending morning Mass in the chapel since the service commenced there a week ago.

The bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnois, Dr Colm O'Reilly has said he believes it could take five years to restore St Mel's Cathedral, which was completely gutted in the fire, saying that the material damage was “at this time inestimable.”

A Garda investigation has concluded that the fire was accidental.

by Fintan Deere