The Church of the Annunciation in Finglas, which is one of the biggest Catholic churches in Ireland, is in the process of being demolished.
The Church has a capacity of 3,500, and its last Mass, celebrated in October 2018, was well attended by locals as a final ‘hurrah’. Then in 2020, its demolition was finally approved by Dublin County Council.
Church of the Annunciation Finglas . Massive crowd for final mass. pic.twitter.com/osK5WxO0XY
— Nial Ring (@nialring) October 7, 2018
However, due to the Covid lockdown, the demolition work only began recently.
Last week I visited with my cameras one of the biggest Dublin's churches – Church of the Annunciation in Finglas (1967). The building is awaiting its demolition, so I couldn't photograph it inside. Most of the negatives are processed. #architecture #concrete #photography pic.twitter.com/DBcmIS6x4p
— Artur Sikora (@artursikora) March 10, 2020
According to the parish, the 57-year-old church, built in 1967, had experienced “structural problems”, which led to it being deemed “unsafe.”
“It was decided to replace it with a smaller church,” a parish spokeswoman said, adding that low mass attendance in recent years also played a factor in the decision.
Asked where masses were being held in the meantime, the spokeswoman said: “We hold them temporarily in the local school hall, in St. Fergal’s Hall at the weekend.”
The parish said in a Facebook post: “A church is not a building. A church is it’s people. Let us not just go to church, let us BE the church.”
They added: “We still celebrate mass every weekend in our temporary home at St. Fergal’s school hall. We are grateful to the parish of St. Canices for all of their help and support, and we thank all of our parishioners for their ongoing support as we look to the future.”
The spokeswoman told Gript that there was no estimated timeframe for when the new smaller church may be completed.
“We’re just focusing on one project at a time,” she said.
“Covid has held a lot of things back. So we just have to wait and see, take each day as it comes.”
Gript was told it was “very sad” at first for regular Mass-goers, but ultimately parishioners understood the decision.
“It was very sad in the beginning when they heard about it, for the regular people who come every week. They miss it,” the spokeswoman said.
“But they understood why it had to be done, and they’re looking forward to the future – to a new, smaller church.”
Asked what the reaction of the priests had been to the development, she said: “I wouldn’t speak for the priests, but it’s a necessity. It has to be done. What can you say really?”