Catholic Church in Dublin to get a new cathedral?

Below is a press release from the Archdiocese of Dublin issued on Thursday, June 22.

 The Archdiocese of Dublin is undergoing a process of pastoral renewal, which was commenced by Archbishop Dermot Farrell shortly after his appointment, under the title Building Hope – a new approach to pastoral planning. Based on a synodal process of engagement with parish communities, it is well advanced. New partnerships of parishes have been established, new supports for parish pastoral councils have been developed, and new training and development programmes have been introduced.

In that context, the archbishop has been considering how the presence of the church in the wider community can be strengthened, both for outreach to the many people who have no established links with either the church or an individual parish, and as a point of encounter between the church and the wider culture. In most major cities, the cathedral church and other major churches act as a focal point for that mission and encounter.

Dublin does not have a cathedral: St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral was built nearly 200 years ago to provide a focal point for the archdiocese, but it was always envisaged that at some point a cathedral building would be required that had both the space and the facilities to accommodate the full range of diocesan liturgical and pastoral ministry. For a variety of reasons that never happened, but the limitations of the St Mary’s building and complex remain.

Meanwhile, the city has changed and developed. While St Mary’s is located in an area undergoing renewal and development, on the south side of the Liffey recent and planned commercial and residential development have created a whole new dimension of city life. St Andrew’s Church, Westland Row, which was built shortly after St Mary’s, is well placed to engage with the vibrant residential, commercial and cultural heart of the city.

Having consulted with the council of priests, the archbishop believes that both St Mary’s and St Andrew’s have the capacity to be developed as twin pillars of a renewed pastoral and missionary strategy. It is his desire that Dublin should have a properly designated cathedral and that it should be complemented by a church on the other side of the Liffey whose status and dignity are formally recognised and supported. For logistical reasons, there are strong grounds for considering that St Andrew’s might better serve the cathedral function, with St Mary’s raised to the dignity of a basilica.

In order to advance the analysis of these options and prepare a specific proposal (which will ultimately require approval by the authorities in Rome) the archbishop is establishing a project group which will include representatives of both St Mary’s and St Andrew’s Parishes to develop proposals in the light of a synodal process of engagement and dialogue, supported by expert and technical advice. The project group will examine the physical and structural aspects of this proposal, the pastoral and programme requirements and opportunities on both sites, the community and parish dimension, including social, engagement and community service, and the financial and other resource implications.

The archbishop will be communicating the details of this project process over the coming weeks and he envisages that proposals will be presented by the project group for decision before the end of the current year.