The recent opening of a purpose-built Presbyterian church at Maynooth, Co Kildare, goes against current trends for all churches in Ireland where decline, not growth, appears to be the norm.
A classic âovernight successâ story, the opening of Maynooth Community Church comes after 20 years of nurturing which began in September 2002 when a small group of people began meeting in the town to pray and study the Bible together.
Rev Keith McCrory has been involved from the beginning. In November 2007, the group was formally constituted as a congregation of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland with Rev Dr McCrory installed as inaugural minister.
The fact is he is from Derry and was baptised both as a Catholic and in the Church of Ireland by his now deceased parents possibly helps explain why he has such good ecumenical relations with local Catholic and Protestant clergy and their congregations in Maynooth.
The arrival and growth of the new Presbyterian Church in Maynooth was âaccidentalâ, he said, attracted by the university and a growing commuter population in the area. It had nothing to do with Maynoothâs perception as Irelandâs Catholic citadel.
His Presbyterian congregation there includes a mixture of mainly Irish people and non-nationals, a majority of the Irish coming from Catholic backgrounds.
Over the last 17 years Maynooth Community Church had a number of temporary homes, most recently at Gaelcholáiste Mhaigh Nuad, a secondary school run by the Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board at the Manor Mills Shopping Centre.
Today Rev McCrory leads a congregation of about 140, one of more than 500 in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. At a total cost of â¬4.5 million, building of the new church complex started in April of last year on a 3.2-acre greenfield site opposite the Tesco shopping park in Maynooth. It covers 900 sq m and has a worship area for about 220 people.
Remarkably, the church complex is already âdebt-freeâ, Rev McCrory said, describing this as âa miracle, assisted by great local fundraising, the wider Presbyterian family, Trust Funds, etcâ.
He lavished praise on âour architect Judith Hamilton, her team at Knox and Markwell, the builders Corbally Construction, our local politicians, Kildare County Council, and those who have hosted us in the pastâ.
At the official opening in September, Presbyterian Moderator Rev Dr Richard Murray described it as âa wonderful and encouraging dayâ and gave thanks âfor our rich Presbyterian heritage on this islandâ. He hoped to see similar developments âacross Ireland, north, south east and west, in the years to comeâ.
A number of Presbyterian churches have been renovated, extended and rebuilt in the Republic in recent years, notably at Kilkenny, Drogheda and Mullingar.
Rick Hill, secretary to the Presbyterian Churchâs Council for Mission in Ireland, said that the new church in Maynooth âshows that the trajectory of the church is not in a single direction, and neither is this example an isolated experienceâ.
While the Presbyterian Church in Ireland âis not alone in seeing the overall official number of church membership fallâ, it was also âseeing signs of growth, âgreen shootsâ if you like, in different placesâ, he said.
With the growth of a multicultural Ireland âwe have seen many people of faith from overseas find a home in a number of Presbyterian churches. Our congregations in Galway and Drogheda, for example, are largely multicultural congregationsâ, he said.
He also noted Donabate in Co Dublin, now the Presbyterian Churchâs âyoungest congregationâ, which had already set up âanother community of worshippers in Balbrigganâ.
Presbyterian congregations in Mullingar, Drogheda and Kilkenny have had to build new church buildings recently as the old ones had become too small, he said. There were also new Presbyterian communities in north and central Belfast, while the church had âbegun to re-establish our witness in west Belfastâ where it once âhad a number of congregationsâ, he said.
The Presbyterian Church is the largest Protestant denomination in Northern Ireland, and has about 200,000 members across the island of Ireland.
