Cllr Kieran McCarthy’s new book is entitled Journeys of Faith, Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Ballinlough, Celebrating 75 Years. The book marks the 75th anniversary of the dedication of the building. The book aims to recover and provide a cross section of voices and personal memories of the most remembered aspects of Ballinlough parish over the past decades. The church represents one of the multiple threads of community life of the area. At its dedication ceremony on Sunday 11 September 1938, the orator of the sermon, Fr Kieran OFM Cap, spoke at length about the building belonging to the people and the people belonging to the church.
Cllr McCarthy noted: “Over 100 people were interviewed and worked with in order to produce a very personal book on the story of life within Ballinlough parish. People speak at length in this book about their faith, their personal connection to Ballinlough and its sense of place and how they link to it. They speak about the layered aspects of life such as change, love, hope, uncertainty, fragility, tragedy, integrity, traditions, renewal, imagination and their role in the formation of human values. All merge together to reflect on the mark made on history by Our Lady of Lourdes Church and the wider community but also their role in the future of Ballinlough and in the wider city and region”. The book is being launched on Friday 13 September. Kieran is giving a short talk on the 75th anniversary at the celebratory mass at the end of the Church’s Festival of Faith at 7.30pm on the Friday. The book launch follows the mass in the church and is in St Anthony’s Boys National School. All welcome. The book from the 13 September will be available at the church and from the sacristy.