Prayers answered for statue of St Anthony
By Maurice Garvey
PRAYERS were answered after a parish made a public appeal for a spare statue of St Anthony - the patron saint of lost things.
The Church of Transfiguration in Clondalkin, made the appeal last week online and in The Echo for help in sourcing a statue of St Anthony and a spare crucifix for their altar.
Father Brian with the statue of St Anthony
It didn’t take long for the Bawnogue parish plea to report a successful outcome.
“The Immaculate Conception Church in Clondalkin Village had a spare St Anthony,” said Fr Brian Starken, parish priest in Bawnogue.
“One of our parishioner’s Frank Browne spotted it lying around. The statue was slightly broken in one hand but we fixed it up and all the bits are there now.
“Two ladies came into us, and said they had read The Echo and had a small St Anthony at home, but we should be ok with our new one. St Anthony is very popular, particularly for people who have lost things.”
The second part of the appeal also proved successful, with Fr Brian saying they received crucifix’s from the nearby Presentation Convent in Clondalkin and from Warrenmount on Clanbrassil Street.
The Bawnogue parish endured a leaking roof for years until funding was allocated by the Archdiocese to have it finally fixed.
In December 2016, The Echo reported how the church were using wheelie bins to contain leaking rain water – forcing parishioners to hold their Christmas Mass at nearby primary school Scoil Nano Nagle.
Acknowledging the previous conditions of the Bawnogue church, Fr Brian said “it was in a bad way but it is fantastic now.”
“We got in new carpets, put in a meeting room down the back and have recently installed a new boiler. It’s looking good.”
