THE Bishop of Down and Connor has paid tribute to the men and women who built St Michael the Archangel Parish in Andersonstown during the “darkest days” of the Troubles.
Alan McGuckian said the parish church still bears “visible signs” of the decades-long conflict, as its brickwork remains marked with bullet holes.
Speaking at the Golden Jubilee Mass on Saturday evening, the Bishop also acknowledged parishioners who had lost loved ones in the Troubles who he said carried "deeper wounds".
“On this day of celebration,” he said, "we pray for the healing of every wound.”
Bishop Alan McGuckian
The Bishop said that despite “real hardship” over many years, the people of the area had built a “home of faith”.
St Michael the Archangel Church was initially built as a 'chapel of ease' due to overcrowding at St Agnes’ Church in Andersonstown. It was declared a parish in its own right in August 1976 by Bishop William Philbin.
“This was a significant step,” said Bishop McGuckian, “and it could only have happened if there was a community of believers able to sustain a parish of their own.”
He also joked that he was “far older than this parish”.
“1976 – that was the year of ABBA, Taxi Driver and Rocky.”
He spoke of the importance of this parish milestone in the life of the Church.
“Down and Connor was expanding and still growing and people were coming together to think of building places where they could worship God,” he said. “It’s something to honour and be proud of. It’s a privilege for us to be here today to honour that.”
He said the people who built St Michael the Archangel Church had some sense of the future, of times of sadness and times of gladness.
And, in the hardest of circumstances, they simply “got on with it".
“They weren’t only thinking of walls, bricks and mortar and stained glass. They were hoping for a place where children would be baptised, a place where, at the end of their lives, parents and family members would come to be brought before the Lord for burial, where couples would be married, and where the lonely would find a welcome.”
He added: “People gave their time, their money, their energy, and their hearts."
The Bishop pointed out that people had celebrated some of the “greatest moments of their life” in St Michael the Archangel Parish – a place where people were baptised and confirmed, and where priests were also ordained, among them concelebrants Fr Tony Devlin, Fr Patrick Devlin, and Fr Gabriel Lyons.
The Bishop looked forward to the next 50 years, urging everyone to build up the Christian community in Finaghy. “A Jubilee is not the moment to rest on what earlier generations have accomplished. It’s the moment for now – to say our ‘yes’.”
Bishop Alan was presented with an icon of St Michael the Archangel which was written by Parish Sacristan Tess Molloy – as well as a newly minted special jubilee coin which was also given to every member of the congregation.
The coins bear the image of St Michael the Archangel, drawn by local artist Andrew Hazlett and an aerial shot of the parish church by parishoner Kevin O’Brien.
Among the nine concelebrants at Mass were former Parish Priests Fr John Murray and Fr Martin Kelly.
“What we are celebrating,” said Parish Priest Fr Ciarán Feeney, “is God’s grace which has permeated through all of our parishioners, past and present."
“St Michael’s has faced many challenges over the decades – the Troubles, the rise in secularism, the decline in vocations, the Covid pandemic, to name a few. But thankfully the Lord has also provided new opportunities to spread the Good News through meaningful social media, fun-filled pilgrimage and new ministries such as baptism, lay funeral and bereavement support.”
Fr Feeney also thanked all those who had helped to build the parish and continue to do so.
“St Michael’s is built on firm foundations of love. Our parish is a lifeline for all those who carry heavy burdens especially those who are ill, isolated or overwhelmed by life’s challenges. In a world marked by conflict and violence, Jesus dwells among his people on Finaghy Road North, sharing his peace, a peace the world cannot give.”
