Roof collapses at Duncannon church
A SECTION of the roof of The Star of the Sea Church in Duncannon collapsed hours after mass on Sunday in mid-December.
Fr John Nolan, Duncannon PP, said part of the ceiling located half way up the church on the right-hand-side collapsed onto some pews on Sunday night or Monday morning last.
Fr Nolan said some ladies who volunteer to clean the church saw what had happened on Monday.
‘Half a panel came down at some point after masses on Sunday afternoon and Monday morning. The church was closed for several days. Several other panels may also be loose, so the church had to stay closed until the temporary works were completed.’
Several hundred people had attended masses on Sunday, December 11 and a large wedding party was in the church the previous day. ‘ The main thing is that nobody got hurt,’ Fr Nolan said.
‘ There was a wedding day in the church on Saturday and we had three masses that Sunday. Maybe there is somebody up there looking after us afterall,’ he said.
A large sheet was erected under the roof section on Monday as a temporary measure to enable the church to remain open over the festive period. Fr Nolan said more substantial works will be carried out in early 2017.
Forty five years a priest, Fr Nolan said he never saw anything like it. He was first assigned to Clongeen, then Carroreigh and Monaseed before moving to Port Elizabeth in South Africa, where he spent eight years.
Arriving home in 2003, he took up duty in Kiltealy before moving to Duncannonn.
‘An architect has surveyed the damage. It was planned to use Duncannon Pastoral Centre for masses over the coming weeks, including this weekend for Christmas masses, but the temporary measures put in place mean that masses will be held in the church in keeping with tradition. ‘ There is capacity for 120 people so we were going to have three separate masses in the centre.’
The Star of the Sea Church dates to 1896 and has a capacity of 220 seated.