Service strengthens ties between communities
A RECENT ecumenical service in St Kevin’s Church in Hollywood has helped to strengthen the ties between Church of Ireland and Catholic members of the local community.
Archbishop of Dublin Michael Jackson and Archdeacon of Glendalough Ricky Rountree attended the service along with local parish priest Fr James Prendiville. Blessington Union of Parishes rector Rev Leonard Ruddock, who led the service, welcomed parishioners from both Hollywood parish and Blessington Union of Parishes.
Back in March, members of the local community met in St Kevin’s Church to launch the Hollywood Tidy Towns initiative to restore the walls of the churchyard. At that time, Fr Prendiville praised the work that had been done on restoring St Kevin’s Church and Rev Ruddock presented him with a key to the church, saying that he was welcome there any time.
Fr Prendiville delivered recent the sermon and spoke of members of the Church of Ireland community who had impacted his life.
‘People are affected by who we are. This hasn’t anything to do with religion. That doesn’t matter. We have come together here as one body, one group of believers in God,’ he said.
Fr Prendiville said that St Kevin’s was a historic church which was dilapidated when he first saw it 20 years ago and he paid tribute to the community who had lovingly restored it.
Archbishop Jackson thanked the community for coming to the service and thanked Fr Prendiville for his words and encouragement.
The Archbishop encouraged people to read themselves into the Scriptures and see the wonderful sense of community throughout history. He praised the community of Hollywood for its positivity and for seeing what they could do together and said that Hollywood Tidy Towns was doing remarkable work.
‘We had a church which was almost in ruins and now it has a new and special existence for the whole community.
‘Many faith journeys began here as pilgrims made their way to Glendalough and we must build on it afresh in our own day to develop the faith,’ said Archbishop Jackson.