'Reigniting a sense of belonging' in landmark year for St Patrick's Church, Murlog

One winter in the mid 1700s, John Creighton – or the 3^rd Earl of Erne as his title referred to him – was making his way from Lifford to Raphoe.

Creighton, a substantial landowner and landlord in the area, spotted a large crowd of people coming from the area of Drumbuoy.

On learning from his coach driver that the assemblage was a group of Catholics coming from Mass in the open, Creighton offered a plot of ground for the purpose of building a place of worship.

In 1760, what is now known as St Patrick's Church, the Clonleigh Parish Church at Murlog, was opened.

Sixty years ago this year, in 1964, the new, redeveloped Church, on the same site, was consecrated by the then Bishop of Derry, Dr Neil Farren.

The old church, one of the oldest in the Diocese, was erected during the darkest of Penal times.

It is said that the construction of the Church was completed in 'record time'. At the time, it was built without a spire – which were forbidden by Penal Laws for Catholic Churches. In 1828, following Catholic Emancipation, a spire was added.

The tower from the first construction still remains to this day.

In '64, a project that was 30 years in the making, costing the princely sum of £80,000, was completed when the new Church opened its doors.

Parishioners have a big year planned to mark the 60^th anniversary of the consecration of St Patrick's Church and 50 years since the Clonleigh Parish became an independent parish in the Derry Diocese.

Bishop Donal McKeown, the Bishop of Derry, will celebrate Mass in Murlog on May 5 with Archbishop Eamon Martin to say Mass in August. A range of other family fun days, picnic days and barbecues are planned for the intervening months.

“The idea is to remind everyone today of what it is that we are celebrating,” Fr Colm O'Doherty, Clonleigh Parish Priest, told Donegal Live.

“We are maybe reigniting a sense of belonging for the people.”

On St Patrick's Day, one of the oldest parishioners, Paddy McKinney – 'a very good servant in the parish', Fr O'Doherty said – raised the new parish flag on one of the flagpoles at the Church. The Irish tricolour and the Papal flag fly from the others.

On the day of the Church's opening in 1964, Dr Farren inspected the A Company of the 24^th Battalion of the FCA, under the direction of Lieutenant S Hoare from Letterkenny. The St Joseph's Brass and Reed Band from Strabane were present along with hundreds of locals.

A day of thanks and celebration to hail the impact of the Army, based in Lifford until they marched out for the last time in 2009, is also in the works.

Fr Anthony McFeely – who would become the Bishop of Raphoe just a year later – was the Parish Priest in 1964 when the new Church building was opened.

Fr McFeely travelled Europe with architects Liam McCormick and Frank Corr viewing new church being built across the continent.

St Patrick's Church in Murlog is one of seven Churches in Donegal designed by McCormick, recognised now as one of the most important church architects of his time. Others designed in Donegal were Burt, Creeslough, Desertegney, Donoughmore, Glenties and Milford.

Fr O'Doherty said: “It is a very famous Church that we have here in St Patrick's. The windows are one of the key aspects of it; they are just magnificent. There are pieces of art in the Church that are world famous.

“We would regularly have visitors up in the Church from all over the country, maybe people who are studying architecture and want to survey the building. It really is a fine piece of work.

“As a parish community, the people of Clonleigh have one of the most beautiful church buildings in Ireland and it continues to be a place of great celebration and prayer.”

In 1974, Bishop Edward Daly realigned some of the parishes in the Derry Diocese and Clonleigh became a stand-alone parish.

“It was one of the major changes in the Diocese at the time,” Fr O'Doherty said. “That realignment was such a huge decision at the time. If we look at the way we are now, and this is across our Diocese, we will probably find a lot of these amalgamations coming back into play again with less priests and less parishioners now. I do imagine that there will be more collective administration.”