Church closure a loss ‘akin to a death’

One of Cork city’s most prominent Catholic churches will hold its last mass this summer.

St Augustine’s Church, located on Washington Street, will close on 12 July.

The news was broken to parishioners during mass at the weekend by Fr Paddy O’Reilly, Vicar Provincial of the Augustinian Order in Ireland, who described the closure as a loss “akin to a death”.

Designed by Cork architect Dominic O'Connor, the church was built in 1942 and was further extended and updated in 1972, with the priory added in 1982.

Fr O’Reilly said changes in the values of society have led to a “a slow but accelerating decline in vocations” since the mid 1970s.

He said: “I’ll try to explain, though I appreciate that neither words, figures, nor any sort of rational will suffice to explain this loss.

“In the early 1970s, we would have expected at least 12 novices and three or four ordinations each year.

“Today we count ourselves lucky to have one novice, and most years we have no ordinations.

“And we’re also getting older and less able,” added Fr O’Reilly.

Having been expelled from Cork in the 1600s, the Augustinians returned to Leeside in the 18th century and moved to what is now St Augustine’s Street in 1778. The current St Augustine’s Church replaced a church on the same site built in 1872.

In the ‘50s and ‘60s, church socials were regularly held in a hall at the back of St Augustine’s Church where Cork blues icon Rory Gallagher would perform as a child with his brother, Donal.

Responding to the Augustine’s decision to withdraw from the church, Bishop of Cork and Ross, Fintan Gavin, said the news had brought “great sadness” to Cork.

He said: “For generations, the Augustinian community at St Augustine’s has been an important and cherished part of the cultural, spiritual and faith life of our city. Many people have found there a place of prayer, welcome, and belonging.

“I am particularly mindful that this news will come as a sadness to many who have found in St Augustine’s a spiritual home over the years. I want to reassure all of you that I will endeavour, as your Bishop, to respond pastorally to that need, even as the Holy Spirit may now be inviting us to live and express that faith in new ways and in new places.”