Almost two years ago St Nicholas Church, Kilcorney was severely damaged by Storm Ophelia and following extensive repair and modernisation Bishop William Crean (Bishop of Cloyne) performed the blessing and re-dedication of the Church recently.
Pat Sheehan on behalf of the community welcomed the Bishop and Priests and gave a short history of Kilcorney Church which was first blessed and dedicated by Bishop Timothy Murphy on Christmas Day 1856.
Mass was concelebrated by a number of former priests of the parish and priests from the surrounding parishes.
In his homily Bishop Crean said it was an honour and a privilege to be re-dedicating the church as he had been in Kilcorney the day after the storm and he has seen first hand the destruction that it had caused. He spoke about the value of the church to the local community and how in the time of trouble the community came together to rescue the church. He also commented on the number of young families attending the church and looking at the number of altar servers present he felt that the church is in good hands. Music was lead by our local church choir who were joined by Kilcorney National School pupils. Fr William Winter PP of Banteer spoke of his joy on getting to this night and thanked everyone who were involved in the revamp of the church. He also expressed his gratitude to the local Community Council for the use of the Community Centre during the last two years for the liturgical ceremonies. At the end of the ceremony Maeve Buckley (Senior Altar Server) made a presentation to Bishop Crean on behalf of all the altar services.
