Catholic Churches

 Catholic Churches 


Catholic Churches are special places

For the faithful and the rest of us

Who adore the peace and sanctity

The feeling that we’re in communion

With a higher being beyond description. 


People come with different prayers

Some light candles some will stare

At the stained glass above the altar 

Bridget, Patrick, Jesus, Mary,

A silver crown upon Our Lady. 


The arched blue ceiling rising high

Lifts souls and spirits to the sky 

This a refuge for all believers

A comfort too for those unable

To enjoy the faith of our fathers. 


The knave is cool, the church is silent 

A place of beauty, a quiet haven 

Unique perhaps in all the world

A gift is given to the Irish people

Every day beneath the steeple


Of the church designed by Pugin

Paid by the pennies saved by poor

Farmers' wives when times were tough  

A penny is a lot when’s it’s all you’ve got

And the year is eighteen sixty seven. 


To this day we enjoy what they

Conceived and built from what they saved

We inherit what their labors bought

No thanks or praise was ever sought

By the humble folks of Carne. 


But it’s good that we remember 

That we salute them this October

The knave though empty bears the prayers

Of people past through all the layers 

Of faithful gone but not forgotten. 


Written in a pew of the Church of the Assumption Our Lady's Island, Wexford. Coincidentally our three children were Baptised in the Church to the Assumption Dalkey. Unless you don't believe in coincidences.

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