Rededication of Connons church

The people of Connons - between Redhills and Clones - celebrated the re-dedication of their refurbished church, originally built prior to the Famine. St. Alphonsus church was re-dedicated and blessed by Most Rev. Dr. Joseph Duffy, Bishop of Clogher at 8pm Mass on July 24, following eight months of renovation. After Mass, Bishop Duffy, priests and parishioners had a pleasant evening in the Connons Community Hall. Guests included the Church of Ireland rectors, Revd. Richard Seymour-Whiteley and Revd. Alison Seymour-Whiteley. Revd. Troy Morgan represented the Presbyterian Church. The Connons was well known to the people of Redhills and Treehoo, who went to cut turf in the area long ago. Connons is in the old Barony of Dartry (it is from Connons that the barony took its name, ie Dartraighe Choinnise to distinguish it from Dartraighe in Leitrim). The Dartraighe, from which the name Dartry originates, were a race of fighting men who were settled on the southern side of the Worn Ditch or (Black Pigs Dyke) by the rulers of Leinster. This area south of the Worm Ditch and extending into Fermanagh became their kingdom. It was always referred to by the old people of the parish as the 16 townlands; no matter the route, the area is not accessible by road without crossing the Border. In the late 1950s and early 1960s the roads were spiked, with the exception of one, which was controlled by the Customs at Clontiverin. People travelling to Cavan, Belturbet or Scotshouse had to go by Clontiverin via Clones. During WWII this area was a smuggler's paradise. Connons church was built in 1844 when Fr. John McCusker was PP on land acquired from landlord James Fitzgerald of Clontask. The church was designed by William Dargan, an engineer employed by the Lagan Navigation Company, which was constructing the Ulster Canal in the area. It replaced an old Mass House, built around 1780 near a lake in the townland of Drumsloe. The people of the parish gave generously of their time and money to pay for Connons church - people who could not pay in monetary terms gave time and labour; some worked by drawing materials with horse and cart, others quarried stones, washed sand, cut timber... The nails and spikes that held the roof timbers together were hand forged by local blacksmiths. The church was opened in 1844 and dedicated to St. Alphonsus in February 1846 by John Hughes, the first Catholic Archbishop of New York. An account of the event tells of hundreds of horsemen and carriages escorting the Bishop to Clones, for a dinner in his honour. The initial plans were for the gallery to extend quarter way up the church to accommodate the large congregation of the time. After the famine and the decline in the population the extension to the gallery was never needed. The Connons area lost 42% of its population between 1841 and 1851. In the early 1900s the vestry was added and pews replaced free standing forums. Around that time that the Stations of the Cross were purchased; they were painted by Luigi Morgari (born Milan 1857, died 1935). The church was refurbished in 1942 at a cost of £2,234 when Fr. Michael McCarville was PP. The altar was donated by Teresa Duffy (nee Brady) of Clonfad, who was a domestic servant to the Rockefellers in New York. A large yew tree in front of the church surrounded by a bank of earth and a small stone wall were removed at this time, despite objections from some who used to sit under the tree smoking, telling yarns and discussing football during Mass. Fr. McCarville was not a man to be trifled with. The tree was removed and became firewood. In the intervening years little has been done to the church except in the 1970s when heating was installed and it was painted. In December 2007 PP Fr. Larry Duffy commissioned a feasibility study by Gregory Architects of Belfast. They found that the church could be closed by condition of the electrical system alone. A refurbishment committee was formed comprising: Fr. Larry Duffy, PP; John Connolly (chairman); Jeanette Coyle (secretary); Bernadette McPhillips (treasurer); Martina McCabe (safety statement); Liam Strain; John Joe Gavin; Ciaran McBride; Pat Connolly; Owen Conlon; and Seamus McCaffrey (photography and history record). The Gregory feasibility study was deemed too costly and Eamon Woods (a quantity surveyor from Galoon in Co. Fermanagh) drew up the specifications for the project - the cost is estimated at €480,000. The new altar is the centrepiece and main focus of the church. The stained glass windows behind the altar will depict St. Alphonsus and St. Mochumma, who founded the old church on Drummully hill. Connons church was finished on 30 April this year, in time for the weddings of three parishioners - the first on May 1. Bishop Duffy saluted the efforts of those who built the church in 1844 and said he knew of no other church in Ireland dedicated to St. Alphonsus, founder of the Redemptorists, adding that he was glad to see St. Mochumma immortalised in one of the stained glass windows. To mark the occasion of the blessing and re-dedication of St. Alphonsus church, Seamus McCaffrey presented Bishop Duffy with a cross made from hand forged steel spikes (salvaged from the old roof timbers) mounted on marble from the old altar and engraved with Connons 1844. Lizzy McMahon and Katie McGurk presented Bishop Duffy with a copy of the history of Connons church.