'Sacred Space' project launched

If they said they were building a chapel for the students of Cross & Passion College, people might understand it more.

'Sacred Space' is a bit wooly, kind of sandals and incense. And maybe part of the reason why not that many people turned up Thursday night to the launch of the project in the college.

What they missed was the beginnings of the realisation of a dream. A dream which will become a place for reflection and spiritual reinvigoration not just for the pupils of the college, but for anyone else in the town who wants to go there. Kind of a bridge between the community and the school and the pupils and the inner self of all three.



The project will be unique in many respects. Not least in how it fits into the environment of the school itself, and its sustainability.

But that's sandals stuff, too. The important thing is that it will be a place where those going there will feel 'relaxed, safe and protected', as local engineer J J Warren put it.

J J got involved in working up the architectural details after the concept had been well developed by CPC staff members Margaret Aspell and Dennis Dennehy. RTE architect Duncan Stewart provided his own thoughts during a visit to the site last year.

Originally conceived as an extension to the main school building, to provide a place for liturgy left vacant when the Cross & Passion sisters departed the convent and its associated chapel, the idea quickly 'moved away' to be a central part of the grass 'quad'. The evolution of the design, with the proposed building being semi underground and incorporating a grassy roof garden, quickly led to an in-house labelling of 'our own little Newgrange'.

Planning permission has been granted, and the work will begin this coming July as soon as the school is vacant for the summer. It is expected that it will take two summers to complete.

Funding for around 60 percent of the cost has been donated. In effect, more money is not what the developers are looking for, rather the expertise and involvement of parents and other members of the community.

It will happen. How you can help, we'll detail in later stories.

Brian Byrne.