CHURCH OF OUR LADY OF THE WAYSIDE
JENKINSTOWN, Co. LOUTH
The construction of a new church is always
more than placing one brick on top of another, it is an act of
faith. The building itself becomes a physical manifestation of
a parish's vision of faith and as such is an exciting, if somewhat
grave, responsibility for the building team.
When designing the new Church of Our Lady
of the Wayside, we were mindful of the fact that a parish vision
of faith is forged by locality within the context of the Universal
Church. The vision given to us by the Universal Church, through
the Second Vatican Council, is of God's people gathered together
in the Spirit to partake in the eternal liturgy offered to the
Father by the Son.
The presence of Christ in the presider
and consecrated species has been understood for a long time.
It is only recently that the Spirit has revealed the presence
of Christ in the Word and in the gathered assembly itself. The
response in church architecture has seen a moving away from passively
watching the action at one end of the building to gathering around
the table of the Word and table of the Eucharist. In order to
represent this theology architecturally an oval plan was employed
for Our Lady of the Wayside in which the assembly are arranged
on either side of a central 'sanctuary'. This enables all to
be proximate to the shifting centres of liturgical action yet
maintaining a meaningful distance between them. A sense of gathering
is further emphasised by the curved form of the seating. That
fact that fellow parishioners are seen face to face bears witness
to Christ in each of us and in the assembly gathered for worship.
Elements prompted by the 'local' church
are Mourne granite for the external walls and the form of the
external cross inspired by those adorning the chapel in nearby
Bellurgan which this church replaces. In addition, the theme
of water, life-giving and cleansing, is particularly apposite
due to the close proximity of Dundalk Bay. This theme is taken
up by the boat-like form of the building, in the design of the
stained-glass windows and the tabernacle.
Brian Quinn, RIBA, RIAI.
November 1994
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