Ascension of The Lord

History

The parish of the Church of the Ascension of the Lord was constituted in 1977 from Sandyford parish. It takes its name from the townland of Balally, in the ancient deanery of Taney, whose old Gaelic form is Baile Amhlaoibh, meaning the town of Olave.

The parish records that details of the earlier ecclesiastical history of Balally are meagre, and that there appear to have been at least two churches at different periods. A church on the lands of Balally, then called Ballywroolef, is mentioned in 1179 during the term of Archbishop Laurence O'Toole, and ruins of a church marked on the Ordnance Survey as Moreen Cross can be traced in the grounds of the Central Bank. In 1630 a priest named Fr Cahill was saying Mass each Sunday in Balally, and he was succeeded by Fr Patrick Gilmore, who was ordained by St Oliver Plunkett in the countryside near Dundalk.

The present church was built by the parishioners and finished in 1982. Some items were left incomplete at the opening because of financial constraints. The sale of church lands for the construction of the Luas provided funds to finish the work, and the church was re-dedicated by the Archbishop of Dublin on 1 October 2006.

The building

The parish describes the building as inspired by the Second Vatican Council, with a layout intended to express belonging to the family of God. The walls extend outward from the centre of the church behind the tabernacle, and the arrangement is such that no part of the congregation is far from the altar. A suspended ceiling and stained glass windows were inserted during the work completed in 2006, when a new sanctuary was commissioned along with a new altar, lighting and baptismal font.

Notable features

A tapestry of the Burning Bush hangs at the centre of the church behind the tabernacle. The windows are dedicated to the opening verses of the Book of Genesis, and an icon of the Washing of the Feet is set at the middle of the altar.