Mayo's holy mountain gets new church doors ahead of pilgrimage

New doors have been installed on St Patrick's Oratory, at the peak of Croagh Patrick.

The new doors on are the latest of many renovations on the Reek.

The five new doors were hung by volunteers Anthony Corrigan, Brendan Conway, Mick Needham, and John Joe McDonnell this past weekend.

Fr John Kenny expressed gratitude on social media to the five volunteers and John Cummins, Guardian of the Reek and project manager.

Fr Kenny wrote: “Congratulations and a huge thank you to John Cummins, the Guardian of the Reek, for organising all the logistics from Murrisk. And a huge thanks also to the five volunteers who got the job done.

“It's a massive achievement, considering the long period of very unfavourable weather that made it so difficult to carry out this vital work at the Oratory,” continued Fr Kenny.

A new pathway from the base to the summit of the mountain was opened earlier this year by Minister for Community and Rural Development, Heather Humphreys.

The Minister travelled to the mountain where she laid the final stone to mark the completion of the landmark restoration project, which took three years to finish. A new toilet was also installed at the bottom of the mountain.

The Croagh Patrick Stakeholders group, who undertook the restoration project, recently launched the ‘Friends of Croagh Patrick’ initiative. The aim of the initiative is to maintain the hard work and safety-quality of the mountain's facilities.

The renovations come just in time for Reek Sunday. The annual pilgrimage, which last year saw over 4000 climbers, will take place Sunday, July, 28.

“We are greatly indebted to all those who persevered in completing the task in time for the annual Reek Sunday Pilgrimage this July 28 on Ireland's Holy Mountain,” concluded Fr Kenny in his post.