News & Notes

Doors Open Lowell- There’s a duck inside St. Patrick Church, and a squirrel too!  How would you like to hear Patrick “sing”?  Do you want to stand where one of the Irish shanties once housed the first generation of our ancestors?  Stop by the church on Saturday, May 19 from 10-12.  We’d like to meet some blog readers and share our story with you.  St. Pat’s is pleased to be part of Doors Open Lowell once again this year.

Irish Need Apply- I keep waiting to hit the Lottery so I could afford to do all that is needed to keep up with requests from folks about researching records and archiving the hundreds and hundreds of pieces of paper, photos, and artifacts that tell the story of the church and the Acre.  Until then, if you have some free time, a laptop, maybe a scanner, and especially the commitment, we sure could use your help in a number of areas.  One area which could connect with Door Open is to catalogue the windows, statues and architecture of the church and its grounds.  About 15 years ago a volunteer took hundreds of photos which since have disappeared when my laptop crashed a few years ago.  It was a wonderful documentation of the architecture and should be done once again.  If you come by and spend awhile with us, take some shots and share them with us.  Or, if you’re interested in cataloging materials drop me a line.  It’s a small but committed group that does this work, and we could do so much more with just a few hours a month of assistance.  There is no pay, but you can earn some Purgatory points.  See my profile for my email.

Big Dig III- Dr Donnelly and his team will be doing their potential final visit to complete the archaeological dig on Fr. McDermott’s shanty.  This could be a big year for a potential find in the area located in the “anomaly” at the shanty site.  It happens during the week of July 14.  Stay tuned for dates and times. 

Civil War Markers- We’re at the stage now where we are beginning paperwork to install markers on Civil War veterans’ graves.  It things proceed smoothly we should have a couple installed for our cemetery tour in the Fall.