A new Presbyterian congregation was officially constituted in Kildare last night. The Maynooth Community Church, based in Maynooth Post Primary School, was declared an independent congregation and publicly welcomed into the wider Presbyterian church in Ireland.
Its minister, the Rev Dr Keith McCrory, was also officially installed. The new congregation was set up in 2001 as an offshoot of the Lucan Presbyterian Church, established in 1876.
It was established in response to an increase in the number of families attending the Lucan church, the expansion of west Dublin and a rapid growth in families in the Maynooth area.
Rev Dr McCrory was chosen as minister for the congregation after a recommendation from the Presbyterian Board of Mission in Ireland and the endorsement of the members of the Maynooth church.
He lives in Maynooth, but is a native of Donegal.
At the same service yesterday, church member Kevin Hargaden was commissioned to the church's Irish Mission.
The Maynooth congregation meets every Sunday at 10.30am in the Maynooth Post Primary School and also has an office on Main Street, Maynooth.