The Church that two-pronged Ryan built

Our faiths, by Matt Pointon

YOU can see it from afar, its Byzantine copper domes glistening in the sun, a monument to faith in stone.

Tunstall’s Sacred Heart RC Church is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful buildings in the entire city and when I went down to attend Mass one Sunday evening I discovered that it was just as impressive on the inside as it it on the out. “The church was built by Fr. P.J. Ryan,” the present encumbent, Fr. Patrick H. Farrelly explained, “and the parishioners themselves built it.” In the 1920s when Sacred Heart was under construction, there was much unemployment in the city and many young men would arrive at the potbanks early in the morning only to find themselves turned away as their labour was not required. “They called him Two-Pronged Ryan,” Fr. Patrick said with a chuckle. “He would approach the young men on the street and ask them if they had any work that day.

If they answered ‘no’ then he would ask if they wanted to come down to the church and help with the building. If they said ‘yes’ however, he would reply, ‘Well, that’s grand and God be praised, but please consider, when that pay packet comes through at the end of the week, if you could buy a bag of cement and drop it off at the church, we’d be most grateful!’ That was why they called him ‘Two-Pronged’ you see, for whatever answer you gave, Fr. Ryan had got you!”

These days a vibrant congregation still worships in Fr. Ryan’s church and on the Sunday when I attended Mass, the theme was priorities. Afterwards I asked Fr. Pat what his priorities were in the 21st century. “That’s simple,” he replied, “to preach Jesus, and not just to the Catholics, but to anyone. Fr. Ryan employed non-
Catholics in the construction and today we still try and help all members of the local community.”

And as the host was lifted high above the praying faithful, I could almost feel Two-Pronged Ryan looking down, pleased with all that he surveyed.