Ballyboden - The Parish of Ballyboden

The Parish of Ballyboden

The Catholic parish of Ballyboden was set up in 1973 and is managed by Order of St. Augustine of Hippo.

The parish of Rathfarnham, a pre-Reformation parish, is the parent of several parishes in south Dublin. Terenure developed in 1894, Churchtown (1965), Ballyroan (1968), Tallaght (1972) and Ballyboden (1973).

There had been an Augustinian house of studies in Ballyboden since 1955. It was the home of students of the Order following the two-year course in Philosophy. When the new church in Ballyroan was opened in 1966 with only one regular priest, the Augustinians took an active part, celebrating four Masses on Sundays.

The Augustinians acquired Orlagh as a Novitiate in 1872. When U.C.D. moved from Earlsfort Terrace to the new campus at Belfield in South Co. Dublin, alternate accommodation was needed for the students. The order acquired St. Catherines, Ballyboden, previously the residence of Mr. Justice O’Byrne. Construction on the new student residence, dedicated to Our Lady of Good Counsel, began in 1955.

Ballyboden parish church was blessed by Archbishop Dermot Ryan on October 4, 1981.