Pastoral Area Update from Fr John

Greetings to all parishioners,

A brief update for you in these uncertain times. Martina, our parish secretary is working from home and is contactable from 10am to 1pm, Monday to Thursday. She is happy to deal with any queries you may have. We as priests are available to assist if required. Do contact us if you wish to have an anniversary Mass or your intentions remembered.

Many parents are inquiring about dates for baptisms, First Communions and Confirmation but, unfortunately, so far we have none and won’t have until we get the all-clear from the HSE and our new Archbishop Dermot Farrell to say it is safe to celebrate these sacraments.

We will continue with the 11am livestream Mass from Saggart daily. RTÉ News also has daily Mass from various Churches around the country at 10.30am and Saggart has been involved in two of these Masses to date.

I thank parishioners for your support to the family offering. There are boxes available in Saggart and Rathcoole Churches. If you have not registered for a family offering envelope and wish to contribute, please contact Martina and she will arrange. People can also donate by standing order. 

May God Look After Us All in 2021

As the Welcome message says (on the left), Rath Dé on Our Work in 2021. Yes, on this last day of the Christmas season, the Feast of the Epiphany,  let us pray that we be given good health to continue being of service to society in 2021 in whatever way we can. 

One last look-back at an example of good work done in our parish in 2020: the restoration of the stained-glass windows in St Mary's (click on photos to enlarge.).

This work, carried out between the 1st July to the 28th October, saw the completion of the major restoration programme for our parish church that began back in November 2014 with its re-roofing. Photo-slides of the roof work can be viewed here: Exterior Renovation Nov. 2014 to Aug. 2016 , while here are those for the stained-glass windows: Interior Renovation (Final Part) July to Oct. 2020

A look at the Newsletter tab on the menu bar above will show how severely Covid interrupted our lives as citizens and parishioners last year. The newsletter more or less ceased publication at the end of June, following the retirement of Breda Carroll who edited it up till then. We begin the New Year with a very ordinary online version to which parishioners are invited to contribute if they wish to see more issues of it. Otherwise, this website will continue as best it can to keep people informed.  iJ4  

Fr Kevin's New Year Prayer (on behalf of the Parish Clergy and Team), together with a look back at 2020, can be read in his "Reflection" to be found here.