End of the Missalette and Return of the Missal?

As we can see, Templeogue parish is parting ways with the missalette as from today (Sunday 24th Nov., feast of Christ the King) and proposing, if so wished, use of a missal instead, e.g. that published by St Paul's Publications (Maynooth) at the very attractive price of €10 (see here). Each of us will, no doubt, have our own ideas as to the wisdom of such a move (e.g. maybe following the text in a missalette complements, rather than takes away from, listening to it, since what the reader really does is bring it to life on behalf of the congregation). So we come full circle, don't we, going back to the missals that we used in the 50s/60s but with the following big difference -- Mass in the ordinary (vernacular) language of the people and not in Latin, a change brought in after Vatican II. (By the way, if you would still like a bit of Latin (!), you can get a 2025 Sunday Missal (English + Latin) for another very attractive (though in sterling) price of £9.95 from the Catholic Truth Society in London (see here).) Anyway, it's good to talk about a topic that has come more and more to the fore in recent times what with so much being available online. By the way, as the parish notice above says, we too have the readings on the "the front page of our parish website", i.e. the home page of this site, Parish Website 2 (to your left here).

Remembering Parishioners Who Died This Year

Those who died in our parish of Saggart /Rathcoole/Brittas over the past year will be remembered at Mass in Saggart on Friday 22nd, 7.30 pm. The Memorial Mass for the deceased of Newcastle took place on Friday 15th in St Finian's.

May He support us all day long,
till the shades lengthen and the evening comes,
and the busy world is hushed,
and the fever of life is over,
and our work is done.

Then in His mercy may He give us a safe lodging,
and a holy rest,
and peace at the last. (St John Henry Newman)

The names of those who, we pray, have found 'safe lodging', 'holy rest' and 'peace at the last' are here

The 175th Celebration

After Mass on Sunday 20th, parishioners enjoyed a cuppa in the old parish national school, reopened in June of this year in its new guise as the Saggart Schoolhouse Community Centre. It was a memorable back-to-school experience for many of them.

(From left) Margaret Crone, Cáit Jacob, Mary McHugh,
Ann Byrne, Mary Lawless, Pauline Jacob

Fr Joseph Ryan

(From left) Mervyn Ennis, Brian Jacob, Liam Roche

175 Years Ago: Dedication of St Mary's, Saggart, Sunday 19 August 1849

This year marks the 175th anniversary of the (re)building of Saggart Church. It was blessed and dedicated by the Archbishop of Dublin, Daniel Murray, on Sunday, 19th August 1849, an event reported next day in The Freeman's Journal under the headline, THE SOLEMN DEDICATION OF THE NEW CATHOLIC CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY OF THE B.V. MARY AT SAGGARD. 

There was a church on the site before.  Samuel Lewis in his Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837)(a wonderful resource that can now be downloaded) gives a description of Saggard (written thus in Lewis and the Freeman's Journal) which highlights what is still one of the most unique features of our church, "a monument of marble to the Rev. A. Hart, P.P. and dean of Maynooth, with his effigy in bass relief ". 

Below are (1) the entry in Lewis (3 extracts) and (2) the opening section of the report in The Freeman's Journal (issue of Monday 20th).  For the entire report, see here (courtesy of Gale Publications).

At 9 am Mass in Saggart on Sunday 20th, we will remember with gratitude the "unwearied exertions" of priest and people in working together to erect "this really handsome church" of ours in 1849. (See the notice on the main website here.)

And we take it from there 25 years later.

Back to School for a Cuppa

From the Centre's Facebook page

What a fine job it is, the transformation of the former St Mary's National School into a Community Centre!  The modern school, as we know, is to be found beside the church (see it here), while we can see what it was like in former times here.  

Farewell, Fr John Gilligan and Welcome, Fr Joseph Ryan

                                                                                                                     Photo: Ronan McDermott

After serving for eight years in our pastoral area, Fr John will be moving to another pastoral area in Dublin at the end of June. To show our appreciation, a farewell gathering is being planned for the evening of Saturday 29 June in Rathcoole Community Centre at 7PM. Fr John will celebrate the vigil Mass beforehand at 6PM.  All parishioners and friends of Fr John are warmly invited, and if you can bring or bake some finger food for the event it will be very much appreciated!

The above announcement was published by our Parish Pastoral Council and Finance Committee on the main parish website. The newsletter for St Brigid's, Blanchardstown of 19th May (here), shows parishioners there "looking forward to welcoming [their] new Parish Priest", our Fr John. On the other hand, parishioners in St Columba's, Iona Road, are getting ready to "say thank you and goodbye to Fr Joe" (newsletter of 26th May, here), as we are now to Fr John.

A time, then, for fond farewells and hearty welcomes as priests prepare for what must be a difficult task -- moving on and settling in again, very often in their mature years. We welcomed Fr John on 26 October 2016 (see our report here). Now we say a big Thank You to him as he departs, and wish him many happy and fulfilling years in Blanchardstown parish. 

At a token of our appreciation, there will be collections after Mass in  Rathcoole (6 pm, Sat. 22nd,  and 12 pm, Sun. 23rd) and Saggart (9 am, Sun. 23rd). 

Saturday, 29th June, Rathcoole Community Centre

Fr Joseph leaving Iona Road Parish

Veritas in The Square Closing Today After Just 18 Months

I was very surprised to see in this week's Irish Catholic a report stating that the Tallaght branch of Veritas was going to close on Friday 17th May. Yes, the closing surprised me but what surprised me far more was discovering that Veritas had a branch in The Square, not far from Saggart where I live.   

Special Year of Vocations in Ireland 2023-24

Bishop Cullinan with Seminarians in Maynooth, March 2023

Next Sunday 21st April, is Good Shepherd Sunday (a reference to the Gospel of the day from John 10.11-18 which begins "I am the good shepherd"). Given that theme, it is also known as Vocations Sunday. A special Year of Vocations to the Diocesan Priesthood was launched on Good Shepherd Sunday last year (30th April) and will close this coming Sunday. Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan (Waterford and Llismore), Chair of the Bishops' Council of Vocations, was the main organiser of the year. He is pictured in the photo above with three clerical students, two Irish and one Czech, in our National Seminary at Maynooth. (The photo is taken from the website of the Bishops' Conference here.)  So how did the year go?  Read Bishop Cullinan's summary below, taken from The Irish Catholic, 21 March 2024 (p.15).

The Irish Catholic, 21.3.'24. 

Pull-Up Banner on display in
Pugin Hall, Maynooth College

All in all, then, food for thought, as we look round today at the situation in our parish, our diocese, our  country and beyond, wondering and asking ourselves questions about the decline in the number of priests ‒ and what that might be saying to us.

Easter Ceremonies 2024

Click to enlarge

Remember, the ceremonies in Saggart and Rathcoole are streamed.  The link to Saggart is on the menu-bar above (Mass Live) and that for Rathcoole on side-bar to the left (Mass Live : Rathcoole). 

What Do You Think of Our Church Readers?

The Irish Catholic, 22 February 2024

Feedback, we all agree, is very welcome, provided it is constructive. We can all improve, and people's well-intentioned views can help us do so (in the form, " Well done!"+ "Maybe you could etc.").  What do you think of Ossory priest Martin Delaney's approach to the subject in this recent article?  (For bettter magnification, click here.)

If anyone would like to offer his or her services as reader (and raise the standard maybe!), please contact the reader coordinator for Newcastle, Rathcoole or Saggart. (For contact details, under 'Parish Team' on the menu-bar above, scroll down to 'Parish Groups' => 'Ministers of the Word'.)

Praying for War-Stricken Peoples during Lent

Pope Francis recalls suffering in Ukraine and Holy Land

The above is the Vatican News headline for its report on the Pope's address delivered at his General Audience earlier today, Ash Wednesday (see here ). "Today, as Lent begins," he said, "let us prepare to journey through this time as an opportunity for conversion and inner renewal, in listening to the Word of God, in caring for our brothers and sisters, who are in great need. Here, let us never forget the poor people of Ukraine, Palestine, and Israel, who suffer so much. Let us pray for these brothers and sisters who suffer from war. Let us continue our help and intensify prayer, especially to request the gift of peace in the world". 

In Ireland of old, great emphasis was placed on giving up things for Lent. In these days what comes most readily to mind is lightening the burden of those bowed down in whatever small way we can. Yes, as we consider the world around us, what we see can get us all down, so mind-numbing is it. We who have just exited our decade of centenaries bringing back all the killing of WWI, our War of Indepen- dence and our Civil War now see (if not, thankfully, at home) senseless war still raging -- even in the Holy Land. Our one prayer, then, today and for the next forty days, has to be that some way through and out of all the seemingly unstoppable killing be found and agreed on by the shaking of hands. And here I think of the play Three Sisters (1901) by that noble Russian writer -- one of the many in his country in times past -- Anton Chekhov. At the very end of a play which included gunshots and death, the sisters come to the front to utter what we could call not just their own but all of humanity's half-prayer, half-desperate cry about human affairs and where at all they are going: "If only we knew why we live, why we suffer! If only we knew!"