Upgrading Our Churches

A new Finance Committee was announced in the newsletter of 7th May (here, p.2). This committee has identified some renovation projects for our churches, as outlined in the newsletter of 4th June (here, p.1). Parishioners are invited to suggest ideas for further projects and a Suggestion Box has been provided in each of our churches to receive such suggestions. In the words of the newsletter:

SUGGESTION BOX   A suggestion box has been placed in each of our churches. Its purpose is two-fold:
1.  Suggestions for other projects that you would like to be considered. Each project will be reviewed carefully and prioritized.
2.  Suggestions for any input / support that you may be able to provide in order to support the completion of the suggested project(s).

Tiptop Work! Renovation Complete with Repair of Tower Pinnacle

Back Again in its Place : The Repaired Finial (foreground, right)  5.9.2016

Many parishioners were unaware of it, maybe, while others were, though saying nothing about it. What are we talking about?  A small piece of unfinished business from the great work done on the exterior of St Mary's from late autumn 2014 to Easter 2015. Once you became aware of it, it just would not go away, and remained there to detract somewhat from the magnificent overall effect left by the rest of the work. We have a lovely church tower capped by a fine crenellated parapet with four pinnacles rising high at each corner. On top of each pinnacle there is what is called a 'finial' which, in our case, is in the form of a stone ball (click on above photo to enlarge it). Now one of these finials must not have been attached securely enough into the top of its pinnacle and had to be taken down for repair sometime in April of last year. Months went by, those who had noticed its going waiting patiently for its reappearance. Summer came and went. 2016 came and was going swiftly by.  Still no sign. The knowledgeable Christy Keane assured those who inquired that the matter was being dealt with and to just hold on a bit longer. Every day as one drove through the village, a glance up at the church tower revealed whether there was any news. Was there ever going to be any great news at all, one wondered ever more sceptically.  So then, what great joy it was when yet another weary glance up at the sky on Thursday, 25th August showed that, yes, yes, it had come back! 

Now we can show off the finally completed work with great fanfare. For photos of the entire work of external renovation see here.  For the story of the 'missing' finial, see here.  (To change slide at your own pace, click on the screen for a desktop or touch it for a tablet.)

Christmas Mass Times

Background of Crib in St Finian's Church, Newcastle Lyons

See Newsletter for the 20th (right sidebar) giving (p.2) the times of Mass on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day as well as times for reception of the Sacrament of Reconciliation over the Christmas period.

Click  here  to read a letter to all parishioners from our Parish Priest, Fr Enda. (Use the zoom button top left of the screen to read the letter more comfortably.)

I'm sure you can all fix the first word for me in the nice scene shown above. Unfortunately, the width of the text scroll doesn't coincide with that of the painting, resulting in the omission of the first letter. What is it? You're right. Well done on your Latin!

Saggart Carol Service    Here are some photos of the carol service of Sunday 13th taken by Liam Roche.  (Click on the link. The controls are at the bottom left of the screen.)  Below is one of the photos, that of Sean O'Rourke, about to retire as Parish Pastoral Worker. We thank him for his great work among us over the past three years, carried out in a friendly, enthusiastic spirit that made him popular with parishioners both young and not-so-young.

Sean O'Rourke with his wife Darina and Fr Aidan

Living the Joy of the Gospel : A Diocesan Funding Campaign

Things have been happening very fast in our parishes and in our diocese over recent months. In our parishes: two new national schools, one open in Saggart for a year, the other in Newcastle about to open, then the beginning of a major 'make over' for St Mary's, now complete as regards the outside work. In our diocese: the hard thinking that has gone on over the future, focused on pressing personnel and financial needs.

'Pledge' cards were distributed at Mass last Sunday and will be again this Sunday. This certainly must have woken us all up, no doubt with a bit of a shock, to the hard realities of contemporary parochial life. Yes, we knew in theory all about the shortage of priests, and yes we were aware that Parish Pastoral Workers like our own Sean O'Rourke were helping out and, quite naturally, being paid for it, but now, with the gradual rolling out of the 'diocesan initiative for financial development entitled "Living the Joy of the Gospel - Building our Faith Community"' (words from the diocesan website), it is beginning to come home to us that we are faced, both locally and on a diocesan level, with an unprecedentedly challenging situation that we have to think about and, eventually (and now comes the big Yes or No), get out our wallet in response to.

When giving money, we all have to look very hard at what it is for and how much we can afford to give. We are bombarded with good causes, local, national and even international. It is becoming increasingly hard for families to 'hierarchize' these, to decide what knock on the door to respond to and what, regrettably, to refuse. Mid-range, high up or low down in that hierarchy, 'What does St Mary's or Dublin diocese mean to me in the final analysis?' is a question that arises for each of us and is for each of us to answer, me included.

Donal McMahon,  Web Sec

Example of Pledge Card: Click to Enlarge

Please see 'St Mary's Renovation' on the top menu bar for more information.

Saggart Church, St Patrick's Day 2015

As you can see, the renovation of St Mary's is progressing well.  What is happening to the upper part of the church can be seen in the photograph below of the men working away at cleaning the top sections of the tower,  raised sky-high in the basket at the end of the fully extended crane arm.

For more information on how the renovation is going and how the financing of it is being planned, please read the Newsletter for the 15th here. For those who missed the Special Parish Newsletter of mid-February, it can be viewed here.

The Good Work Proceeds

On Sunday 9th November last, Fr Enda announced that the renovation of St Mary's would begin the following week. That Sunday being the feast of the Dedication of the Basilica of St John Lateran in Rome, it was a most auspicious day on which to launch the work on our own parish church of St Mary's. Here are some photos of the work carried out so far.