Fr Seamus McEntee, Ordained 3rd June 2014

Rathcoole Community Centre, Saturday 7 June 2014
Fr Seamus and Fr Enda

The United Parishes of Saggart and Newcastle are justly proud of local man, Seamus McEntee, who was ordained in the Pro-Cathedral on Tuesday, 3rd June, the only ordination for Dublin this year. The event made the news headlines of the following day, with a photo in the Irish Times and a report in the Irish Independent.  Parishioners might like to read Archbishop Martin's homily.

Fr Seamus will celebrate the Colmanstown cemetery Mass at 7.30 p.m., Monday 30th June, in St Finian's,  Newcastle. What a moving occasion that is likely to be, a man saying Mass for those lying in the graveyard near his home, a graveyard dating from medieval times.  [Note Correction here.]

The writer made it to the Mass of Thanksgiving in the Church of the Holy Family, Rathcoole, on Saturday 7th.  Here are some photos from the reception held afterwards in the Community Centre (and many thanks to the organizers, including members of the St Joseph's Young Priests' Society).
The photos can be seen here (youtube).
  
Finally, Newsletters for 8 June and 15 June

Cemetery Masses

Newcastle (Ballynakelly)         Sunday 8 June

Mass in cemetery at 2 p.m. followed by blessing of the graves

Brownstown                                   Saturday 14 June

Mass in cemetery at 2 p.m. followed by blessing of the graves

St Finian's                                        Sunday 29 June

Mass in St Finian's Church at 10.30 a.m. followed by blessing of the graves

St Mary's                                           Sunday 29 June

Mass in St Mary's Church at 11.30 a.m. followed by blessing of the graves at 12.30
Colmanstown                                Monday 30 June
Mass in St Finian's, Newcastle at 7.30 p.m. celebrated by Fr Seamus McEntee from Colmanstown, ordained 3 June 2014

Junction 4 Newsletters:    1 June,   25 May,  18 May,
                                                    11 May,   4 May

Parishioner Seamus McEntee to be Ordained

     Priest for Dublin, Tuesday 3 June 2014

Left, back: Bishop Eamonn Walsh, Seamus McEntee, Fr Aidan Kieran
Front: Seamus's mother, Mary, and his nephew, Stephen Harney
Photo taken in St Finian's Parish Centre, 13 January 2013

On the feast day of St Kevin, Tuesday, the 3rd June, at 11.00 a.m. in the Pro-Cathedral, Seamus McEntee from Rathcoole will be ordained  by Archbishop Martin as a priest for the diocese of Dublin. As well as being a memorable occasion for his family and our parishes, it will be an occasion equally as memorable for the diocese, since Seamus's is the only ordination this year for Dublin. 

Our bicentenary book on St Finian's carries a feature on Seamus, which includes the above photo (p.100). Born in 1965 to Mary and the late James McEntee, he grew up with two brothers and two sisters on the family farm in Colmanstown. He spent five years with the Missionary of Charity Fathers in Mexico. In 2012 he gained a degree in Theology in Maynooth, followed by a Diploma in Pastoral Theology, and was ordained deacon in the Pro-Cathedral on 12 November 2013, feast day of St Laurence O'Toole (see report in the Irish Catholic).

He has been serving as deacon in Clondalkin for the past year, and tells us about himself in a piece he wrote for that parish's newsletter in December 2013 (you can read it here).  He will say his first Mass there in the church of the Immaculate Conception (in the centre of the village) on Wednesday 4th,  7.30 p.m.

Our bicentenary book carries a feature on Fr Andrew Hart, P.P. of the 'United Parishes of Saggart, Rathcoole and Newcastle', who was responsible for the building of St Finian's. He is buried in our parish church of St Mary's, with a life-sized effigy on the south wall marking his grave. Two hundred years later, another Rathcoole man is becoming a priest. We congratulate Seamus, and wish him many happy years among his people.

Fr Seamus will celebrate a Mass of Thanksgiving on Saturday 7th June at 6.30 p.m. in the Church of the Holy Family, Rathcoole.  A small reception will be held after Mass in the Community Centre. All are welcome to attend.