Parish Newsletter Christmas Special 2017 www.dundrumparish.commmm

Th��� Y��! This last year has been hectic in our parish. From the Joy at seeing our new pastoral cen-tre open and our new committee and volun-teers beginning to build community to the challenge of learning there is no replacement for Fr Kieran.

I would like to express my thanks to all who are involved in our parish community. Our parish of Dundrum is blessed that so many people who are faithful to prayer and service, to ministry and to outreach are living among us. I would also like to thank you for your financial support to the parish.

Our preparation for the World Meeting of Families in Dublin (21-26 August) provides an opportunity to celebrate our varied families and the life we share. As a parish family, I have to say I find Pope Francis’ living of the Gospel of Family a real challenge. If he visits Ireland in 2018, he will no doubt bring joy and inspire us in our following of Jesus Christ. What will be the ‘legacy’ of such a papal visit? What difference will it make to Holy Cross parish? . . . Holy Spirit, guide and lead us!

As we celebrate the Feast of Jesus’ Birthday I hope that it is a good time for you with fami-ly and friends. I pray for the many who expe-rience struggles and darkness. On our life's journey, through kindness and love, may we find the true gift of Christmas. Wishing you Joy, Peace & Blessings. Fr. John

2017 – A busy year in Holy Cross

January

It was great to start the year and to be back home in our beautifully restored church even though work was continuing with the organ and the parish of-fice and parish pastoral centre.

February

On 26th February, Archbishop Diarmaid Martin visited our parish. He cele-brated our family Mass and at our 12 noon Mass blessed our new baptismal font and babies Charlie and Aislin who were baptised and welcomed into our faith community.

March

To celebrate our newly restored church, parishioners Des Keogh, Geraldine O’Grady and their daughter Oonagh Keogh together with our own Niamh and Patrice entertained us with a wonderful afternoon of music and song. They were joined by a new generation of young musicians, Des and Gerald-ine’s grandchildren Ruadhan and Aoibhin.

April

On the 2nd of April Archbishop Charles J. Brown bestowed the pontifical hon-our Benemerenti on three of our parishioners in recognition of their contri-bution to parish life over a long number of years, Elizabeth McCloskey, Gay McCarron and Ronnie Smiley. It was a fitting occasion to recognise the work, often unseen, that so many groups of people do to support our church.

Perhaps you would consider getting involved by sharing your talents with us and joining one of our groups in 2018? There are so many that you are bound to find one to suit and you can be assured of a warm welcome!

May

In May the Pavilion was completed, and our hardworking parish secretaries Vivienne and Brenda settled into their

Joy, Peace & Blessings. Fr. John

new brighter office located in the new bright pavilion.

June

In preparation for the opening of the new Parish Pastoral Centre, a new management committee was formed. They visited many local pastoral centres to learn from their knowledge and experience. Our committee developed guidelines for users and began to cost furnishing and equipping the Pastoral Centre. We all had an opportunity to experience their expertise when the centre opened in November.

July

Summer saw the builders leaving and there were updates about our parish finances Due to the sale of land in 1998 the parish to date has been fortunate to fund 90% of the cost of the restoration of the Church, the building of the parish office and pastoral centre. All parishioners were encouraged to become involved and ‘make a pledge’ to fund the Organ restoration ‘Adopt a Pipe ’, the furnishing of our new Pastoral Centre and to support our parish’s on-going funding through the Family Offering.

August

On the 13th August it was announced that after nine years Fr. Kieran was to leave us for a new appointment in St. Mary’s Pro Cathedral in Dublin. It seemed a pity that he couldn’t remain to enjoy the restored Holy Cross and the new centre given all the work he put into completing such a huge task. The other news delivered at this time was that due to the shortage of priests Fr. Kieran would not be replaced. So, Fr. John is on his own!

September

Great excitement as the children from Holy Cross school returned to see the work done to the school entrances over the summer holidays. On the 5th September Fr. Kieran celebrated his last Mass in Holy Cross and we wished him well in his new post in the pro-Cathedral, Marlborough Street. Fr John will be moving into Emmaus, the Parochial House in the Spring.

October

The Parish Pastoral Council decided on an initiative of ‘Listening Sundays’. It is important to ensure that Holy Cross continues to meet the needs of the parish community. This started with the Family Mass and some of the findings will result in the formation of a children’s choir early in 2018. Also new Readers of the Word and Prayers of the Faithful have come forward. If you wish to be involved, please leave your name with any of the sacristans on Sundays or email the Parish Office. The ‘Listening’ will continue with the other Masses in the Spring.

November

On the 18th November Fr. Kieran returned to bless and open our new Parish Pastoral Cen-tre. It was a truly wonderful celebration. I think everyone enjoyed the occasion. This coin-cided with the production of an amazing book, ‘Holy Cross - Past, Present and Future’. This is the result of an immense amount of work, started by a small group of ‘parish historians and writers’ and brought to completion by Fr. John. Where he found the hours and hours of painstaking editing etc. is a mystery!

December

We were all invited to take part in an Advent Kindness Project. In the spirit of Christmas we were encouraged to perform random acts of kind-ness and then write these acts on colourful tags and hang them on the Advent tree. A nice habit that would be great to continue all year round, even without the tags!

If you have come home in Dundrum for Christmas, visiting or if you are looking for a nice New Year’s present, there are still a few copies of ‘Holy Cross – Past Present and Future’ available for a modest €10.

Dundrum Parish Newsletter www.dundrumparish.com

Nollaig

Dundrum Parish Newsletterer www.dundrumparish.commm

2017/18

An Nollag i Scoil na Croise Naofa/Christmas at Holy Cross School

At the beginning of this school year we returned to our newly refurbished school. We have received so many compliments and are very proud of our school’s appearance. We would like to thank all of the parishioners and local businesses who helped fund the project. Having completed the project, we now turn our full attention to helping others. Although we have always had occasions in the school where we raised funds to help those less fortunate than ourselves, this year we will be ex-amining how we ‘do social justice’ in Holy Cross School. It is essential that our children learn about the importance of giving and the importance of gratitude. This year we are involved in the Global Schools Initiative, which is a project that

will last all year but hopefully have an influence on us for life.

We are so fortunate to be able to enjoy our school and community and we thank God, every day for our blessings. We have great days (like our Halloween Fancy Dress Party) and we have also really enjoyed our charity work such as the Crosscare Food Appeal, The Christmas Shoe Box Appeal and other great initiatives in which we plan to take part throughout the school year.

Nollaig Shona agus Athbhliain Faoi Mhaise!

Our Local conference would like to thank you to all pa-rishioners who contributed to the SVP Annual Appeal

collection on 9th and 10th of December.

The amount contributed was €22,567.15 Donations can

still be made with envelopes available in the church

porches. Your help can last a lifetime. We would like to wish you all a very Happy

Christmas and may the New Year bring light and hope

into all our lives.

CHURCH POOR BOX All dona�ons to the parish poor box (located beside the large Cross at the choir gallery

steps side of the front door) go directly to Brother Kevin to

help the homeless .

“��PE �S THE ��NTER ��ME OF ��D” I always found Autumn an eerie season when I worked in Russia. Gradually everything moved into an ice-age for five months. The grass retreated under the soil. The light dimmed. Days became short, grey, dark, dull, dead. Often the mood matched the weather, Sally Dyke wrote a poem about the experience: “For those in a wintry season”.

“Where is God in the winter of my soul? Will ice-logged rivers of love flow again?

Will warmth burn away the cold? Believing in things unseen,

Hope is the winter name of God.”

The New Year recovers something of that hope. Somehow, people begin to sense a spring stirring below the surface. Christians know it in a new Child. When we might be tempted to opt out, they realise God has opted in and come to walk our human journey with a disturbing freshness. The Child will be the future. We will find our identity in Him. “You are my beloved Child. My favour rests on you”. God has pitched his tent among us. From now on the human story is the heart of God. Our hope is the new Child of Mary, but also the child in each of us, as we allow our imagination to be peo-pled with possibility. How will our greatness emerge? It is a strange human experience that what satisfies at the surface of life may betray us at deeper levels. We are all made for more. So we need to heed our dreams at the threshold of a new year. Will we be able to trust 2018? What will be so important this year that we simply cannot do without it? What or who is it in which I put my full trust? That is my real God of the New Year. And he will be calling. Trust Him.

“I said to the man Who stood at the gate of the year:

Give me a light That I may walk safely into the unknown.

And he said: Put your hand Into the hand of God

And he will be for you Better than light

And safer than any known way”.

Reflection by Fr Michael Screene MSC Mulvey Park. We thank Fr. Michael for his inspiring reflections for the newsletter throughout this last year.

, p j

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2018 Dundrum Parish Newsletter www.dundrumparish.com

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