More on our forthcoming Parish Mission 2017……

As I mentioned in a recent newsletter St. Mary’s is holding a Parish Mission in November next. It is a mission with a difference. It will be conducted by the Ceili Community, a group made up of priests, religious and lay people and will happen over two weeks mid-November. As part of our preparation for the mission we are looking for volunteers for several different areas, let me explain:

In order to place the Mission on a sound footing it is vital that prayer is its foundation. Sr. Julie Carmody is a Presentation Sister resident in Lucan and she has kindly agreed to act as co-ordinator for the prayer aspect of the mission. We are hoping to have families or individuals who will volunteer to host a prayer gathering in their homes in the various areas of the parish. These will last less than an hour and hosting doesn’t require teas or refreshments of any kind. If you would be willing to host such a gathering of friends and neighbours Sr .Julie would love to hear from you. She will be in the main porch on Sunday after the Masses taking names. She will them hold a meeting of the volunteers at which some materials for the gatherings will be available with some simple guidelines.

In week one of the Mission every home will be visited with an invitation to week two which will be church based. The Ceili Community themselves would have no hope of doing all the visitation themselves as we have just shy of 4,000 homes in the parish. We are looking for 20 volunteers who will accompany the ceili community members on the home visits. Each visit will be brief and will involve handing the Mission leaflet in with a warm invitation to come along. When nobody is home the leaflet will be left in the letterbox. We are used to religious callers to our doors in the form of the Mormons or the Jehovah witnesses, this is probably the first visit from Catholics on a religious outreach mission. Pope Francis is constantly reminding us that all who are baptised are called to be evangelisers, to invite others to an encounter with Christ – here is a great opportunity to do just that. The Ceili Community will meet the volunteers for a short training session. If you would be willing to be part of the invitation team please leave your name and telephone number at the Sacristy after any Mass during this coming week.

The forthcoming Mission is a call to all of us to play our part in the Christian Community.

Fr. Philip Curran