2nd
Sunday After Christmas
Sunday,
3rd January 2010
Words from
Fr Healy ADM
Dear Parishioners,
It is a little
over a week since we celebrated a wonderful Christmas
midnight Mass at St. Mel’s Cathedral with a
full congregation. The choir was magnificent, the
Cathedral looked splendid, we had a team of servers,
readers, Eucharistic ministers, ushers, and a family
to lay the child Jesus in the Crib. We also had a
team of people to greet you at the entrances and to
present you with a prayer card depicting the Crib
in the Cathedral.
As we ended
Midnight mass we went to the porches as we have traditionally
done and there we received and exchanged greetings
and expressions of friendship and of affection with
you our parishioners.
As in past
years, we came into the Presbytery to share a cup
of tea and along with Bishop Colm we would have had
a great sense of occasion and a great sense of the
privilege it is to minister in such a wonderful parish
and in such a fantastic building as St. Mel’s.
And then some
5 hours later we were to receive the awful news and
to watch the fire grow and spread and devastate our
mother Church. The damage is extremely serious inside
but if there’s hope to be had, the early indications
are that the main superstructure that you’ve
known and loved all your life, is safe. So a major
restoration project has begun; it is going to take
some years to bring to completion but we are absolutely
committed and entirely hopeful that we will have a
wonderful re-opening in some years time.
That is
our hope and our dream and our goal.
We are very
much aware of the loss for each one of you in terms
not just of the physical building. We are keenly aware
of the affectionate place that St. Mel’s has
in your hearts. It’s where generations of Longford
people have come to pray, to give time to coming to
know their God, to celebrate their baptisms, weddings
and funerals, and to pray holy hours, rosaries and
stations of the cross - so our loss is immense.
The Temperance
Hall has proved to be a useful short term solution
but having considered the position we don’t
think it is the long term answer to our present needs.
However, we are fortunate to have facilities available
to us at St. Mel’s College. The Principal and
staff have been extremely welcoming and accommodating.
We have assembled a team of volunteers from our Pastoral
Council, Temperance Hall Committee and Finance Committee
and currently we are working hard at developing the
college chapel for daily mass and making the sports
hall suitable for Sunday Mass. It’s a little
bit of a walk down the avenue but perhaps we will
discover the joy of walking and the beauty of trees.
The College
is in the ownership of the local Church community
and shares the same name as the Cathedral. We are
fortunate to have it available to us and we hope it
will become a suitable place for our worship for the
years in which we are without the use of our Cathedral.
As you will
appreciate we have had to make decisions very quickly
in the past week. Every day has been extremely busy
and full; there are so many aspects to what has happed
last week. So we have yet to decide how best to facilitate
the sacraments of reconciliation and baptism and Parish
Funerals but we will focus a little more in the days
to come on these important aspects of parish life.
It will take
some weeks to bring these plans to completion –
please consult local media, our Parish Newsletter
and our new website www.longfordparish.com for further
details as they evolve.
I would like
to take the opportunity to offer our sincere gratitude
to so many people who have been in touch by texts,
letters, emails, and cards from all over the town,
county, country and the world. We have been overwhelmed
by your messages of sympathy and goodwill and offers
of help from all over.
We are deeply touched by the care and support we have
received and in time we will try to acknowledge each
message. At the moment it is physically impossible
to do so but each message of support is recognised
and greatly appreciated.
We express
our gratitude to the Garda, Fire Services, local Press,
other Church leaders and countless people who have
assisted in so many ways during these trying days.
We express our gratitude to Management and Staff at
St. Mel’s College, and the Temperance Hall who
have been so cooperative to us.
Naturally,
we are also saddened by the death of our former Bishop
of 15 years, Cardinal Cahal Daly. We entrust him into
God’s mercy and care. May he rest in peace.
So the end of 2009 brought sad dark days for our parish
but we begin this new year with renewed hope and optimism,
buoyed by the Christian charity and support of our
community. The words of St. Paul come to mind - ‘Be
joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in
prayer’ and in that spirit we move on and
up.
On behalf of
the Parish Pastoral Team I wish you and your family
every happiness and God’s Blessings for 2010.
Thomas Healy (Rev.), Administrator,
St. Mel’s Cathedral.
On
behalf of Parish Pastoral Team:
Una Campbell,
Fr. Nigel Charles, Sr. Angela Clarkson, Rachel Cooney,
Catherine Corkery, Deirdre Dalton Colm Dardis, Tom
Dolan, Fr. Tom Healy, Fr. Padraig Kelliher, Fr. Merlyn
Kenny, Anita Mollaghan, Fr. Brendan O’ Sullivan,
Teresa Neville, Kevin Victory,
St. Mel and St. Ciaran - pray for
us.
