This is a list of all parish and community groups and notices which relate to each.
Click on the group name below for more information.
The “St. Mary’s Parish Property and Finance Council, Lucan” (or the Property and Finance Council as it is commonly known) was set up in 2008. It is a consultative group. Its role is to assist the co-Parish Priests with their responsibilities in the areas of parish property and related financial matters. While serving on the Council, members act in the best interests of the parish as a whole. Its Terms of Reference include assisting the co-Parish Priests by
The Council is chaired by Michael Barrett, the other members are Fr. Philip, Fr. Tom, Leo Hargaden (Secretary), Simon Cunningham, and Mary Jackson. Our parish Secretary, Deirdre Dowling, attends each meeting.
The Council believes that our beautifully restored Church building and very busy Parish Centre are a wonderful tribute to the many men and women of Lucan who worked for so many years to raise the funds to deliver the facilities we all enjoy today.
Please be assured that your continued support for the on-going running, maintenance, and improvements of facilities is deeply appreciated and that we, too, will play our part in ensuring that St. Mary’s remains a welcoming and vibrant parish for all.
The member of the Council are shown above Top Row L-R Sr. Julie Carmody, Fr. Philip Curran, Jimmy Miller, 2nd Row: Yvonne O’Shea (Chairperson) Maria O’Mahony, 3rd Row: Niall Kelly, Colette Toomey, John Gormley, 4th Row: Christopher Okereke, Mark Beegan, Marie Peelo, Bottom Row: Bernie Martin
Like many parishes, St. Mary’s has its own local conference of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.
The word of ‘the vincents’ is well known throughout the world. They exist to support individuals and families in need.
The local conferences , as the groups are known, are made up of volunteers who meet on a weekly basis.
At the meetings they discuss their previous week’s visits to families and individuals in need, and review the work for the coming week.
The assistance the Conference offers is in the form of vouchers for food in local supermarkets, help with the payment of rent and utility bills, help with meeting educational needs and encouragement where appropriate to parents to avail of adult educational courses. The Conference offers moral support to people who need someone to talk to and tries to get them to seek help from qualified agencies for their particular needs.
The members of the Conference do a monthly church door collection and prior to Christmas hold an indoor church collection in place of the usual SHARE collection.
The Conference is always seeking new members. Anybody interested in becoming a member should contact the Parish Office, telephone (01) 6217041
Any body in need seeking assistance should call 01 8550022
Located in St. Mary’s Parish Centre, the Coffee Dock provides a place where parishioners can meet for a chat and a cuppa after the 10:00 Mass from Monday to Friday, on on Sunday after the 10:30 am and 12:00 noon Masses.
The Tea and Coffee are the cheapest in Dublin – available for a donation!
The Coffee dock is staffed by a group of volunteers who are rostered to ensure cover throughout the week.
New volunteers are always welcome; contact Deirdre in the parish office to learn how to get started
Tel: 6217041
Email: secretary@lucanparish.com
St Mary’s Chorale is not just a choir; it is the coming together of 50 people each Wednesday night. People who come out in frost and cold, people who record football matches rather than miss rehearsal, people of all ages from Lucan and West Dublin who have a passion for singing good music well. Every Wednesday night the 4 part harmonies echo around the old stone walls wakening old ghosts and filling the shadows with the light of beautiful melodies. Out in front stands a very loved and talented Musical Director, Eithne Donnelly, whose charm and good humour would get the tetchiest tenor singing out proud and strong. They have sung at many charity concerts and have been invited abroad on several occasions.
On the first Sunday of each month the Chorale leads the congregation in song for Mass at 12 noon and the united voices float up into the cavernous ceiling of the Church.
New members are welcome and should drop in to the rehearsal any Wednesday night in the Parish Centre.
The Musical Director is Eithne Donnelly.
At St. Mary’s there is a group knows as the Baptism Faith Friends, who meet on the first Thursday of each month in our Parish Centre. The family whose baby is for baptism make a booking on the online booking facility.. Following this booking, a Faith Friend will be asked to pay the family a visit to help them prepare. A telephone call to the parents to arrange a mutually suitable appointment time is made, and a visit with both parents follows. On meeting the new parents, the Baptism ceremony is explained, and the faith friend encourages the parents to ask questions they may have regarding any aspect of the ceremony. A form is given to the parents for registration, and the information supplied on this when returned to the sacristy is for the Baptismal Certificate, which is given to the parents on the day of the Christening.
Baptisms are celebrated on the dates indicated on the online booking form.
On the day of the child’s christening chosen by the parents, the faith friend designated to each child is present in church to welcome the baby, parents, family, and friends, and to assist in the preparation of all for the ceremony.
On any Baptismal Sunday, the number of babies to be christened varies from just one to four, with a maximum of five.
Each year, usually in January on the feast of the Baptism of The Lord, we hold a special blessing ceremony for all the babies who were baptized during the past year.
They have gone only as far as God and God is very near.
St. Bonaventure
Grief has no timetable, knows no bounds. Grief is painful and during the grieving process that pain can be nearly unbearable. The length and difficulty of the grieving process vary with each unique situation: the relationship with the person who died; the circumstances of the death and how survivors handle life situations. Grief has no timetable. The emotions may come and go for weeks, months, and years. The most common reactions to the death of a loved one are shock, denial, anger, guilt, sadness, and finally acceptance. It is very important to take care of yourself during the grieving process and know that the emotions you feel are normal.No one should have to grieve alone.
The Parish of St. Mary’s here in Lucan has a bereavement support group that is available to help get through the process. Members of the Bethany Group are available in St. Mary’s Parish centre on the:
Individual home visits can also be arranged.
Team Members: Sr. Geraldine, Marie, Ann, Mary, Anne, and Denis
The Parish funeral team are a group of trained lay people who work with the priests of the parish at the time of parish funerals.
Together with the priest they meet the family of the deceased and assist them in planning the funeral liturgy.
Acting in the name of the faith community they are there to assure the bereaved of the love and support of the parish.
They support the families in prayer.
They help the families to choose appropriate readings from scripture and fitting liturgical music, and provide a booklet with a selection of such readings and some lovely articles on coping with loss.
On request they conduct prayers in the home of the deceased or in the Funeral parlour and on occasion they conduct the graveside or crematorium prayers.
They liaise with the families in providing a list of family members or friends who are participating in the liturgy to the celebrant of the funeral Mass.
Many families have expressed deep appreciation for the support and assistance of the team members.
The team can be contacted through the Parish offce.
Learning to meditate is learning to become a really harmonious person. There is nothing life-denying or self-rejecting about meditation. It is simply the way to get every aspect of our life into a harmonious relationship with every other aspect.
John Main O.S.B., “The Heart of Creation”
Every Tues. at 8 pm in the Nuns Chapel.
All welcome.
N.B. Closed for July & August
The Justice & Peace Group was founded in the Millennium Year. Our mission statement says that our concern is to raise awareness of injustice and oppression, experienced by people at home and abroad, particularly in the Third World.
In accordance with Gospel Reading, we aim to take practical measures to alleviate their suffering, so that all may grow in the spirit of Jesus Christ. Our current practical measure is a fundraising drive to support an organization, which airlifts livestock to help African farm families. We are involved in the work being done by agencies such as the Debt & Development Coalition, and the Fair Trade movement.
We have a small core group of about six people; willing helpers, mostly female in running events, augments this. We plan in the future to look at some issues of social injustice in our own country.
Visit our blog: http://stmarysjusticeandpeace.wordpress.com/
For more information, contact:
Parish Office
Phone: 01-6217041
Eucharistic Ministers are lay people who have been commissioned by the Church, usually the Parish Priest, to help with the distribution of Communion at Masses and to bring Holy Communion to the sick, infirm and housebound who can no longer come to Mass. Before being commissioned the Ministers attend a short course outlining the great importance of the Eucharist and also the practicalities involved in the distribution.
Visitors to St. Mary’s at festive times of the year are always highly complimentary of the beautiful floral arrangements that grace our church.
Each Christmas and Easter our church is bedecked with flowers that proclaim the glory of Gods magnificent creation. Special occasion like First Communion and Confirmations are always resplendent.
The Harvest display each year is a particularly spectacular burst of colour in celebration of God’s bounty.
We have three ladies who work together and consistently produce the most magnificent arrangements.
They can be contacted via the Parish Office: 621 7041
Boys and girls who have made their first Holy Communion are eligible to become Altar servers at St.Mary’s.
The commitment is to serve at one of the weekend Masses at least every second week.
The servers are looked after by Mrs. Dee Gillen who trains and prepares them for their ministry.
Young people who are interested should call in to the sacristy after any Mass accompanied by a parent and leave their contact details, OR you can fill in the form below and we will be in touch.
“The Lord has given me a well-trained tongue, that I may know how to speak to the weary a word that will rouse them.”
The public reading of the Sacred Scriptures has consistently characterized Christian worship and is one of the oldest and most important aspects of the liturgy having its pre-Christian roots in the Jewish synagogue. The role of a Minister of the Word is to make the Liturgy of the Word as meaningful as possible for the assembled congregation. The General Instruction of the Roman Missal reminds us that when the Sacred Scriptures are read in the Church, God himself speaks to his people, and Christ, present in his own word, proclaims the Gospel. During the liturgy, the reader is fulfilling a mission to his or her fellow community members. It is a sacred duty that involves a sharing of one’s own faith.
It is therefore a great privilege to read the sacred scriptures at Mass. It is also a personally enriching, fulfilling, and spiritual experience. If you have been given the gift of a good voice (which can be trained to sound better) and a good sense of reading aloud (which can be trained to interpret better) you are equipped for the Ministry of the Word.
At present, there is a panel of 40 parishioners who are Ministers of the Word in St. Mary’s Parish. More would be welcome. The commitment involves preparing for and reading the sacred scriptures at the Mass each Sunday (or Saturday vigil) for one month every three months. The quarterly schedule is drawn up on the basis of the Mass time(s) preferred by each Minister of the Word. (If a Minister of the Word is available to read at a week-day Mass that is an added bonus). An objective of the Ministry is to extend its appreciation of this most vital of ministries from a mechanical process of reading God’s word to one of deep reflection, careful preparation, and powerful, an expressive proclamation of Gods’ word. Periodic opportunities are therefore provided to Lectors to improve the quality of their preparation and reading of God’s Word.
If you feel that you might be interested and that you may have the gifts needed to take part in this important ministry please contact the schedule coordinator or the Parish Office and you will be contacted as soon as possible.
For more information, contact:
Michael Grant
Schedule coordinator
Phone: 01-6281166
Email: michaelgrant1451943@gmail.com
The commitment is to one Sunday in each month as part of a small team that works together.
If you are interested in volunteering please fill in the form below and we will contact you soon.
People experience the presence of Jesus Christ in the world through the ministry of the church. The first task of the parish community is to reach out to all people in Christian love and service.
Christian hospitality draws people together, opens them to participate, and sets the tone for the liturgy. In their welcome and Christ-like attitude, members of the Welcoming Ministry ensure that the faithful see and experience the love of Christ.
The ministry is crucial because it is so visible in the Church. The attitude, conduct, and even the appearance of the minister of hospitality directly affects, either positively or negatively, the experience of the faithful at Mass.
Conscious of this vital ministry and its significance for the faithful the parish of St. Mary has created a separate welcoming ministry to help create a sense of welcome and hospitality.
New members are always welcome.