Dear parishioners of St Judes and St Pius X parishes,

Most of you will be aware that I will be taking pastoral responsibility for St Jude’s parish as well as my current responsibility for St Pius X parish from 2nd September. Fr Brendan will say his final Masses in St Judes on Sunday 1st September. I will be the only full-time priest working across the two parishes and so it is necessary to make some changes, particularly in how we celebrate our liturgical life together. The key to our new and evolving situation working, is open minds and hearts and a spirit of generosity and sharing among us. In short, we need to begin to view our new reality as one parish blessed with two churches.

Both parish councils have met together in a spirit of openness and co-operation and have agreed the following changes, in order to allow me to minister in both parishes in a somewhat manageable fashion. The details are set out in the timetable overleaf. In short…..

• Each parish will move from 4 to 3 weekday celebrations of Mass
• All Masses (including funerals) will be at 10am
• Saturday evening Mass in St Judes will move to 5.30pm
• There will be one Sunday morning Mass in each of the parishes and therefore the Sunday 12 o’clock Mass in St Judes will cease. We recognise that this is possibly the most significant change, especially for those who faithfully attended this Mass over the years. St Pius X parish also reduced to one Sunday morning Mass in more recent years. We would ask parishioners currently attending the Sunday 12 o’clock Mass to come to 10am Mass in St Judes or 11.30am Mass in St Pius X.
• We hope that the Saturday / Sunday timetable with 4 celebrations of Mass across the 2 parishes will accommodate most of our parishioners.
• Funerals: Funerals will take place in St Judes on Mondays and Wednesdays and in St Pius X on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10am. Funerals may take place in either parish on Saturdays, subject to my availability. There will be NO funerals in either parish on Fridays. Our deacon, Rev Gerry Larkin will have some availability to conduct funeral services (not Mass) in either church or crematoriums. Undertakers will be made aware of these arrangements.
• Baptisms: Baptisms will take place in St Pius X on 1st Sunday of each month at 1pm and in St Judes on the 3rd Sunday of each month at 1pm. Many thanks to Deacon Gerry and Fr Gerry Moore our retired pp in St Pius X who will assist me where they can in pastoral ministry. Many thanks also to our parish staff, volunteers and pastoral councils for their encouragement and support in our new adventures together.

Fr Pat McKinley PP