Information for the opening and rededication of St. Mary's Church

We are very  pleased to announce the date for the opening and rededication of St. Mary’s Church.  We plan to reopen the Church on Sunday 18th December with a Mass at 3.00pm in the afternoon.  The refurbishment work has taken longer than anticipated due to some unexpected structural difficulties becoming apparent as work progressed. 

The problems have been addressed successfully and will ensure that, with regular maintenance, St. Mary’s should stand the test of time.  As the oldest Church in the parish and one of the oldest in the Diocese of Dromore it is rewarding to see this 18th Century historic Church which is an enduring testimony to the sacrifice and faith of previous generations, now restored and modernised to meet the needs of the 21st Century.

Weekend Masses When St. Mary’s Church closed for renovation two local schools facilitated the celebration of the weekend Masses.  The schools closed at the end of June and these Masses were discontinued.  It was coincidental, when Bishop McAreavey asked Fr. Corr to be Administrator of Donaghmore and Aghaderg, that two weekend Masses had already been discontinued and the priests of the parish were able to celebrate the remaining scheduled Masses.  Following the recent, permanent appointment of Fr. Corr as Parish Priest of Donaghmore and Aghaderg and the imminent reopening of St. Mary’s Church, we have had to review the number of weekend Masses and take account of the numbers attending each Mass.  With the decline in the numbers attending weekend Masses and with the number of priests now available in the parish, the current Mass schedule cannot be sustained. Bishop McAreavey has attended meetings of the Pastoral Councils in each of the five Pastoral Areas of the diocese to continue consultation about the deployment of priests with Pastoral Council members who represent parishioners.  The Bishop’s aim is to determine the best possible arrangements by which to meet the spiritual and pastoral needs of parishioners and their access to the Sacraments.  Bishop McAreavey was present at the recent meeting of Newry Parish Pastoral Council to address the consequences of the reduction of priest numbers in our parish.  Dr. Tony Hanna, recently retired Director of Pastoral Renewal and Family Ministry in the Archdiocese of Armagh, has been present at all the diocesan meetings in order to brief Parish Pastoral Councils about developing Lay Ministries as one way of supporting the work of our priests. We have considered the various options possible for the future schedule of weekend Masses and we are committed to providing weekend Masses in our three Churches albeit with one Mass in St. Brigid’s and St. Mary’s Churches.

With effect from 1st January 2017, there will be one weekend Mass, the Vigil Mass, in St. Brigid’s Church at 7.00pm on Saturday evenings and one weekend Mass in St. Mary’s Church at 11.00am on Sunday mornings.  The Mass, celebrated in Polish each Sunday morning at 9.30am in St. Brigid’s Church, is available to anyone who wishes to attend.

Weekday Masses Currently we have three Masses in the Parish on weekdays.  In addition to these three Masses there are requests for Masses in schools and residential homes as well as many funeral and wedding Masses.  The situation often arises that any one of the three priests in the parish may have to celebrate two or three Masses on a given day.  To enable us to continue to provide for the current range of demands, it has been agreed that the evening Mass schedule has to be reduced.  Consequently, with effect from the 1st January 2017, there will be a 7.00pm evening Mass in St. Mary’s Church on Tuesday evenings and a 7.00pm evening Mass in St. Brigid’s Church on Friday evenings. Newry Parish is a large, strong and vibrant parish.