Mayfield parish celebrates 60th birthday of parish church

On the weekend of 11th and 12th of June Bishop Fintan Gavin visited the Church of Our Lady Crowned, Mayfield, to mark the 60^th Anniversary of its opening in 1962.

Bishop Fintan celebrated the three Masses where he included the intentions of the parish community, all those who received the Sacraments over the years, the benefactors both living and deceased, the sick and the housebound and all those who have died in the parish in the past 60 years.

At the beginning of each of the Masses a member of the Funeral Ministry Team lit a special candle in remembrance of all who died in the parish in the past 60 years.

At each Mass the welcoming address by a member of the parish community, spoke about the theme ‘Celebrating 60 Years and looking forward to the next 60 Years’.

Large numbers of people gathered and all the ceremonies had involvement of the laity of the parish. Music played a role in the celebrations too with The Mayfield Men’s Shed Choir, Noreen Sexton and the Parish Choir under the direction of Michael Joyce.

Bishop Fintan was joined at the Masses by Parish Priest Fr Charlie Kiely, Fr Kerry Murphy-O’Connor, Fr Colin Doocey, An tAthair Tomás Ó Murchú, Fr Ben Hegarty OP and Deacon David Lane. Fr Kerry and An tAth Tomás were ordained 59 years ago,  and Fr Colin was ordained 29 years ago in Our Lady Crowned, Bishop Fintan paid tribute to all the priests who ministered over the 60 years in the parish.

A commemorative booklet was written, and the weekend of celebrations ended with a parish picnic in the gardens of the church. In October the parish will travel to Lourdes on a weekend pilgrimage.

The Bishop thanked Fr Charlie, the Parish Pastoral Council and all who made the celebrations possible and who were involved.

Click an image below to view a gallery of photos from the weekend (Photos by Brian Lougheed).