Diocesan Pastoral Council Update

In March 2024, the Diocese began work on the establishment of the Dublin Diocesan Pastoral Council (DDPC). The membership of the Diocesan Pastoral Council expresses the vision in Church Documents that it should reflect the entire people of God with the good of the whole Diocese in mind.

In the spirit of the Universal Synod on Synodality a process was designed that allowed for widespread invitation, prayerful discernment and practical application. In December the Deaneries, made up of Parish Pastoral Council representatives, religious and clergy, were invited to put forward candidates whom they felt would have the necessary gifts to serve on the DDPC.

When the initial names emerged, a four-stage process of discernment began at Deanery level, Pastoral Area level and finally Diocesan level. At each stage the groups entrusted with the discernment were made up of both laity and clergy. The final level of discernment has taken place. Those to be commissioned as members of the Diocesan Pastoral Council are:

Ms Áine Nolan (West Dublin)

Ms Bruna Frota Mourao (City Centre)

Ms Catherine Hennessy (North Dublin)

Monsignor Ciarán O’Carroll (South Dublin)

Archbishop Dermot Farrell

Bishop Donal Roche

Deacon Eamonn Murray (North Dublin)

Father Gareth Byrne (North Dublin)

Ms Geraldine Tallon (Wicklow)

Mr Kevin Mullally (Southwest Dublin)

Canon Liam Rigney (Kildare)

Sister Liz Byrne (West Dublin)

Ms Maeve Davidson (South Dublin)

Ms Orla McCarthy (South Dublin)

Ms Orla O’Grady Walshe (South Dublin)

Ms Patricia Carroll (North Dublin)

Father Paul Thornton (North Dublin)

Bishop Paul Dempsey

Father Richard Sheehy (North & West Dublin)

Mr Seán Feeney (North Dublin)

Ms Sheila Keegan Groome (City Centre)

Ms Thérèse O’Mahony (West Dublin)

With great gratitude to all involved, the members of the first Dublin Diocesan Pastoral Council will be commissioned at Mass in St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral on Sunday, 18 May 2025.

For more information on this, please click this link:  https://dublindiocese.ie/ddpc2024/

Daniel O’Connell Mass 11-May-25 Westland Row Parish

Daniel O’Connell is remembered in street names around the country and his statue dominates Dublin’s main thoroughfare, but Daniel O’Connell deserves to be better known than he is today. During his lifetime, he was the uncrowned King of Ireland and his renown spread internationally as a champion of liberty, civil rights and opposition to slavery.

Celebration of the 250th anniversary of his birth this year may raise awareness of his extraordinary life and legacy, but he has never been forgotten at the heart of the city where he lived and was a parishioner. Indeed, he was the principal mover in the building of St Andrew’s Church on Westland Row in the 1830s.

Parish lore has it that the baptismal font in this church was originally a wine cooler in his home in Merrion Square. He certainly donated the impressive painting of the martyrdom of St Thomas à Becket which still hangs in the church.

With a nice touch of symmetry, his funeral liturgy in Rome in 1847 was celebrated in another church dedicated to St Andrew: Sant Andrea Della Valle.

Every year Westland Row Parish remembers O’Connell with gratitude at an Anniversary Mass. This Sunday, May 11, at 10 am Mass will be celebrated by Bishop Paul Dempsey, Auxiliary Bishop of Dublin. Parishioners and visitors will remember O’Connell as he would most wish to be remembered, in prayer.

For further information contact Deacon Dermot McCarthy at 087 2479010.

Songs of Inspiration and Hope 11-May-2025