Latest change to my story:
Last September 2020 I was offered redundancy along with the rest of the Pastoral Workers and admin staff in the Dublin Archdiocese. For various personal reasons I took the offer along with 10 of my colleagues, and so my dream job as a lay person in the Church was over. But I continue to do exactly what I was doing in the parish on a voluntary basis as agreed with the PP. Instead of being involved in Pastoral Work I now work in Pastoral Support!! Basically, I get to do what I love doing in a great parish with a priest who understands co-responsible ministry. I don’t know how long this will last – a change of PP could bring in someone who might not want me there – but we will see, its in the hands of the Lord! In the meantime the Covid lockdowns have actually been fruitful for us as a parish – we have had good attendances at the Zoom courses I ran last year and this year, up to the summer – Alpha course, Lenten retreat, Croi Nua spirituality course, Pope Francis’ Evangelii Gaudium, and of course the weekly Bible group.
We have had a break for the summer and now we are getting ready to start again from Mon 20th Sept 2021.
My new email contact details are: marymalahideparish@gmail.com
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Since September 2017 I have been appointed to the parish of St. Sylvester, Malahide, Co. Dublin.
Contact: mary.kirk@dublindiocese.ie Twitter: @malahideparish
website: www.malahideparish.ie
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“Our plans for working together in mission will only work when they are rooted in an understanding of the calling of all Christians to the ministry of witness to their faith with the ecclesial community and in the world.” Archbishop Diarmuid Martin at the Pro-Cathedral, Dublin – Holy Thursday 2008
(The above picture of me dipping my fingers in the River Jordan was taken on a trip to the Holy Land in April 2012 – wonderful trip!)
My name is Mary Kirk and I was appointed by the Archbishop of Dublin, Ireland as a Parish Pastoral Worker to the Parishes of Skerries, Rush, Lusk and Donabate in North County Dublin in September 2011. I am one of 28 lay parish pastoral workers currently employed by the Dublin Diocese. I am from Rush, and so I am in the fairly unique position of living in one of the parishes that I also work in.
I decided to start this blog to record the many and varied things that are happening in parishes at the moment, and to provide access to some resources and reflections etc – hopefully it will be another way of communicating information to parishioners in my local area and maybe even further afield! The name of the blog comes from the phrase “It is better to light one candle than curse the darkness” and I hope I may sometimes bring some little light into another person’s day. I think there are so many good things happening in parish and church and I want to make some of these things known so that parishioners and others may keep hopeful and keep their light of faith burning too. St. Peter tells us that we should always be ready to give reasons for our hope to whoever asks – and the reason for our hope is of course Jesus Christ, who works in and through all of us, as we go about our lives in this small area of North County Dublin.
What a difference we could make if we all did as the song says: Take your candle – Go, light your world! See http://youtu.be/WsM5lt9tCFo
I hope to add links, photos, music etc as I get more proficient at this – but it may take some time initially to get up and running properly