The Pastoral Area comprising Thomastown and Inistioge will take as its patron St. Colmcille. That is appropriate because of the local ties with the Saint – the parish Church in Inistioge is dedicated to him, and we have a townland called after him.
Going into this new time there will be lessons to be
learnt from his life. Members of the two Parish Councils have formed a Pastoral Area Council. One of the first, and most difficult, tasks addressed at the meetings was the number of Masses in the area, based on the number of priests and the desire for a better quality of liturgy with fewer Masses Bishop Farrell listed several principles to be considered.
– No priest ought to be celebrating three Masses on a Sunday and no priest should celebrate two vigil Masses as his normal commitment.
– Every effort ought to be made to arrange Mass times to facilitate assistance between the priests of Thomastown and Inistioge. So, holidays and sick leave ought to be considered when
– The starting times for Masses ought to be at least 90 minutes apart.
– Planning ought to look to the future – 2025 or thereabouts – rather than short term.
– Applying those principles, new Mass schedules will apply throughout the Diocese at Advent.
Following those principles, both parishes will have a reduced
Mass schedule beginning 1st Sunday of Advent 2019, that is 1st December, as follows: Saturday Vigil Masses will be in Thomastown at 6pm, and in The Rower at 7.30pm. On Sunday Mass will be in Thomastown at 10am and in Inistioge at 11.30am. While there are two priests in the Area and both are available for Masses, there will be Mass in Clodiagh at 9.30am Sunday, and at St. Columba’s Hospital at 11.30am. Masses in Mong and Chapel Hill will be held midweek, at a time to be agreed with the local communities.
It was decided too that from Advent Sunday Funeral Masses won’t be held in the Area.
These new arrangements have been agreed by the Parish Pastoral Council.
It is appreciated that these changes will cause upset, sometimes anger, and a lot of getting used to.
Please God we will all approach and embrace this new time with openness, courage and hope.