Gardiner Street Parish. Photo: Facebook The Irish Jesuits are to hand back Gardiner Street Parish to Dublin diocese after 50 years ministering to Dublin’s north inner city, the order announced Monday.
While St Francis Xavier church will remain attached to the Jesuits, it will cease to be a parish church from August 1 this year, becoming part of the neighbouring Pro-Cathedral Parish.
Public Masses and the popular Sacred Heart novena will continue in the church, but from August, Baptisms, Confirmations, First Communions, weddings, and the Easter Vigil will take place in St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral.
The decision came in response to falling Jesuit vocations, as well as dwindling numbers of Catholics living in the parish, outgoing PP Fr Niall Leahy SJ said in a statement.
Most of the local people attending Gardiner St will notice “very little difference” as a result of the change, Fr Leahy continued.
“We Jesuits hope to continue and enhance our ministry in collaboration with our lay colleagues and the diocese,” he said
“Together we will serve the local Church by continuing to develop our adult faith formation programmes, Ignatian spirituality courses, and youth ministry. Recent fundraising efforts and significant financial investment have ensured that the St Francis Xavier’s will continue to be a hub for this mission.”
The church also offers space to local community groups in an area that has “suffered unfairly and disproportionately” from the effects of homelessness, poverty, and drug addiction, the Jesuits said.
St Mary’s Adm Fr Kieran McDermott welcomed the integration, saying it “will mean greater pastoral planning and better use of our respective resources”.
The decision came following a series of consultations with clergy, the respective parish pastoral councils, the school community and staff since January this year, the Jesuits said.
The consultation will continue with parishioners and volunteers, those involved in lay ministries invited to participate in parish gatherings on Wednesday, May 1, at 7.15 pm, in Gardiner Street and Thursday, May 16, at 7.15 pm in St Kevin’s Oratory, Pro-Cathedral.
