Chai Brady
Pupils and their parents are joined by Bishop Field after catechesis on the icon with Deacon Tom Groves. The Icon of the Holy Family was welcomed to St Patrick’s parish in Ringsend last week, with one Mass celebrated by Bishop Raymond Field attracting 400 people.
Deacon Tom Groves led the welcome ceremony on Monday, which was attended by St Patrick’s Boys and Girls National School. He led a catechises explaining the meaning of each of the icon’s panels to the pupils.
At 7pm that day Bishop Field, the chairman of the Dublin diocesan committee preparing for the WMOF, delivered a homily to 400 people focusing on the images on the Icon – and how they relate to family. The theme was ‘the Joy of Family Life’.
Liturgy
A second Mass the following morning celebrated ‘The Joy of Married Love’ in which three couples married in the 1960s, 70s and 90s took part in the liturgy.
According to Msgr Dan O’Connor there was a “constant flow” of people visiting the icon throughout the day.
The evening canticle singers led a healing prayer based on the panel depicting the Raising of Jairus’ Daughter, which was attended by about 250 people.
Msgr O’Connor said: “There was a great interest shown in the icon, and the amazing thing about it was there was a number of people who just came into the Church on Tuesday and Wednesday, especially on Tuesday during the Divine Mercy Hour from 3-4pm.”
He added there were people of all ethnicities in attendance as well as young professionals from the nearby Google building. The symbolism on the icon was explained to visitors by a rota of people throughout the day.
Msgr O’Connor made special mention of pastoral chair Sandra Short and the other co-ordinators of the WMOF parish celebrations including Secretary Catherine Kelly, Liz Gannon Sadie Simons and Peter and Pauline Murphy for making the celebrations possible.