Stations of the Cross on Bray Head. Photo credit: CNS The mission statement of Our Lady Queen of Peace parish in Bray states that it is a “community of believers who hope to welcome, include and reach out to all and witness Christian values in our daily lives”.
“We have a very strong sense of community and a sense of being a welcoming place,” says Fr Joseph Whelan PP.
“I would say the defining characteristics of the parish is spirituality, peace and tranquility. We have a Eucharistic focus which permeates everything else. We have a funeral ministry, music ministry, a pastoral council. For the last about 20 years we have had an annual Good Friday ecumenical Stations of the Cross from the parish to the top of Bray Head and about 300 people take part and all the Bray churches are invited.”
Fr Joseph says Queen of Peace is the only parish in the Dublin archdiocese which has 24-hour perpetual adoration. “Last year the papal nuncio, Archbishop Charles Brown came to celebrate Mass to mark the 25th anniversary of the group and planted a tree in the church grounds. There are about 24 co-ordinators and 300 people involved, there are even some people from outside the parish involved. There is a very strong, dedicated team and they regularly have speakers from the National Eucharistic team. This year 24 new people joined.”
Volunteers
When the parish ran a Called to Serve programme at the back of the church over two weekends of Masses to look for volunteers for the different parish groups, 20 new people signed up. “We have a long tradition of people being involved and have a strong sense of love, ownership and great pride for their parish,” Fr Joseph says.
The parish also has a strong social justice outreach through its twinning with Bugisi parish, in north central Tanzania. Bugisi parish consists of 35/40 villages with a population of around 50,000 spread over about 50 square miles in one of the poorest countries in Africa.
Life expectancy is low and 58% of the population live on less than a dollar per day. The Bugisi Mission Project is run by the order of Our Lady of the Apostles and the parish is administered by the priests of the SMA order. The sisters devote most of their efforts and funds to education, which they believe will eventually break the cycle of poverty and over the past 10 years the people of Bray have contributed almost €170,000.
John Guy started the group after he visited his sister-in-law Sr Anne MacCormack in Bugisi about 16 years ago. “Over the years we would go to secondary schools and get classes to pack bags in supermarkets. The kids were very enthusiastic. We would run the odd cake sale. People have been very generous and they support us well,” he says.
Backbone
“The backbone of the fundraising is two church door collections every year, one at Christmas and one at Easter. The group’s other main income is from selling a range of cards in the parish office. Some years ago an anonymous benefactor donated €25,000 in order to buy a truck which has proved invaluable to the mission.”
Fr Joseph says the parish centre has been a real boost to the parish – it is a very vibrant and busy space, and it can actually be quite difficult to book a room. “We have the same worries as a lot of other parishes with a changing demographic, but there is a lot of life and we are welcoming new families and have good sacramental programmes,” he says.
The parish has begun planning for its 70th celebration which will run over a weekend in December and Fr Joseph says the “very active pastoral council” is currently working on a pastoral plan for the next five years.