Saint Conleth’s Parish Newbridge, Co Kildare recently celebrated 10
years of the Polish Chaplaincy in the parish and in the Diocese of
Kildare and Leighlin. On Sunday 6 November, Bishop Denis Nulty, Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin and Bishop Jim Moriarty, Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin, celebrated Mass in Saint Conleth’s Parish Church, Newbridge for the 10th anniversary.
Saint Conleth’s Parish Church is the home of the weekly Mass in Polish which is attended by a vibrant Polish Community.
Bishops Nulty and Moriarty were joined by many priests including Father Joe McDermott, the former Parish Priest of Newbridge Parish and Father Tadeusz Durajczyk, Curate in Newbridge Parish and Chaplain to the Polish Community; and by deacons and the lay faithful from Newbridge Parish.
The Polish Chaplaincy was inaugurated on 7 October 2006 by Bishop Jim Moriarty in collaboration with the then Parish Priest of Newbridge Father Joe McDermott and Father Finbarr Tracey who was at that time provincial of the Divine Word Missionaries in Ireland.
Since that time Masses in the Polish language are available in several churches in the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin including Newbridge, Portlaoise, Carlow, Kilcock, Borris, Edenderry, Tullow, Naas and Clane.
Speaking after the Mass, Barbara and Stanislaw Michalec, members of the Polish Community, said, “We would like to say thank you to all involved in making sure that the spiritual needs of Polish migrants are looked after. Thanks to this, many Polish people feel very much at home in Ireland. We want to thank in a special way our chaplain Father Tadeusz Durajczyk who was invited here in 2006. We thank Father Tadeusz for 10 years of pastoral work with us here in Newbridge and in the diocese.
“Each Polish Mass celebrated in Kildare and Leighlin Diocese is an opportunity for us to be more present in the local church. We are a part of this big community and we are proud of this. Thanks to you Bishop Denis,we can pray in our diocese and we can meet in our small communities. Those of us who have lived in this diocese in the past as well as the present congregations, are eternally grateful to you for that. May God bless all our Irish friends, we keep you in our prayers.”
Prayers and readings at the Mass were offered in several languages to reflect the diversity of the parish communities in the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin. Speaking after the Mass, Bishop Denis Nulty said, “I am delighted to be able to be in Newbridge Parish today to spend time with the Polish Community and to help them with their wonderful celebration of 10 years here in Saint Conleth’s Parish.”
For more see www.newbridgeparish.ie