Renata SteffensSt Joseph’s Redemptorists, Dundalk marked their 50th anniversary as a parish community last Sunday with Mass and refreshments afterwards. The main celebrant, Archbishop Eamon Martin, was joined by “six or seven concelebrants,” explained Fr Brendan Callanan CSsR, Rector and Administrator.
The Irish dancing school Scoil rince ui corgharle “gave some more joy to the celebration,” Fr Callanan said. The festivities continued in St Gerard’s Hall after Mass, where people were invited to share a cup of tea and photographs of the parish’s history were displayed.
The Redemptorists have been in Dundalk for 150 years, Fr Callanan said. “In 1976, a section of Dundalk was cut off from St Patrick’s Parish, and St Joseph’s Parish was created,” he said.
“There has been a lot of emphasis on different ministries and getting people involved (in the parish life), I suppose nowadays you’d call it ‘synodal’, but it was a practice for a long time (in St Joseph’s) and continues to be,” the priest said.
A golden jubilee is “a significant moment for any person or group or community,” he said, “and I think it gives the community momentum to continue its mission. It’s not an endpoint, it’s a moment to celebrate and be grateful, but the mission continues into the future. So, it’s a missionary moment to celebrate the Jubilee,” Fr Callanan
concluded.