Diocesan Pastoral Guidelines
Recently, each Parish in the Diocese has received ‘Directives and guidelines for Sacramental and Pastoral Practice’. While it might sound like a mouthful, these guidelines have come about in response to pastoral situations that are now common in Society, Diocese and Parish. I hope to give the important points in this Bulletin from time to time. And, as they often refer to Canon Law I’ll give the reference in the Code of Canon Law too.
Baptism: A proper application form for the Sacrament of Baptism in parishes is important and contains important information. The Form that we use in the Parish will need to be updated. The first issue to be looked at is Guardianship.
Guardianship describes the legal responsibility of parents to make decisions and perform duties in relation to their child’s upbringing. Married parents are automatically joint guardians of their children. Neither separation nor divorce changes this.
A father who is not married to the mother of his child does not have automatic guardianship rights in relation to that child. To achieve this, the mother must agree and they must apply jointly to the State.
Both parents should sign the application form, particularly if the parents are not married to each other. A copy of the Birth Certificate should accompany the application form. This ensures the accurate recording of the facts and that the child’s surname is the same in both Church and State records. The Place of Marriage should accompany the application form. This ensures that the guardianship is established
Godparents: the basic requirement for Baptism is one Sponsor. If there are two, they are to be male and female. One cannot have two male Godparents or two female Godparents. A Christian from another denomination cannot be a God parent/Sponsor, however they can be a Christian Witness at the Catholic Baptism, the child in such a case will still need a Catholic Sponsor/Godparent.
Place of Baptism: the normal place for Baptism is the parish Church in which the family is living/domiciled. With the permission of the Parish priest/Administrator the child can be baptised in a church of another parish. Baptisms are not allowed in any other location, such as private houses, hotels or religious Churches or Chapels.
To me these guidelines show that the Sacraments should be celebrated where the Faith Community worship, this is usually the local Parish Church.
Fr. Philip Adm (Guide?!)
Thank you for last Sunday’s Offertory Collection of €1409 and the Share Collection which amounted to €1036. On the 6th of January the Offertory Collection was €418 and the Share Collection was €361.
Thank you to those who have returned their Christmas Dues. There are some additional Christmas Dues envelopes available at the back of the church.
Lauren Renehan was recently baptised in our church. We welcome her into our Christian community and congratulate her parents.
Congratulations to Alison Byrne, Martina Szczepaniec and Johanna Mullin whose names were drawn out of a hat in our Christmas colouring competition.
The Milltown parish Adult & Toddler Group meets in the Parish Pastoral Centre at 10.30am on Friday morning. All welcome.
Following consultation with parishioners it has been agreed that evening Mass on Holy days will be at the later time of 6pm.
Our Christmas correspondence & 2012 Calendar have not yet been distributed to the following areas in the parish: Dartry Rd., Churchtown Drive, Thorncliff, Milltown Court,, Temple Park, Richmond Avenue South, Crannagh, Shanagarry, Dodderbank, Merton Walk & Merton Crescent. It would be greatly appreciated if parishioners who live in these areas could collect copies of this correspondence and circulate in their immediate area.
The Dublin Diocesan Children’s Pilgrimage appreciates the great generosity shown to them in their recent Milltown Parish Church Gate Collection. The total raised in this collection was €853. This donation will go towards their 2012 Easter pilgrimage to Lourdes.
Milltown Parish / Foroige Youth Club
This club will re-commence in January. New members are welcome. Please leave your name and contact details in the Parish Office if your children would like to join this group.
OCTAVE OF PRAYER FOR CHURCH UNITY 2012
The inaugural gathering of the Dublin Council of Churches Octave of Prayer for Church Unity will take place in our Parish church at 8pm on this Wednesday the 18th of January. The preacher will be the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, Dr. Michael Jackson. Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin will preside. All welcome to attend.
The Grouped Parishes of Sandford and St Philips Milltown are having a TABLE QUIZ on Thursday 19th January at 8.00 p.m. sharp in St Philip’s Hall .The cost is €12.50 per person. For further details e-mail sandfordandstphilips@eircom.net or tel. /text 086 0386432.
