“Clondalkin 150”
2008
Schedule of
Jubilee Events

Saturday, 8 December 2007: The Jubilee begins with an afternoon Mass of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, in the Village Church at 3pm. This will mark the actual 150th anniversary of the arrival of the Presentation Sisters at Clondalkin Convent. During the Mass the story of the foundation will be told.

Jubilee Christmas, 24/25 December 2007:  The Christmas Masses in Clonburris, Knockmitten and in the Village Church will highlight full parish involvement in the celebrations.

Jubilee 150 History Display: During the Christmas holiday period a display of old photographs and maps of Clondalkin will be displayed at the Village Church and at other venues giving a glimpse of the changing face of Clondalkin over the years.

Monday, 31 December 2007: 4pm. On New Year’s Eve as the sun sets for the last time on the old year, at a quiet candle-light Jubilee Last Lights ceremony in the Church parishioners will give thanks for the 150 years of worship and key events of family life that have taken place in the Village Church. 

Sunday, 13 January 2008: Jubilee “Baptism Sunday” for Families and Toddlers – organised by the Village Baptismal Team. Children christened within the past year will be especially invited, but brothers and sisters are welcome too. This feast of the Baptism of the Lord is traditionally the final day to visit the Christmas Crib. 

Friday, 1st February 2008: Jubilee St Brigid’s Day. In liaison with our local Coláiste Bríde there will be a short pilgrimage walk to St Brigid’s Well, after the 10am Mass, for the enactment of a little pageant. The bulrush St Brigid’s crosses will be blessed at Clondalkin’s Holy Well on Fonthill Road, which for centuries was a place of pilgrimage for those suffering from ailments of the eye.   
 
Lenten Renewal and “Tuesday Talks” in the Pastoral Centre. As part of the Jubilee some educational talks on spiritual themes will be held in the Pastoral Centre adjoining the Church during Lent which begins on Ash Wednesday, 6 February 2008. Also during Lent an evening talk by Fr.Tom O’Loughlin on the Stained Glass Windows in the Church illustrated by slides.

Tuesday 4th to Wednesday 12th March 2008: Jubilee Novena of Grace – Noted preachers Frs Dan O’Connor, Brendan Madden and Paddy Gleeson are invited to lead this year’s Lenten Novena.

Saturday, 15 March: St Patrick’s Day is celebrated in Church on this day because March 17 falls in Holy Week this year.

Jubilee Easter Celebrations: As the Holy Week and Easter Ceremonies are celebrated for the 150th time, there are prayers of Jubilee thanksgiving

April 20-25: The Jubilee Annual Parish Pilgrimage to Lourdes  takes place

In Later Springtime: A parish Opinion Survey in preparation for the major spiritual event of Jubilee 150 – namely, the Ember Parish Mission which is scheduled for the autumn – will be taken in the late spring of 2008. The Ember Mission team, which is
based at All Hallows College, has been working in Ireland, England and Scotland with some success over the past number of years. The team consists of a lay director with a core group of Vincentian priests and lay folk. Ember offers a wide range of
possibilities in response to the needs of Parish in the 21st century. The survey is an important part of the preparation.    

Jubilee Pentecost:  The Pentecost season of the Holy Spirit begins on May 11th. During this season a special Mass for the families and friends of students who are taking important examinations will be offered for those students as they make their final preparations.

Sunday May 25: A Traditional May Procession begins at the Village Church - with flowers, hymns and prayers in honour of Our Lady. Parishioners of all ages are invited. The recent First Communicants will lead the Procession

          During May: The Official Opening of the new college at Colaiste Bríde is scheduled, yet another significant consequence of the work of the Presentation Sisters in their Jubilee Year. Also during May the noted Dublin theologian Fr Brendan Leahy is invited to speak on Marian Spirituality at some Sunday Masses
         
          Sunday June 8: Parish Community Family Day: On the convent-school lawn that  adjoins the church’s front car-park – an afternoon of “fun and music” is being organised by some members of the Parish Pastoral Council
         
          Sunday June 22: The annual Parish Afternoon for the Sick with 3pm Mass in the Church for the unwell and the housebound. Special transport will be arranged.
         
          In the Autumn: A Marriage Renewal / Commitment Day will be celebrated in the village church for all - but with a particular invitation to those who were actually married in the village church.

          Last week of September and first week of October: Following the survey earlier in          the year the Parish Ember Mission will now take place under the guidance of the           Ember Team, with the hope that this will be the most significant spiritual event of the           Jubilee year. 
         
Friday November 14:  The parish Bethany Bereavement Group invites the bereaved families and friends of those who died in the past year to an evening Jubilee Mass of Remembrance in the village church.

          Friday November 28: The annual Mass for Parish Volunteers in the village church this evening will be followed by some refreshments in the Pastoral Centre
         
Sunday December 7: On the eve of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, the Jubilee Mass is celebrated as the final church event to mark the end of the Jubilee

How the Story Began

The site for the Church and the adjoining Convent was donated by the Caldbeck Family of Moyle Park, Clondalkin. Mrs Caldbeck, who was a Catholic, had already established a school for the local Catholic children, as no education whatever was available to them at the time. Around 1850, however, her daughter, who had taken on the good work of her mother, realised that she was unable to continue, so she contacted the local parish priest, Fr. Moore, and offered him £2,000 to build a convent and school if he could procure an Order of Sisters who were devoted to education. He contacted Presentation Convent , Carlow. And so the story began…

The foundation stone was laid in Clondalkin in July 1857 and four Presentation Sisters took up residence on 8th December 1857, Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Two hundred children enrolled at the school on the first day and within a year the number of Sisters had increased to eighteen.

The fully completed Church was dedicated in 1862 to the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary - the doctrine of which had been recently declared by Pope Pius IX -and also to a local saint, St. Killian.

The Church was designed in the style of Pugin by William Caldbeck, a noted architect of the day. The stone used was calp limestone. It was quarried at Monastery Road, Clondalkin. The stained glass windows are by the famous artist, William Early, who died during the commission.

The Church and Convent have now been in continuous use for almost a hundred and fifty years. They are well loved landmarks, one of the focal points of the Clondalkin community. They have been lovingly maintained over the years and, please God, will continue to be in the future.