On Sunday August 18th our community will celebrate the Golden Jubilee of our parish church.

The celebration will begin with us gathering with Bishop Ger Nash for the celebration of a Mass of Thanksgiving at 11 am. We give thanks for all who supported the faith development of this community.

We are thankful for the many blessings our community has received borne out of the tradition of deep faith and prayer that is part of the fabric of the parish of Ferns.

Above all next Sunday will be a day for all to celebrate as a community. Following the celebration of Mass there will be refreshments and entertainment for children on the green.

A commemorative booklet has been produced and will be on sale at €2 each.

We are featuring here an interesting commemorative booklet that was published to mark the opening and dedication of the new church in Ferns on Sunday 2nd Feb. 1975. There are letters of congratulations from Pope Paul VI, Bishop Donal Herlihy and Parish Priest the Very Rev Canon Patrick Doyle.

Lots of information is included about the design and construction of the church and also the people who were involved in the building and district committees. There is an interesting list of businesses around Ferns and beyond who sponsored the booklet, sadly many are no longer with us today.

Sincere thanks to the Ferns resident who came across the booklet at home and scanned it and sent it to us to share. Acknowledgements also to THE ECHO Publishing & Printing Company who originally printed and designed the booklet.

Click the button below to open and download a PDF copy of the booklet.

A beautiful new tiled mural has been installed in the entrance hallway in Ballyduff school. It is a fantastic representation of the village and community in Ballyduff. Well done to everyone involved especially the artist and to Halo Tiles for sponsoring its installation. (Click image to enlarge).

You are most welcome to our parish of St. Aidan's, Ferns and we are delighted to have you as a parishioner or visitor. Below is our mission statement based on the message of Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour. ​His message has four areas which he regularly spoke about.

God - Self - Others - Environment

Mission Statement

- A parish where Gospel Values are lived out and celebrated - in Behaviour, Eucharist and Sacrament.

- A parish where people would work together for the development and improvement of self and life in the parish.

- A parish where all people would be valued, respected and cared for and where children and vulnerable adults feel secure. A community where the disadvantaged would be cared for, educated and empowered to help themselves.

- A parish where the environment would be respected and enhanced.

Click the button below for this weeks parish newsletter.

Andreas F. Borchert, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE, via Wikimedia Commons

A Procession was held after St. Patrick's Day mass this year. It commenced from the convent chapel, (site of the original parish church in Ferns), from where the original St. Patrick's Day Procession used to take place around 1890. An article from the People Newspaper of the time describes the procession of 1890.

St. Patrick’s Day in Ferns 1890 taken from ‘The People’ -  Wednesday 26^th March 1890.

The gateways to Fr. Ryan's parterre, Fr. Marshall’s avenue and Miss Ellen O'Brien’s courtyard were grandly ornamented, the latter especially deserving a special mention.

The members of the Confraternity in their best bib and tucker, with crimson scarves and glistening medals, put themselves in marching order in a field kindly given for the occasion by Mr. John Bolger. Mounted Steward, Mr. Aidan Walsh, opened the way through the dense crowds. The Ferns Temperance Brass Band led the way, discoursing magnificently the sweetest of music.

Then came the procession proper, which was unmistakably a soul - cheering, hope - stirring sight. Well may the priests and the people of Ferns take delight in honouring it; its numbers, its appearance, its general demeanour, taken in any way, or every way, there is no well wisher of Ireland, or the people, that must feel the sight entrancing.

The Ballybeg Fife and Drum Band, complete in every particular, and splendid mannered, brought up the rear making the air resonant with “many a bout of linked sweetness long drawn out”.

Master Lett, on his spirited pony, and Mr. J. Donohoe were the mounted stewards, closing up the processsion, the whole being personally conducted by Fr. Marshall. The route of the march was through Chapel Lane, Back Street, Enniscorthy Road, down Main Street, over Doran’s Bridge, through Pacifican, over Milltown bridge, through Main Street, to the Roman Catholic Church where Fr. Hore O.S.F. preached an eloquent sermon and the ceremonies closed with Benediction.

The Ferns accounts for 2023 in PDF format can be downloaded by clicking the buttons below.

The Clologue and Ballyduff accounts for 2023 in PDF format can be downloaded by clicking the buttons below.

On the weekend of the 22nd & 23rd of January we were delighted to welcome to our parish, our relatively new bishop, Bishop Ger Nash. He is visiting all parishes in the diocese and celebrating Mass in all the Churches. We were delighted that he came to grace us with his presence and to give parishioners an opportunity to meet him.

While Bishop Nash was here he opened and blessed our new Pastoral Centre. The Pastoral Centre will be a great asset to our parish as we prepare for new initiatives in our changing church.

Unfortunately due to the Covid 19 restrictions the normal Patron in Ballyduff could not be held again this year. Instead prayers were recited in Ballyduff cemetery during the week before the normal Patron day. Mass in Ballyduff Church on Saturday evening the 7th of August was offered as the Ballyduff Patron Mass especially for those interred in Ballyduff cemetery.

The recording of the prayers from the cemetery and the Patron Mass can be viewed at the links below:

Unfortunately due to the Covid 19 restrictions the normal Patron in Clologue could not be held again this year. Instead prayers were recited in Clologue cemetery and a recording of these was streamed before and after the 8.30am mass from Ferns on Sunday the 25th of July. This Mass was offered as the Patron Mass especially for those interred in Clologue cemetery.

A recording of the prayers from Clologue cemetery can be viewed at the following link:

A recording of the Patron Mass from Ferns church can be viewed at the following link:

Similar to last year a Patron Mass was offered from Ferns Church on Sunday 6th June at 12.30pm and this Mass is available to view at the link below. Prayers were recited in the cemetery on Tuesday evening 1st June. These prayers can be seen at the 2nd link below:

The Ferns Patron Mass can be viewed at the following link:

The Prayers recited in Ferns cemetery can be viewed at the link below:

On Sunday the 6th of June Fr. Paddy Cushen will celebrate the Golden Jubilee of his Ordination to the priesthood. To honour the event Bishop Brennan celebrated Mass in St. Aidan's Church, Ferns at 7.30pm on Friday 4th of June.

The celebration of Mass was in thanksgiving for Fr. Paddy's 50 years of loyal service in the various parishes he served. Fr. Paddy served in Chiswick London, (Diosese of Westminster) for just over 4 years, Murrinstown for 21 months, Wexford for 20 years, Marshalstown for 8 years and here in Ferns since August 2005, nearly 16 years.

 

We wish Fr. Paddy many more years of health, happiness and fruitful service in our Parish.

​Due to Covid 19 restrictions we will have the celebration of Mass with no reception afterwards.

 

A recording of the Mass can be viewed at the following link:

You can view the Stations of the Cross that are located in Ferns Church by clicking the button below.