Parish of Saint Paul, The Apostle

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Rev. Jeremiah Carroll

Fr. Carroll having been parish priest in St. Alphonsus, Glasgow for about 5 years was asked by the Archbishop to take over in St. Paul's from Fr. Daniel O'Leary who was transferred to St. Anne's, Glasgow in April 1984. This was just before the Silver Jubilee of the church. In 1986 the Archbishop introduced the Renew Programme which required much more involvement of parishioners in parish life and therefor Fr. Carroll was involved in many meetings in the Pastoral Centre in preparation for these changes. As a result his first task was to prepare and commission the first group of men and women Ministers of the Eucharist. These people proved to be a great blessing to the many sick and house-bound parishioners but a new challenge was set for him in helping to organise the liturgical life of the parish. Groups were soon made up from all age groups to be involved in this plan and so prayer groups, messengers, readers, cantors and youth choirs as well as many other groups were soon formed.

In April 1990 he contracted viral pneumonia and spent 6 weeks in Belvidere Hospital and at the end of his treatment the doctor advised him to retire. Fr. Carroll decided against this and stayed with us for another 6 years. This enabled him to oversee the sale of the old hall and chapel house as well as the building of the new hall and church house. He moved into the new church house in 1994 and was present with the parishioners on the memorable occasion in Nov. '95 when the Cardinal celebrated the final Mass in the old church hall and then crossed the road to bless and open the new hall.

By 1996 Fr. Carroll felt he had not much left to offer the parish and so he retired and left St. Paul's on 25th October 1996. He had spent over 12 very happy years in the parish and is now retired to Ballybunnion a small seaside village where the river Shannon meets the sea. Many of St. Paul's parishioners have visited him there and he was delighted to be able to catch up on all the news from Glasgow.

Fr. Carroll finishes off his letter to the parish by saying " I want to send my congratulations to the priests and parishioners on this the 40th Anniversary of the Church and wish them every blessing as they prepare to celebrate the Great Jubilee and the 150th Anniversary of the Parish".

Dates for the Sacraments 2007