Welcome to St Brigid's Roman Catholic Church

St Brigid's Church

Welcome to St Brigid's Roman Catholic Parish in the Diocese of Motherwell, Scotland.

St Brigid's is a thriving parish of some 1,600 people, with a proud history in Newmains that stretches back to 1871.

Indeed the chapel/school established here in 1871 is still standing - though it is now a Parish Centre serving the social needs of the whole community.

We became a Parish in 1896 and our present Church was built in 1933. Now we gladly carry the Gospel of Christ into the third millenia.

Visit the heritage section of the website to find out more about the history of St Brigid's.

Words from Father Kelly

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Easter Thoughts

As I write these few words, I have just finished celebrating the Liturgy of the Passion this Good Friday. There is always a sadness about holding up the Cross of Our Lord for veneration. “Behold the wood of the cross on which hung the Saviour of the World” was prayed three times as the Cross was brought through the Church for veneration. It brings our Lent to its climax. Fasting, Prayer, Almsgiving, all designed to help us rid ourselves of selfishness, greed and too great a dependency on material things and so open our hearts more to the need for God, to the presence of God in our lives. Our Lenten journey has one aim; to help us identify with St Peter in his act of Faith “You alone Lord have the words of eternal life.”

It is each one of us who commit sin and stand in need of God’s love and now we reflect on that Love. The infinite God shared in His own creation. He took in His Son our human nature and the faithfulness and mercy of God would ensure our reconciliation and forgiveness through the Sacrifice he made in that humanity. And so the Joy of Easter. There is a life, a greater life awaiting us. We have been redeemed from the penalty of the Original sin of Adam by the power of the Cross of Christ. He would embrace death accompanied by all the bitterness, cruelty and hatred and he would overcome. Our joy is in this great witness to God’s love for each one of us. The mystery of these days of our redemption began at the Last Supper and as he prayed before that First Consecration of the Bread and Wine he asked that grace from the Father “that not one of those entrusted to his care would be lost”

The sadness of our sins becomes the joy of reconciliation, forgiveness and mercy and the grace of the “abundance of life” God offers us through Jesus. I hope everyone in our Parish and village and all who visit our Web-Page can know the joy, happiness and peace of Easter.

Fr Hugh P Kelly

Parish Prayer to St Brigid

Saint Brigid
You were a woman of peace.
You brought harmony where there was conflict.
You brought light to the darkness.
You brought hope to the downcast.
May the mantle of your peace
cover those who are troubled and anxious,
and may peace be firmly rooted in our hearts and in our world.
Inspire us to act justly and to reverence all God has made.
Brigid you were a voice for the wounded and the weary.
Strengthen what is weak within us.
Calm us into a quietness that heals and listens.
May we grow each day into greater
wholeness in mind, body and spirit.

Amen

St Brigid's Cross

The Saint Brigid’s cross is a custom that marks the feast day of St. Brigid, which falls on the 1st of February, the beginning of spring.

The making of the cross has many meanings and stories; one ritual is that the cross is hung over the door as a way of protecting the household from evil spirits and energies.

Another tradition that is practiced is that a new cross is made each year on St. Brigid's day, and the old one hanging from the year before is then burned to keep fire from the household.