Welcome
Congratulations on moving into your new home.
We wish you every happiness and peace in your new surroundings.
Your new address is within the parish of St Mary’s, Greencastle
and we would like to extend a warm welcome to you and your family.
From early times Greencastle belonged to the parish of Shankill (‘old church’) or Belfast.
The parish of Shankill extended from Dundrod to the boundary of the diocese of Down
where the Glas-na-Bradan (‘salmon stream’) flows past Whitehouse.
On the 20th May 1832 Bishop Crolly dedicated the new church of St Mary’s Greencastle
on a site provided by Andrew Nash who lived at Seaview Cottages.
This building in time became dangerous and it was decided that it could not be easily renovated
and would unfortunately have to be demolished.
The parish of St Mary’s Greencastle was established on the 15th July 1969
when the then Bishop of Down & Connor, Dr William Philbin divided Whitehouse parish
into the parishes of St Gerard’s, St Mary’s on the Hill, St James’ Whiteabbey, Whitehouse and Greencastle.
In March 1977 the old ‘Lido’ cinema was opened as the new St Mary’s and served the people of this area
until February 2000 when due to serious structural problems it was necessary to demolish and begin to rebuild.
Our new parish church of St. Mary’s has just recently been completed and was dedicated on 24th June 2001
by Bishop Patrick Walsh. The design of our church is modern with a wonderful blend of colour and light,
creating an environment that facilitates and encourages full and active participation by everyone.
A warm welcome is extended to you to visit our beautiful new church and join us in our parish worship.
FOR DETAILS OF PARISH ACTIVITIES, PLEASE SEE HOME PAGE.
