Like the householder in St Matthew’s Gospel, the parishioners of Melmount – the parish of Mourne – can bring out of their treasury things both new and old (Mt 13:52).

The tradition of the parish stretches back through the old parish of Urney to the Penal times and to the early Irish church and great figures like St Eugene of Ardstraw and St Colman, to whom Bishop Neil Farren dedicated St Colman’s High School in 1958.

The new is evident both in the modern design of St Mary’s church, and in the fast growing housing developments which have brought the population from a few hundred in a mostly rural environment in the first quarter of the century, to about 8500 at present in a compact and fairly densely populated urban cluster.

Against this background the idea of a parish directory makes sense in a number of ways. On a practical level, given the size of the parish, it provides a ready reference to organisations and services in the area. It covers not only the services which come directly under the same umbrella of the parish, but also many other services which parishioners may find useful.

On a more symbolic level, the parish website is a statement of identity and belonging, of shared needs and common interests for long-term residents and recent arrivals alike. Whether you can trace your Melmount roots back for generations, or whether you have only recently settled here (maybe from as far away as the Strabane or Derry Road parishes!), this is your parish: it is alive and growing, and it both needs and welcomes your full participation. A parish has its roots in the past, builds in the present, but must also look to the future. The bond of continuity, even in terms of practical action, is the presence of Christ among people of the parish. Fr Anthony Mulvey wrote, at the time of the opening of the Melmount Centre in 1985:

“Christ is present in the simple, sincere, natural goodness of people, holy and happy. The people in the parish are the Body of Christ. They are all Christ’s, the people of God, showing God to the world and to one another”.