A SPECIAL mass was held recently to mark the diamond jubilee of the St Mungo’s RC Church building. The congregation, on Alloa’s Mar Street, came together on the evening of Tuesday, September 21, to mark the 60th anniversary of the consecration of the church.
The Mass of thanksgiving celebration was led by Bishop Stephen Robson who was joined by Fr Michael Carrie, the current parish priest.
From the surrounding parishes, Fr Mike Freyne Fr Leszek Więcaszek SAC, Fr Brian McLean, Mgr Ken McCaffrey were also in attendance along with Provost Tina Murphy as well as staff and students from both St Mungo’s Primary and St Modan’s High School, Stirling.
Fr Carrie said: “It was a nice celebration, Bishop Stephen Robson came through from Dundee, he led us in the celebration of the Mass. It was nice to just have a full church, especially after all the restrictions we had to keep to for Covid.”
The current St Mungo’s RC Church building was opened on Tuesday, September 21, in 1961 by the then Bishop of Dunkeld, William Andrew Hart. However, the parish has been serving the Alloa community for much longer than that.
Indeed, the building replaced the original church on Clackmannan Road, which had been in use since 1869. Plans for a new place of worship had been in the works for many years, but had to be put on hold due to the outbreak of World War II as well as post-war restrictions.
It was not until 1955 that construction began and was supervised by Canon James Matthews, who was the parish priest at the time. Thanks to him, his predecessors and the parishioners, there was no debt once construction was complete.
The event marked exactly 60 years since the opening and during the diamond jubilee ceremony, Bishop Robson also blessed a statue of St Mungo, which was commissioned for the 60th anniversary.
Fr Carrie added: “It was nice to be able to sing hymns and the congregation were happy to sing along, even though they are still singing behind their masks.
“It was a good way to mark 60 years of the current building, the parish has been here for over 160 years so it’s a long-time part of the community.”
