A major
change came in the parish with the re-organisation of Mass
times for the Deanery, with a resultant reduction in the
number of Masses due to the shortage of priests. From the
First Sunday of Advent 2003, St. Cadoc lost its Sunday
morning Mass, to be replaced by 5.30 p.m. on Saturday, and
Our Lady & St. Illtyd lost its Sunday evening Mass. This
resulted in a sharp decline in Mass attendance (about 20%)
but over the last two years Mass attendance has begun to
increase again.
The Golden Jubilee of St. Cadoc was celebrated on 29th
January 2006, with a concelebrated Mass at which the
Archbishop of Cardiff presided, followed by a luncheon in
Cowbridge. Fr. Maher ordered new altar and lectern frontals
for each of the church’s seasons and these came into use on
the 50th Anniversary. These were made by a firm originally
based in Canada, which the parish had first employed through
Father Davies who introduced the purple Lenten and Advent
frontals in Our Lady and St. Illtyd, to which Fr. Maher
added the red and green.
The next major project in hand is raising money to build a
parish centre for Our Lady & St. Illtyd, which desperately
needs somewhere for the many organisations to meet, to hold
their events, and to provide a larger area for Children’s
Liturgy, and also so that coffee can be served after Mass.
Permission has been received from the Archdiocese to go
ahead, planning permission has been obtained and it is hoped
that the new parish centre will be completed in 2007. This
will be build on the lawn side of the church, and will also
involve alterations to the church, including providing an
new area for the piety stall and enclosing the front porch,
which should greatly enhance the overall appearance of the
church. |
