Birr Parish – Birr, Co Offaly

Welcome to our Parish

Welcome and Céad míle fáilte to Birr Parish, home of St. Brendan's Church on Wilmer Road and The Church of the Annunciation, Carrig. The Christian community in Birr dates back to St. Brendan "the Elder" who chose Birr, "the place of the springs", for the location of his monastic community in the middle of the 6th Century. St. Brendan's Monastery was renowned for hospitality and scholarship . The famous copy of the four Gospels was created here. It is better known as "The Book Of Birr" or "McRegol Gospel". A facsimile copy of this Gospel is on display in Birr Library located in Birr Civic Offices beside the St. Brendan's Church on Wilmer Road.

St. Brendan's Church, Birr

	Monday - Saturday 10.00 am - Please note that a Funeral Mass later in the day will necessitate the cancelling of the parish morning Mass. In such cases information will be announced
Saturday Vigil	7.30 pm
Sunday	8.30 am 10.30 am 12 noon

About this Church

Church of the Annunciation, Carrig

Sunday

9.30 am

About this Church

Weekly Notices

Trócaire – Game Changers 2026

February 18, 2026

This year Trócaire celebrates over 50 years of reaching out to the poor and working for social justice in parts of the world where poverty and injustice exist. Through the generosity of Irish people over the past 50 years, the quality of life has improved for so many people.
The Trócaire Lenten Campaign begins…

Padre Pio Mass Thursday February 19th @ 7.30pm. All welcome.

February 16, 2026

Ash Wednesday – February 18th 2026

February 13, 2026

Ash Wednesday will take place on February 18th, Mass Times are as follows

Tuesday February 17th

The Pike St Patricks 6.30pm

Wednesday February 18th

St. Brendan’s Birr 7.30am /10.00am & 7.30pm

Shinrone St Mary’s 10.00am

Coolderry St Ita’s 10.00am

Kinnitty St. Flannan’s 8.00pm

Pope Leo has designated 2026 the 800th Anniversary of the death of St. Francis of Assisi

January 16, 2026

Saint Francis, our brother, you who eight hundred years ago
went to meet Sister Death as a man at peace,
intercede for us before the Lord.

You recognized true peace in the Crucifix of San Damiano,
teach us to seek in Him the source of all reconciliation
that breaks down every…

See All Notices

Reflection

BLESSING THE DUST All those days you felt like dust, like dirt, as if all you had to do was turn your face toward the wind and be scattered to the four corners or swept away by the smallest breath as insubstantial— did you not know what the Holy One can do with dust? This is the day we freely say we are scorched. This is the hour we are marked by what has made it through the burning. This is the moment we ask for the blessing that lives within the ancient ashes, that makes its home inside the soil of this sacred earth. So let us be marked not for sorrow. And let us be marked not for shame. Let us be marked not for false humility or for thinking we are less than we are but for claiming what God can do within the dust, within the dirt, within the stuff of which the world is made and the stars that blaze in our bones and the galaxies that spiral inside the smudge we bear.

Events

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