Caring For One Another: Our Pastoral Outreach Pilot

​St. Mary’s Star of the Sea is a community in which people notice and care for one another. If you know someone who is ill, bereaved, housebound, lonely, or going through a difficult time, please let the Parish Office know where it is appropriate to do so and with the person’s agreement. Likewise, if you need support, please feel welcome to contact us. Sometimes people are very willing to offer help but find it much harder to ask for it. Being part of a parish means that there should be room for both.
As part of this welcoming spirit, we would like to introduce our Student Parish Chaplain, Alana Feely, who is leading our new Pastoral Outreach Pilot until May 2027.
Alana is a local Sandymount parishioner currently studying for her MA in Chaplaincy Studies and Pastoral Work at DCU. She brings a warm, person-centred approach to our parish, drawing on her background as a qualified social worker, many years of experience in social care, and her MA in Applied Spirituality from SETU. Balancing her studies and raising her two children, Alana is delighted to be doing her placement in her home parish.
Over the coming months, Alana will be focusing on visiting parishioners in local Sandymount nursing homes. Her goal is not only to provide a listening ear and pastoral companionship today, but to build a safe, structured outreach framework that our parish volunteers can carry forward into the future.
If you see Alana at the After-Mass Hospitality or around the Community Centre, please do say hello!