Magherafelt Parish Churches
Church of Our Lady of the Assumption, Magherafelt (1882)
Masses: Saturday 6.15 pm (Vigil), Sunday 10.30 am, 12.00 Noon, Weekdays 11.00 am
Devotions: Monday Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament after 11.00 am Mass ending with Benediction at 7.15 pm followed by Mass and the Novena of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal at 7.30 pm.
Confessions: Saturday 12.30 pm, 5.45 pm
Baptisms: Sunday 1.00 pm
Story: Canon Patrick Donnelly built the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption on a plot of land donated by the Salters Company in present day King Street. This beautiful Church, one of the most beautiful in the archdiocese, was officially dedicated on September 10th, 1882, by Dr McGettigan, Archbishop of Armagh and the sermon preached by the Bishop of Raphoe Dr Logue, later Cardinal Logue, Archbishop of Armagh.
In order to cater for growing numbers in the parish Canon Mc Keone PP (1976- 1993), added a new wing to the Church in 1981.
Church of St Patrick, Castledawson (2001)
Masses: Sunday 9.00 am
Sacristan Mr Peter Gallagher, (028) 7946 8548
Story: The village of Castledawson and its immediate surrounding area formed the most northerly part of the Archdiocese of Armagh, and of the parish of Magherafelt. To serve the spiritual needs of the ever growing Catholic population in the area Monsignor O’Byrne, Parish Priest of Magherafelt, established a new church in the centre of the village. This new modern church, dedicated to St Patrick, was officially blessed and opened by his Eminence Cardinal Brady on 6th May, 2001.
Church of St John, Milltown (c. 1700)
Story: In 1792 when the Penal Laws were still in force, but really only nominally, the Catholic people of Magherafelt had a church building placed discreetly outside the town on the road to Castledawson, the present St. John’s Church at Milltown. It was according to the Ordnance survey plain in its structure and appearance. It may very well originally have been a gift of a barn from a local Protestant landowner. There is a plaque over the front of the building indicating that it was refurbished in 1831. It has been more recently refurbished by Monsignor O’Byrne after a fire in 2002.