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Brief Parish History & Geographical Location
Corpus Christi parish was formed in 1976 when the area of Moyross was separated from the parish of St Munchin's. The population of the parish is around 5,200.
In Medieval Limerick, there were five parishes in Limerick City; St John's, St Mary's, St Michael's, St Munchin's and St Patrick's.
In recent times, the boundaries of these parishes have been altered to form the following parishes:
St Mary's was divided into St Mary's and St Nicholas' (1991).
St Michael's was divided into St Michael's, Our Lady of Lourdes (1963), St
Joseph's (1973) and St Saviour's (1973).
St Munchin's was divided into St Munchin's, Our Lady of the Rosary (1964),
Christ the King (1970) and Corpus Christi (1976).
St Patrick's was divided into St Patrick's, Monaleen (1971), and Our Lady
Help of Christians (1981).
St John's parish has not been altered.
St Paul's was formerly part of the parish of Mungret/Crecora and was created
in 1971.
Our Lady Queen of Peace (1961) and Holy Family (1970) were formerly part of
the parish of Donaghmore/Knockea.
The original Corpus Christi church was built in 1978 but it was destroyed
in a fire on June 22, 1998 due to an electrical fault. Following the fire,
a new church was built in its place. The architect was John MacMahon from
Limerick. According to a plaque in the porch of the church, Bishop Donal Murray
opened this church on the weekend of April 15/16, 2000.
In the grounds of the church, on the left, there is a statue of the Virgin Mary. Four small windows in the porch of the church depict the Holy Spirit, the body and blood of Christ (Corpus Christi), chi and rho and the sacrament of Reconciliation. Chi and rho are the first two letters of Christ's name in Greek which are written as X and P with the P dissecting the center of the X. This is also called the Sacred Monogram.
On the right of the church, there is a wood carving of Jesus healing the wounded man. The O'Shaughnessy family gave the Stations of the Cross, which are on both sides at the back of the church to the memory of Mary, Bridget and John O'Shaughnessy. They were designed by Fergus Costello.
The baptismal font, the evangelarium and the ambo are to the
left of the altar. The baptismal font depicts St John the Baptist baptizing
Our Lord in the River Jordan. On the reverse side of the baptismal font, there
is a carving of the descent of the Holy Spirit. The evangelarium is the shrine
for the book of the Gospels.
At the top of the lectern is the ox, which is the symbol for Luke and underneath it is the lion, which is the symbol for Mark. Then there is the symbol of the eagle, which represents John, and finally the man is the biblical symbol for Matthew. The sedilia (the priest's chair) behind the ambo depicts the Good Shepherd.
A stained glass window on the left-hand side of the church shows children caring for each other with God's blessing. Also on the left wall of the church is the oumbry. Contained within the oumbry are the blessed oils for use in the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Orders and Anointing the Sick.
The O'Shaughnessy family also gave the sculpture of the Risen Christ that is behind the main altar. This piece was carved from a root system of bog pine, which has been extinct in Ireland for 1,700 years. The main altar is made from a combination of sycamore and ash. Facing the congregation, there is a carving of a pair of hands holding the bread of life. To the right of the altar, is the presidential chair.
The tabernacle was also carved from a root system of bog pine. The outer door of the tabernacle contains a panel of stained glass that survived the fire in 1998. It is one of the few remaining artifacts from the old church. There is a small stained glass window on either side of the tabernacle.
On the right hand side of the tabernacle there is a statue of Mary and Child while on the left of the tabernacle there is a statue of St Joseph. The church pews were designed and produced by Nolan Products of Newcastlewest, Co. Limerick.
A cross, given by the Redemptorists is in the local National
School, which is situated beside the church.
| Year | Parish Priest | Curate(s) |
| 1977 | Maurice Walsh (Adm.) | |
| 1978 | Maurice Walsh (Adm.) | |
| 1979 | Maurice Walsh | |
| 1980 | Maurice Walsh | |
| 1981 | Maurice Walsh | Daniel Neenan |
| 1982 | Maurice Walsh | Daniel Neenan |
| 1983 | Maurice Walsh | Daniel Neenan |
| 1984 | Maurice Walsh | Daniel Neenan |
| 1985 | Maurice Walsh | Daniel Neenan |
| 1986 | Patrick J. O’Donnell | Jeremiah Brouder |
| 1987 | Patrick J. O’Donnell | Jeremiah Brouder |
| 1988 | Patrick J. O'Donnell | Jeremiah Brouder |
| Frederick Walters | ||
| 1989 | Patrick J. O’Donnell | Michael Hanley |
| Frederick Walters | ||
| 1990 | Patrick J. O’Donnell | Michael Hanley |
| Frederick Walters | ||
| 1991 | Patrick J. O’Donnell | Michael Hanley |
| Thomas Harty | ||
| 1992 | Patrick J. O’Donnell | Michael Hanley |
| Terence Loughran | ||
| 1993 | John O'Shea | Terence Loughran |
| James J. Keane | ||
| 1994 | John O’Shea | Terence Loughran |
| James J. Keane | ||
| 1995 | John O’Shea | Terence Loughran |
| James J. Keane | ||
| 1996 | John O’Shea | Terence Loughran |
| James J. Keane | ||
| 1997 | John O’Shea | Terence Loughran |
| James J. Keane | ||
| 1998 | John O’Shea | Kevin O'Dea |
| Gerard Slattery | ||
| 1999 | John O’Shea | Kevin O’Dea |
| Gerard Slattery | ||
| 2000 | John O’Shea | Kevin O’Dea |
| Gerard Slattery | ||
| 2001 | John O’Shea | Kevin O’Dea |
| Gerard Slattery | ||
| 2002 | John O’Shea | Kevin O’Dea |
| 2003 | Frank O'Dea | |
| 2004 | Frank O'Dea | |
| 2005 | Frank O'Dea | |
| 2006 | Frank O'Dea | |
| 2007 | Frank O'Dea |
The list of Priests is compiled from the Catholic Directories. Information contained in a directory of any given year refers to what happened the previous year, For example if a priest is recorded in the 1954 directory as being in a particular parish, this would mean that he was actually there in 1953.
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