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The parish continued to expand following the opening of the new church, with new housing estates being built around Upton. In 1963 Father McGonagle received help in the form of a Curate, Father Gerard McGuiness.
Father McGuiness remained as Curate until 1967, when a new Curate, Father John Warnock, arrived.
In 1967 a new daughter parish was formed, this time St Peter's on the Noctorum Estate.
One feature of Father McGonagle's time in Upton was that each year, during Lent, every home in the parish was visited, either by himself or by his Curate. Writing at the time of Father McGonagle's retirement in 1983, Bishop Gray said:
"I doubt if there is any other parish in the diocese that is so well visited, and there is no more effective means of building up a sound parish community and really gaining the confidence and support of people."
Father McGonagle also continued the tradition of the Corpus Christie procession that was held each year in the Convent grounds. These had started in the days of the mission Chapel.
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