Pie in the Sky
To an atheist – once described as someone with no invisible means of support – Christian hope must seem like a cry to on high for pie in the sky. What Christians hope for, i.e. a new heaven and a new earth, has no scientific basis. Indeed it can’t have. At present, all that science can ultimately foresee is a frozen waste of nothingness. The heart-warming prospect of blissful eternal life has no basis other than in the world of God (Rev 21:1). In today’s Second Reading (1 Pet 3: 15-18) Peter exhorts us to be ready always to defend that hope. And we do that basically by showing how God has kept his promises historically and by showing that his promises continue to be fulfilled today. Historically, God promised the seemingly impossible only to fulfil it: Abraham and Sarah in advanced age beget a son, down-trodden Hebrews gain freedom from their super-power slave-masters, an eagerly awaited Messiah comes, but in the most unexpected manner. Killed and seemingly defeated, he rises from death to fulfil his mission. Today, God’s promises continue to be fulfilled. He blesses us with new life, with freedom from slavery to sin, with the promise and hope of resurrection. Yet, perhaps there is one other way to defend that hope: by allowing it to put a pep in our step.
Fr. Tom Cahill SVD
Pilgrimage to Knock
The Irish Catholic Nurses’ guild pilgrimage to Knock Shrine will take place on Saturday, 3rd May 2008. Contact Ann Kennedy - 772 2204. Bus leaving Butts Green, Kilkenny at 7.30am.
Alzheimer’s Tea Day
The annual tea day takes place on the Thursday, 1st and Friday, 2nd May in Kilkenny City. Please be as generous as in previous years and support this worthy cause. Anyone willing to give an hour to help should contact Sean at 087 214 6754.
Questions People Ask
Q. What is meant by calling the Holy Spirit the Advocate?
A. An Advocate literally means somebody called to (advocatus) ones aid. In the legal world the advocate is called to plead ones case. In the writings of John, the term refers both to Jesus and the Holy Spirit: ‘If anyone does sin, we have our advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the upright. He is the sacrifice to expiate our sins’ (1 John 2:1-2). But Jesus spoke of the coming of the Holy Spirit as ‘another Advocate, to be with you forever, that Spirit of truth...’ (John 14:15). Advocate is a direct Latin translation of the Greek name, Paraclete.
Fr. Silvester O’Flynn OFM Cap
Creidim Courses
Baptismal Team Training Course.
Trainer: Fr William Purcell.
Date: Tuesdays, May 6th and 13th.
Time: 8pm
Venue: St. Kieran’s College.
Cost: €50 per parish.
Booking essential
Phone: 777 0261
Join a Most Extraordinary Club
The Irish Blood Transfusion Service will be visiting Kilkenny with their mobile collection team.
Clinic Times: Sunday 27th April; from 11.30am to 3.30pm
Monday 28th, Tuesday 29th, Wednesday 30th April & Thursday 1st May; from 4.30pm to 8.30pm.
Please give blood at the Kilkenny Rivercourt Hotel.
Parish Website
A new parish website has been published on the internet recently. You can view it at
www.patricksparish.com
Comments and suggestions are, as always welcome. The newsletter and pictures of the parish are also included.
Pray for the Deceased
Recently Deceased: Adrian Brennan, Paulstown (funeral arrangements later). Molly Moloney, Boherlahan. Nancy Webster, Cheshire (Tues 10:30). Mary Whitaker, Dublin. Ned Walsh, Cork.
Months Mind: Paddy Tomney (Sat 6.15).
Anniversaries: Patrick & Ellen Moran (Sat 7.00), Mary Glennon (Sun 9.30), Pierce Anthony Grace (Sun 10.00), Joan & Anthony Nolan (Sun 11.00), Mary & Eddie O’Keeffe (Sun 12.00), Mary Cantwell (Thurs 10.30), Fintan Brennan (Fri 9.30), James O’Leary, Denis O’Leary, Noel Fry, Noel O’Dwyer, Mary Brennan, Des Hehir, Mary Brennan, Bridget Maher, Jim Hickey.
Intentions for Next Weekend: James Russell (Sat 7.00), John Byrne (Sun 10.00).
Prayer for Vocations
By now you’ll be aware that at every Mass for the coming year, special prayers are being offered for vocations to the priesthood and religious life.
Below is the prayer that is used at all Masses in our parish. You might like to cut it out and offer this prayer as part of your own prayer and at our daily Masses.
A Prayer for Vocations
Oh Jesus, send labourers into
your fields,
which are awaiting holy apostles, saintly priests,
heroic missionaries and
dedicated sisters and brothers
Enkindle in the hearts of men and
women the spark of a vocation.
Grant that Christian families may
desire to give your Church
Helpers
in the work of tomorrow.
Amen
James Stephen’s Camogie Club
Training for the U12 and U14 Camogie panels takes place on Mondays and Fridays 7pm - 8pm in the Juvenile Pitch, Nuncio Road. New players welcome. For more information please contact Club Juvenile Secretary, Mary at 087 627 2811 (after 7pm) or Club Secretary Richard at 087 745 0556 (after 7pm).
Camogie training for U10s resumes on Monday, 28th April 2008 @ 6.30pm in the Juvenile Pitch Nuncio Road. Looking forward to meeting you all. New players always welcome.
Our New Parish Centre
We continue to make progress with our development at St. Fiacre’s and while the building work continues we are also busy behind the scenes preparing for the start up of the Parish Centre.
Thanks to those groups which have submitted interest in using the facility, we hope to be able to accommodate your needs. We need to hear from other interested groups, who you are, what you do and how many people you cater for. It should be noted that, to defray costs such as light, heat and maintenance etc., a fee will have to be charged depending on usage. More on this at a later date.
Some information that might help you in deciding if our centre is right for you.
The centre consists of two large halls which can be opened up to make one large hall. There is a large I.T. suite, a coffee dock, a large front meeting room and two smaller rooms. The halls will be suitable for large group activities as well as corporate events and meetings.
The Parish Office will also be located in the Parish Centre and the everyday parish business will be conducted through here.
We will write more on this later on. Meanwhile, if anyone has any queries or questions then please feel free to contact any of the priests or Parish Team.
Our Parish Draw
We begin another year of our hugely successful draw this coming Tuesday night starting at 8:30pm. All are welcome to attend and this takes place at the presbytery on Ormonde Road.
This will be the last time the draw will be held in the priests’ house, as you know we are in the moving stage and May’s draw will be held elsewhere.
The parish draw is our main fund raiser and we are extremely grateful to everyone who supports it. Membership of the draw costs €10 per month and if you wish to join, contact any of the promoters, sacristans or priests. There’s a chance of winning a top prize of €1,000 each month as well as a host of smaller prizes. Don’t forget, the more we raise now, the less the debt will be on the parish over the coming years.
St. Vincent de Paul
The monthly collection for the society will be taken up this week-end at all Masses. This is a week later than usual, apologies for any inconvenience caused.
St. Vincent de Paul is a local charity and any money given is used to help people from our own parish. Many thanks for you support which always generous.
Next month the collection will be at the usual 3rd Sunday of the month
First Friday Sick Calls
Next Friday is the First Friday of the month and the sick and housebound are visited by the priests of the parish.
Please note that Fr. Liam will visit those on his list on Thursday due to a wedding commitment on the Friday.
If you know of anyone who would like to be included on the list of those sick then contact any of the priests.
Ladies’ Mini Marathon
We invite ladies of the parish who intend running in the forthcoming mini-marathon to raise sponsorship for the senior citizens’ homes in the parish. Sponsorship cards are available. It is also possible to raise sponsorship and have someone else run in your name. Contact Fr. Roderick for details.
To an atheist – once described as someone with no invisible means of support – Christian hope must seem like a cry to on high for pie in the sky. What Christians hope for, i.e. a new heaven and a new earth, has no scientific basis. Indeed it can’t have. At present, all that science can ultimately foresee is a frozen waste of nothingness. The heart-warming prospect of blissful eternal life has no basis other than in the world of God (Rev 21:1). In today’s Second Reading (1 Pet 3: 15-18) Peter exhorts us to be ready always to defend that hope. And we do that basically by showing how God has kept his promises historically and by showing that his promises continue to be fulfilled today. Historically, God promised the seemingly impossible only to fulfil it: Abraham and Sarah in advanced age beget a son, down-trodden Hebrews gain freedom from their super-power slave-masters, an eagerly awaited Messiah comes, but in the most unexpected manner. Killed and seemingly defeated, he rises from death to fulfil his mission. Today, God’s promises continue to be fulfilled. He blesses us with new life, with freedom from slavery to sin, with the promise and hope of resurrection. Yet, perhaps there is one other way to defend that hope: by allowing it to put a pep in our step.
Fr. Tom Cahill SVD
Pilgrimage to Knock
The Irish Catholic Nurses’ guild pilgrimage to Knock Shrine will take place on Saturday, 3rd May 2008. Contact Ann Kennedy - 772 2204. Bus leaving Butts Green, Kilkenny at 7.30am.
Alzheimer’s Tea Day
The annual tea day takes place on the Thursday, 1st and Friday, 2nd May in Kilkenny City. Please be as generous as in previous years and support this worthy cause. Anyone willing to give an hour to help should contact Sean at 087 214 6754.
Questions People Ask
Q. What is meant by calling the Holy Spirit the Advocate?
A. An Advocate literally means somebody called to (advocatus) ones aid. In the legal world the advocate is called to plead ones case. In the writings of John, the term refers both to Jesus and the Holy Spirit: ‘If anyone does sin, we have our advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the upright. He is the sacrifice to expiate our sins’ (1 John 2:1-2). But Jesus spoke of the coming of the Holy Spirit as ‘another Advocate, to be with you forever, that Spirit of truth...’ (John 14:15). Advocate is a direct Latin translation of the Greek name, Paraclete.
Fr. Silvester O’Flynn OFM Cap
Creidim Courses
Baptismal Team Training Course.
Trainer: Fr William Purcell.
Date: Tuesdays, May 6th and 13th.
Time: 8pm
Venue: St. Kieran’s College.
Cost: €50 per parish.
Booking essential
Phone: 777 0261
Join a Most Extraordinary Club
The Irish Blood Transfusion Service will be visiting Kilkenny with their mobile collection team.
Clinic Times: Sunday 27th April; from 11.30am to 3.30pm
Monday 28th, Tuesday 29th, Wednesday 30th April & Thursday 1st May; from 4.30pm to 8.30pm.
Please give blood at the Kilkenny Rivercourt Hotel.
Parish Website
A new parish website has been published on the internet recently. You can view it at
www.patricksparish.com
Comments and suggestions are, as always welcome. The newsletter and pictures of the parish are also included.
Pray for the Deceased
Recently Deceased: Adrian Brennan, Paulstown (funeral arrangements later). Molly Moloney, Boherlahan. Nancy Webster, Cheshire (Tues 10:30). Mary Whitaker, Dublin. Ned Walsh, Cork.
Months Mind: Paddy Tomney (Sat 6.15).
Anniversaries: Patrick & Ellen Moran (Sat 7.00), Mary Glennon (Sun 9.30), Pierce Anthony Grace (Sun 10.00), Joan & Anthony Nolan (Sun 11.00), Mary & Eddie O’Keeffe (Sun 12.00), Mary Cantwell (Thurs 10.30), Fintan Brennan (Fri 9.30), James O’Leary, Denis O’Leary, Noel Fry, Noel O’Dwyer, Mary Brennan, Des Hehir, Mary Brennan, Bridget Maher, Jim Hickey.
Intentions for Next Weekend: James Russell (Sat 7.00), John Byrne (Sun 10.00).
Prayer for Vocations
By now you’ll be aware that at every Mass for the coming year, special prayers are being offered for vocations to the priesthood and religious life.
Below is the prayer that is used at all Masses in our parish. You might like to cut it out and offer this prayer as part of your own prayer and at our daily Masses.
A Prayer for Vocations
Oh Jesus, send labourers into
your fields,
which are awaiting holy apostles, saintly priests,
heroic missionaries and
dedicated sisters and brothers
Enkindle in the hearts of men and
women the spark of a vocation.
Grant that Christian families may
desire to give your Church
Helpers
in the work of tomorrow.
Amen
James Stephen’s Camogie Club
Training for the U12 and U14 Camogie panels takes place on Mondays and Fridays 7pm - 8pm in the Juvenile Pitch, Nuncio Road. New players welcome. For more information please contact Club Juvenile Secretary, Mary at 087 627 2811 (after 7pm) or Club Secretary Richard at 087 745 0556 (after 7pm).
Camogie training for U10s resumes on Monday, 28th April 2008 @ 6.30pm in the Juvenile Pitch Nuncio Road. Looking forward to meeting you all. New players always welcome.
Our New Parish Centre
We continue to make progress with our development at St. Fiacre’s and while the building work continues we are also busy behind the scenes preparing for the start up of the Parish Centre.
Thanks to those groups which have submitted interest in using the facility, we hope to be able to accommodate your needs. We need to hear from other interested groups, who you are, what you do and how many people you cater for. It should be noted that, to defray costs such as light, heat and maintenance etc., a fee will have to be charged depending on usage. More on this at a later date.
Some information that might help you in deciding if our centre is right for you.
The centre consists of two large halls which can be opened up to make one large hall. There is a large I.T. suite, a coffee dock, a large front meeting room and two smaller rooms. The halls will be suitable for large group activities as well as corporate events and meetings.
The Parish Office will also be located in the Parish Centre and the everyday parish business will be conducted through here.
We will write more on this later on. Meanwhile, if anyone has any queries or questions then please feel free to contact any of the priests or Parish Team.
Our Parish Draw
We begin another year of our hugely successful draw this coming Tuesday night starting at 8:30pm. All are welcome to attend and this takes place at the presbytery on Ormonde Road.
This will be the last time the draw will be held in the priests’ house, as you know we are in the moving stage and May’s draw will be held elsewhere.
The parish draw is our main fund raiser and we are extremely grateful to everyone who supports it. Membership of the draw costs €10 per month and if you wish to join, contact any of the promoters, sacristans or priests. There’s a chance of winning a top prize of €1,000 each month as well as a host of smaller prizes. Don’t forget, the more we raise now, the less the debt will be on the parish over the coming years.
St. Vincent de Paul
The monthly collection for the society will be taken up this week-end at all Masses. This is a week later than usual, apologies for any inconvenience caused.
St. Vincent de Paul is a local charity and any money given is used to help people from our own parish. Many thanks for you support which always generous.
Next month the collection will be at the usual 3rd Sunday of the month
First Friday Sick Calls
Next Friday is the First Friday of the month and the sick and housebound are visited by the priests of the parish.
Please note that Fr. Liam will visit those on his list on Thursday due to a wedding commitment on the Friday.
If you know of anyone who would like to be included on the list of those sick then contact any of the priests.
Ladies’ Mini Marathon
We invite ladies of the parish who intend running in the forthcoming mini-marathon to raise sponsorship for the senior citizens’ homes in the parish. Sponsorship cards are available. It is also possible to raise sponsorship and have someone else run in your name. Contact Fr. Roderick for details.
