Miraculous Escape
I’m not much of a one for believing in miracles – at least the spectacular kind. At best, and with some effort, I can maintain an open mind. So, I take some comfort in what CG Jung – the eminent Swiss psychiatrist who died in 1961 – wrote in The Undiscovered Self: ‘Credulity is one of our worst enemies, but that is the makeshift the neurotic always resorts to in order to quell the doubter in his own breast or conjure him out of existence.’
Undoubtedly, the episode of Peter’s spectacular and miraculous escape from prison in today’s First Reading (Acts 12: 1-11) qualifies as a first-class miracle. So did it happen as portrayed? In other words: was a reporter’s job done on it? Well, in the Sacra Pagina series of scripture commentaries, the comment on this particular story is that Luke’s primary interest is not to demonstrate its historical reliability but to have it serve his narrative purpose. Fine! Stories, whether in the Bible or elsewhere, are precisely that: stories, not reports.
However, that’s too large an issue to go into here. But miracles aren’t. And if it’s miracles that impress then there’s no shortage of them. How about a baby’s chuckle, a child’s laugh, a parent’s love, birds in fight, fish in shoals, atoms spinning, stars sparkling, brains working, spirits soaring, a blade of grass, a luscious flower, a weed?
Let these miracles do their work. Let these dime-a-dozen miracles free us from our prisons as surely as that spectacular one freed Peter from his.
Fr. Tom Cahill SVD
Eucharistic Adoration
“Could you not watch with me one hour?” Matthew 26:40
Adorers needed each Friday, in St. Patrick’s Church for Eucharistic adoration, especially for the hours from 11.00am to 12 noon, and from 12 noon to 1.00pm. If interested please ring 777 0472 or contact any of the priests of the parish at 776 4400.
World Youth Day Pilgrims
Twenty five young people from Ossory will depart on next Saturday, 5th July for World Youth Day events in Sydney. One week will be spent in the Diocese of Ballarat and the rest of the time will be spent in Sydney. Frs. Richard Scriven and Mark Condon, two youth leaders from Ossory Youth and Derek Dooley, a teacher in Thomastown and Youth Leader with the Ossory Pilgrimage to Lourdes, will accompany Bishop Freeman and the group. While in Sydney the group will be hosted by the Kilkenny Association. At 6pm on Sunday, 20th July there will be gathering of Kilkenny people in Sydney’s Gaelic Club (adjacent to Central Railway and Bus Station in the city centre). Please tell relations and friends in Sydney that they are welcome to this “meet and greet” Kilkenny night down under.
First Friday Visits
This coming Friday is the first Friday of July and the sick and housebound of the parish are visited and brought the sacraments.
Please note that Fr. Liam will make his rounds on THURSDAY. Fr. Dan and Fr. Roderick will make their calls as usual.
If you are sick or housebound and would like to be included on the First Friday calls then please let us know at Parish Office.
Pray For The Deceased
Recently Deceased: Connor Doheny Phelan, 140 Walkin Street. Elizabeth Manogue, Ballyclovan, Callan.
Months Mind: Bill Doheny (Sun 11.00)
Anniversaries: Dick Martin (Sat 6.15), Jimmy Hackett (Sat 7.00), Ellen Ryan & John Joe Traynor (Sun 9.30), Dr. Tom McIntyre (Sun 10.30), Austin Murphy (Sun 12.00), Fran Ryan (Sun 12.30), Catherine Fitzpatrick, Sheila O’Regan, Mary Blunden, Dick O’Hara, Michael McGrath.
Intentions for next weekend: Dr. Paddy Boyd (Sat 7.00), Pauline Kennedy (Sun 10.00).
May they rest in peace. Amen.
Annual Golf Classic
The annual Parish Golf Classic will be held at Kilkenny Golf Club on next Friday, 4th July 2008. Some tee times are available at €250 per team of four. We invite interested golfers to contact Christy Power on 086 821 8554 to book tee times.
We also invite parishioners to consider tee box sponsorship. You may be in a position to help your parish by sponsoring a tee box (€100) or encouraging your employer to do the same. Sponsorship of prizes would also be welcome. Contact the Parish Office on 056 776 4400 for further details.
Drakelands Garden Party
Our thanks to the proprietors, staff, residents and friends of Drakelands Nursing Home who will donate the proceeds of their annual Garden Party to our parish.
The Garden Party will be held from 10.30am on next Sunday, 6th July. Bishop Séamus Freeman will be the principal celebrant at the Mass at 3pm. All from the parish are invited to attend. Please support.
Pope’s Collection
The second collection at all Masses this weekend will be sent to the Pope as part of the annual Peter’s Pence Collection.
Under 14 Champions!
Well done and congratulations to the James Stephens Under 14 Hurling Team who beat Na Piarsaigh from Cork (1-7 to 1-6) in a dramatic Féile na nGael Division 1 National Final in Portlaoise on last Sunday. This is the seventh time the parish has won this national tournament.
“The Rock” Youth Project
Kilkenny Christian Centre are bag-filling at Supervalu, Loughboy, on Thursday, Friday and Saturday 24-26th July to raids funds for “The Rock” Youth project. Anyone willing to help, please telephone Maria Marshall 087 6188054.
St. John’s Church Centenary
We congratulate our neighbouring parish of St. John’s on the centenary of their parish church this weekend.
Please note the following:-
· There will be no 10.30am or 12 noon Masses at St. John’s on this Sunday or next.
· Con-celebrated centenary Mass at St. John’s at 3pm on this Sunday afternoon.
· Vigil Mass transferred from 6.30pm to 7.30pm on next Saturday evening.
· Broadcast Mass on RTE television at 11.10am on next Sunday morning.
All welcome to attend these ceremonies.
Our Parish Draw
Ted Byrne has informed us that, as of the last draw, over the past four years, the monthly draw has raised €400,000 for our parish development. This is a tremendous achievement and we are extremely grateful to everyone who promotes and supports the draw each month.
The draw continues to run for the coming year and with our debt expected to be in the region of €1.5 million your support is appreciated now more than ever.
You can join the draw by contacting any of the promoters or sacristans in our churches. You can also contact the parish office for more details.
Sincere thanks to Ted for all his efforts in running this hugely successful draw.
What’s Going On?
A number of people have enquired as to what are all the pieces of wood doing in the organ gallery at St. Patrick’s Church. Well, we were keeping it as a surprise but we’ll tell you now.
All those pieces in the gallery are parts of a new pipe organ for St. Patrick’s Church. The pipe organ was kindly donated by the Sisters of Mercy in Westport and, when reassembled, will be a fine addition to our church. The new organ will replace the current instrument which has had its day. More later.
Pilgrimage to Knock
Thanks to all who supported our annual pilgrimage to Knock on Thursday last. A wonderful pilgrimage was enjoyed by all.
Church Gate Collections
The Irish Wheelchair Association will hold a Church Gate Collection this weekend.
The annual church gate collection in aid of Concern will take place next weekend.
Dates for Your Diary
The annual outdoor Mass at Elm Green will be at 7.30pm on next Thursday, 3rd July. All welcome.
Foulkstown Cemetery Mass will be on Thursday, 31st July at 7.30pm.
This year’s St. Fiacre’s Well Mass will be on Sunday, 31st August at 3.30pm.
Please tell your friends, especially those away from home.
Clonmacnois Youth Festival
Youth 2000 Summer Festival, Clonmacnois, Co. Offaly, Thursday 14th - Sunday 17th August 2008. Four young people age 16-35, an opportunity not to be missed to experience the Catholic faith and meet many new friends. Donation only. Free buses available from around the country. For more information, contact 01 6753690, or check our websites: www.youth2000.ie, or xx-youth2000-xx.bebo.com.
I’m not much of a one for believing in miracles – at least the spectacular kind. At best, and with some effort, I can maintain an open mind. So, I take some comfort in what CG Jung – the eminent Swiss psychiatrist who died in 1961 – wrote in The Undiscovered Self: ‘Credulity is one of our worst enemies, but that is the makeshift the neurotic always resorts to in order to quell the doubter in his own breast or conjure him out of existence.’
Undoubtedly, the episode of Peter’s spectacular and miraculous escape from prison in today’s First Reading (Acts 12: 1-11) qualifies as a first-class miracle. So did it happen as portrayed? In other words: was a reporter’s job done on it? Well, in the Sacra Pagina series of scripture commentaries, the comment on this particular story is that Luke’s primary interest is not to demonstrate its historical reliability but to have it serve his narrative purpose. Fine! Stories, whether in the Bible or elsewhere, are precisely that: stories, not reports.
However, that’s too large an issue to go into here. But miracles aren’t. And if it’s miracles that impress then there’s no shortage of them. How about a baby’s chuckle, a child’s laugh, a parent’s love, birds in fight, fish in shoals, atoms spinning, stars sparkling, brains working, spirits soaring, a blade of grass, a luscious flower, a weed?
Let these miracles do their work. Let these dime-a-dozen miracles free us from our prisons as surely as that spectacular one freed Peter from his.
Fr. Tom Cahill SVD
Eucharistic Adoration
“Could you not watch with me one hour?” Matthew 26:40
Adorers needed each Friday, in St. Patrick’s Church for Eucharistic adoration, especially for the hours from 11.00am to 12 noon, and from 12 noon to 1.00pm. If interested please ring 777 0472 or contact any of the priests of the parish at 776 4400.
World Youth Day Pilgrims
Twenty five young people from Ossory will depart on next Saturday, 5th July for World Youth Day events in Sydney. One week will be spent in the Diocese of Ballarat and the rest of the time will be spent in Sydney. Frs. Richard Scriven and Mark Condon, two youth leaders from Ossory Youth and Derek Dooley, a teacher in Thomastown and Youth Leader with the Ossory Pilgrimage to Lourdes, will accompany Bishop Freeman and the group. While in Sydney the group will be hosted by the Kilkenny Association. At 6pm on Sunday, 20th July there will be gathering of Kilkenny people in Sydney’s Gaelic Club (adjacent to Central Railway and Bus Station in the city centre). Please tell relations and friends in Sydney that they are welcome to this “meet and greet” Kilkenny night down under.
First Friday Visits
This coming Friday is the first Friday of July and the sick and housebound of the parish are visited and brought the sacraments.
Please note that Fr. Liam will make his rounds on THURSDAY. Fr. Dan and Fr. Roderick will make their calls as usual.
If you are sick or housebound and would like to be included on the First Friday calls then please let us know at Parish Office.
Pray For The Deceased
Recently Deceased: Connor Doheny Phelan, 140 Walkin Street. Elizabeth Manogue, Ballyclovan, Callan.
Months Mind: Bill Doheny (Sun 11.00)
Anniversaries: Dick Martin (Sat 6.15), Jimmy Hackett (Sat 7.00), Ellen Ryan & John Joe Traynor (Sun 9.30), Dr. Tom McIntyre (Sun 10.30), Austin Murphy (Sun 12.00), Fran Ryan (Sun 12.30), Catherine Fitzpatrick, Sheila O’Regan, Mary Blunden, Dick O’Hara, Michael McGrath.
Intentions for next weekend: Dr. Paddy Boyd (Sat 7.00), Pauline Kennedy (Sun 10.00).
May they rest in peace. Amen.
Annual Golf Classic
The annual Parish Golf Classic will be held at Kilkenny Golf Club on next Friday, 4th July 2008. Some tee times are available at €250 per team of four. We invite interested golfers to contact Christy Power on 086 821 8554 to book tee times.
We also invite parishioners to consider tee box sponsorship. You may be in a position to help your parish by sponsoring a tee box (€100) or encouraging your employer to do the same. Sponsorship of prizes would also be welcome. Contact the Parish Office on 056 776 4400 for further details.
Drakelands Garden Party
Our thanks to the proprietors, staff, residents and friends of Drakelands Nursing Home who will donate the proceeds of their annual Garden Party to our parish.
The Garden Party will be held from 10.30am on next Sunday, 6th July. Bishop Séamus Freeman will be the principal celebrant at the Mass at 3pm. All from the parish are invited to attend. Please support.
Pope’s Collection
The second collection at all Masses this weekend will be sent to the Pope as part of the annual Peter’s Pence Collection.
Under 14 Champions!
Well done and congratulations to the James Stephens Under 14 Hurling Team who beat Na Piarsaigh from Cork (1-7 to 1-6) in a dramatic Féile na nGael Division 1 National Final in Portlaoise on last Sunday. This is the seventh time the parish has won this national tournament.
“The Rock” Youth Project
Kilkenny Christian Centre are bag-filling at Supervalu, Loughboy, on Thursday, Friday and Saturday 24-26th July to raids funds for “The Rock” Youth project. Anyone willing to help, please telephone Maria Marshall 087 6188054.
St. John’s Church Centenary
We congratulate our neighbouring parish of St. John’s on the centenary of their parish church this weekend.
Please note the following:-
· There will be no 10.30am or 12 noon Masses at St. John’s on this Sunday or next.
· Con-celebrated centenary Mass at St. John’s at 3pm on this Sunday afternoon.
· Vigil Mass transferred from 6.30pm to 7.30pm on next Saturday evening.
· Broadcast Mass on RTE television at 11.10am on next Sunday morning.
All welcome to attend these ceremonies.
Our Parish Draw
Ted Byrne has informed us that, as of the last draw, over the past four years, the monthly draw has raised €400,000 for our parish development. This is a tremendous achievement and we are extremely grateful to everyone who promotes and supports the draw each month.
The draw continues to run for the coming year and with our debt expected to be in the region of €1.5 million your support is appreciated now more than ever.
You can join the draw by contacting any of the promoters or sacristans in our churches. You can also contact the parish office for more details.
Sincere thanks to Ted for all his efforts in running this hugely successful draw.
What’s Going On?
A number of people have enquired as to what are all the pieces of wood doing in the organ gallery at St. Patrick’s Church. Well, we were keeping it as a surprise but we’ll tell you now.
All those pieces in the gallery are parts of a new pipe organ for St. Patrick’s Church. The pipe organ was kindly donated by the Sisters of Mercy in Westport and, when reassembled, will be a fine addition to our church. The new organ will replace the current instrument which has had its day. More later.
Pilgrimage to Knock
Thanks to all who supported our annual pilgrimage to Knock on Thursday last. A wonderful pilgrimage was enjoyed by all.
Church Gate Collections
The Irish Wheelchair Association will hold a Church Gate Collection this weekend.
The annual church gate collection in aid of Concern will take place next weekend.
Dates for Your Diary
The annual outdoor Mass at Elm Green will be at 7.30pm on next Thursday, 3rd July. All welcome.
Foulkstown Cemetery Mass will be on Thursday, 31st July at 7.30pm.
This year’s St. Fiacre’s Well Mass will be on Sunday, 31st August at 3.30pm.
Please tell your friends, especially those away from home.
Clonmacnois Youth Festival
Youth 2000 Summer Festival, Clonmacnois, Co. Offaly, Thursday 14th - Sunday 17th August 2008. Four young people age 16-35, an opportunity not to be missed to experience the Catholic faith and meet many new friends. Donation only. Free buses available from around the country. For more information, contact 01 6753690, or check our websites: www.youth2000.ie, or xx-youth2000-xx.bebo.com.
