Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, 26th July 2009

Foulkstown Cemetery Mass
The time for our annual cemetery Mass in Foulkstown is almost upon us. At 7.30pm on next Thursday (30th) - come hail, rain or snow - thousands will gather at the gravesides of loved ones to remember and pray for them.
It’s always an amazing sight to see so many people travelling from far and wide to this annual event and credit is due to those who keep their graves looking so well.
Some advice for those travelling: arrive early, please heed the instructions of the Gardaí and stewards and park in the grounds provided. Bring an umbrella and portable seating for elderly people.
As always the Cemetery Committee will be holding a gate collection for the upkeep of the cemetery and this money is used solely for the cemetery which, we know you'll agree, is always kept in top condition. This upkeep is done entirely on a voluntary basis and we’re grateful to Billy Mullally and his army who keep things afloat.
The Mass will begin at 7.30pm sharp and the main celebrant will be Fr. Liam. We look forward to seeing you there.

St. Patrick’s Parish Draw
The July draw will be held at the Parish Centre on Tuesday evening, 28th July at 8.30pm. Promoters are asked to have tickets and monies returned in time. New members are always welcome. Tickets cost €10 per month and are available at the Sacristies and Parish Centre. Thanks to all who subscribe and to all our promoters who so tirelessly give of their time and energy to promote this draw. This is our main fundraising event and while the draw continues to remain successful we are able to repay our debt. Not a bad achievement in present times.

Anniversaries and Newsletter
Please, DO NOT leave anniversary notices or other items into our former house on Ormonde Road. Items left at the Parish Office, the Priests’ Houses, St. Patrick’s or St. Fiacre’s Sacristies before Thursday will ensure publication. Thanks.

Our Parish Website
Due to some difficulties with our now former hosting company, St. Patrick’s Parish website is currently out of service. This matter is being resolved and the website will be back up by the middle of the week with a new host, a new look and a new name. The new name for the parish website will be: www.patricksparish.net (formerly .com). We apologise for any inconvenience but matters are beyond our control.

International Youth Festival
On Wednesday morning next 18 young parishioners will depart from St. Fiacre’s Church for the 20th International Youth Festival – Mladifest 20 – at Medjugorje. They will be joined for the duration of the pilgrimage by 29 other young people and 14 adult leaders from Kilkenny city and county. For many of the youth – all in their late teens and early twenties – it will be their second trip to the Annual Youth Festival at Medjugorje while a small number of them will be making the trip for the third time. Fr. Dan will travel with the group for the first time this year.
The theme of this year’s festival, which will be attended by more than 50,000 young people and up to 500 priests, is “Do whatever he tells you!”
Parents, family members and members of our parish community in general are invited to a short sending out ceremony which will be held at St. Fiacre’s Church on Wednesday morning next at 10am. Please pray for and with our young people during the pilgrimage.

Pray for the Deceased
Recently Deceased: Sabinna Lallan, Sudan. Jimmy Reynolds, late of Castle Road and 9 High Street who died in America.
Months Mind: Lillian Beatty (Sun 12.00).
Anniversaries: Tommy McGuire (Sat 6.15), Vera Brannigan (Sat 7.00), Devina Crosby (Sun 10.00), Joe Cody (Sun 12.30), Margaret & Ellen Fogarty (Wed 10.30), Jimmy Bourke, Billy Bourke, Nancy Larkin, Edward Kirwan, Doreen Tallent, Delia O’Hara, Linda Reade, Angela Tiernan.

The Sign of Peace at Mass
Some people have raised the issue of the sign of peace at Mass in the light of fears over the threat of swine flu. The current position of the HSE is that there is no need to suspend the practice. We note this advice and at present see no need to change the current practice.
However, the HSE has expressed concerns as to the dangers of persons with flu symptoms attending at Mass and church services. This constitutes the greatest danger of all in terms of spreading the disease. We ask persons with symptoms of flu not to attend church services during their illness. We also ask all church ministers to be conscious of the need for increased hygiene at the present time.

In Need of Friends
Someone once pointed out that the best time to make friends is before you need them. Paul’s passionate plea for unity in today’s Second Reading (Eph 4:1-6) is a reminder of that fact. Paul, of course, doesn’t package his plea in such self serving terms. However, in its own streetwise fashion the remark is true. Unity is good, disunity is not. It’s as simple as that. Paul uses language here that many people, particularly men perhaps, may find difficult to identity with in terms of relating to others. He pleads for ‘humility’, ‘gentleness’, ‘patience’ and that awful thing called ‘love’. In an age when, in the name of so-called entertainment, we are bombarded with images of just the opposite of these – anger, hate, violence and abuse – we might be pardoned for wondering which is the norm in life: humility or arrogance, gentleness or aggression, patience or frenzy, love or hate. A constant diet of grim actors on TV, and on the big screen, aping antisocial antics as if life consisted of never-ending rows fuelled by mindless jealousy can result in a build up of bile. So, whether we suffer from indigestion or not is up to us. Which do we want: to be hurtful of helpful, coarse or courteous, aggressive or friendly? Those who feed on anger, hate and violence are no strangers to fear. These take more out of us than they give. It’s the caring, the friendship and the love that makes life pleasant and fulfilling. Ask any angry, jealous and friendless role model you can find.
Fr. Tom Cahill SVD

Monastic Experience for Women
Single women interested in finding our more about a Carmelite Monastic Vocation are invited to join in our life of prayer, liturgy and work for the weekend 28th - 30th August. Preferred age 25 - 45. For more information visit www.carmelitemonasterydelgany.ie or email contact@carmelitemonasterydelgany.ieor write to: Prioress, Carmelite Monastery, Delgany, Co. Wicklow.

Questions people ask
Q. I read your answer why the Church is against premarital sex? But is there any better way of preparing for eventual marriage than living together to find if the couple are compatible?
A. You seem to be blind to the fact that there is a much higher rate of break-up among couples who cohabited before marriage than among couples who did not. It is very likely that couples who did not cohabit before marriage had stronger religious beliefs and developed a spirit of self-sacrifice in their relationship. These factors are hugely important in strengthening the bonds of a mature relationship.
Fr. Silvester O’Flynn OFM Cap

St. Vincent de Paul Society
In need of financial help? The members of the St. Vincent de Paul Society are there to offer such help. If you would like to contact the society in the strictest confidence then put your name and contact details into a sealed envelope, mark it for the care of the St. Vincent de Paul Society and drop it into the Parish Office or one of the priests’ houses (in Loughboy) during the week. We will make sure it is delivered to the society.

Parish Bereavement Support Group
St. Patrick’s Parish Bereavement Support Group offers one-to-one support to bereaved parishioners. Call 086 162 9089 to speak to a member of the group or come to the Parish Centre on Mondays between 7.30 and 9.00pm. This is a free and confidential service.

St. Patrick’s Parish Centre
We are pleased that so many people like our new Parish Centre and travel from all over to have a look at it. We are pleased, too, that so many different groups have expressed interest in using our facilities and we try to accommodate them in so far as is possible.
All bookings for the Parish Centre must be made through Ted Byrne and application forms and costs are available at the reception desk. Interested parties should note that St. Patrick’s Parish Centre is a parish run centre. Those intending to use the centre must have regard for our Catholic ethos and adhere to our child protection policy, a copy of which is available at the reception desk.
Each application to use the Parish Centre will be assessed on our ability to meet their needs but sometimes, even with the greatest will, this is not possible. For further details please contact Ted Byrne or Fr. Liam.

James Stephens GAA Club
Congratulations to the Village GAA Club which this week announces two sponsorships with local business. The Playwright Bar on High Street, owned by Village man Richie Guilfoyle, will sponsor the club’s adult teams until the end of 2011. The jerseys worn by the adult teams will now have The Playwright logo on their jerseys. Hotel Kilkenny joins as sponsor partner for the juvenile section of the club (from minor down) and the strips worn by the teams from U14 to minor will have hotelkilkenny.ie on their jerseys.

Signed Mass Cards
Mass cards for various occasions are available at the Parish Centre reception desk. These cards are signed by the priests of the parish and an individual Mass is said for each intention.
These cards have proven to be very successful and we’re happy to provide this service, especially if it does away with all the fake Mass cards available in many shops and for which Masses aren’t offered.
The Mass cards that are signed by us are gathered together and where there is a surplus the intention and stipend (money) is forwarded to the missions. For this purpose we have enlisted the assistance of Aid to the Church in Need (www.acnirl.org), who make sure that individual Masses are offered by missionary and Third World priests for each particular intention.
Mass stipends are a vital source of income for missionary and Third World priests and you are assured the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass will be offered for your particular intention.

Psychotherapist/Counsellor
Experienced and fully qualified psychotherapist/counsellor available for evening appointments in the Parish Centre. For an appointment please call Robert at 086 878 6353.

Getting Married Soon?
Please remember you must give at least three month’s notice to the Civil Registrar and to the Church. There are many helpful suggestions for those preparing for marriage on www.gettingmarried.ie

Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, 19th July 2009

New Structures in Place as Diocese Plans for the Future
The second round of meetings of the newly formed Deanery Pastoral Councils of the Ossory Diocese has been completed.
The Councils, which consist of a lay representative of each parish along with priests and religious representing the deanery, are part of the newly restructured Ossory Diocesan Forum.
The most significant aspect of the new structure is the move from a centrally based Forum to a deanery based one. There are three deaneries in the Diocese, Northern, Middle and Southern, each consisting of a number of adjoining parishes in that area.
Bishop Seamus Freeman told the meetings that the purpose of this more locally based new model of the Forum is to promote a more neighbourly context for an effective Gospel response to local challenges. Stressing the importance of the establishment of Parish Pastoral Councils in all parishes over the next four years, Bishop Freeman revealed that Fr. Richard Scriven will help parishes to set up and provide training for these Pastoral Councils. “A priest without the concrete cooperation of the people cannot build and develop a parish that is the family of God”, said Bishop Freeman who added that “neither can a people be the family of God without the priest”.
Bishop Freeman also stressed the importance of sharing ideas with a view to reaching consensus on pastoral priorities; implementing pastoral strategies to address those priorities and the sharing of progress or difficulties in their implementation. “The issues are many - poverty, sickness, loneliness, the safeguarding of children, unemployment, a growing drug culture and the violence it generates, social isolation in town and country and the serious lack of adequate religious catechesis”, he said.
The next round of the Deanery Pastoral Councils will be on 16th September.
Diarmuid Healy, Ossory Diocesan Forum

Questions People Ask
Q. Why must we have so many interruptions at Mass like standing, kneeling, shaking hands etc? I would much prefer a quiet, uninterrupted Mass.
A. Silent worship is wonderful in its own place but the celebration of the Eucharist is a community prayer which recognises the presence of the Lord not only in the consecrated host but also in the gathered community, in the word and in the mission to go out in love and service. ‘Though there are many of us we form a single body, because we all have a share in the one loaf’ (1 Cor. 10:17). Sharing responses, gestures and movements with others is a recognition of Christ in the body that is the community.
Fr. Silvester O’Flynn OFM Cap

Cemetery Mass at Foulkstown
The annual Mass at Foulkstown Cemetery will be celebrated at 7.30pm on Thursday, 30th July. We ask you to inform interested people who may not see this announcement.
We invite plot-owners to help prepare the cemetery for the occasion.

Anniversaries and Newsletter
Please do not leave anniversary notices or other items into our former house on Ormonde Road. We no longer have access to the house and notes may not be redirected in time for publication. Ideally items for the Newsletter should be delivered to the Parish Office at the Parish Centre by hand, post, email, telephone or fax. Leaving items at the Priests’ Houses, St. Patrick’s or St. Fiacre’s Sacristies before Thursday should also ensure publication. Thanks.

Counselling
Low cost counselling is available at St. Patrick’s Parish Centre. Contact Kate for further details 087 750 6815.

Latin Mass
The traditional Latin Mass (permitted by Pope Benedict XVI in his Motu Proprio of July 2007) is celebrated at St. Patrick’s Church at 5pm on Sundays.

Getting Married Soon?
Visit www.gettingmarried.ie for helpful suggestions in preparation for marriage.

Silence
In The World of Silence, Max Picard writes, ‘And yet sometimes all the noise of the world today seems like the mere buzzing of insects on the broad back of silence.’ There’s something substantial about silence. Often people describe it as ‘heavy’. Silence is formidable, even intimidating, if you’re not friendly with it. But to be friendly with it, first you have to be friendly with you. One way of finding out if you are, is to go off to a lonely spot and see how long you can stay there before unease sets in. How many people follow Jesus’ advice to his disciples in today’s Gospel (Mark 6:30-34) to go to a deserted place for peace and quiet? Are they not more inclined to go to a noisy holiday resort where there’s lots of action, lots of people, lots of things to do to fill the gap, lots of ways to forget oneself? Is there not something desperate about having to have a good time, and worse yet to feel obliged to say you had, even though you may not have had? Getting used to silent, solitary periods to relax, to refresh our spirit and take stock of our life is worthwhile. It helps us to think about important things that in the normal course of a day we rarely think of. Things like; like and its purpose, values we live by, people we hold precious, ambitions that drive us, the place we give to God in our life.
Silence is necessary not for finding answers but for finding questions.
Fr. Tom Cahill SVD

Fun Cycle
Clogh/Moneenroe Parish Fun Cycle 30 km or 100 km on Sunday. 26th July in aid of Parish Development will start at Clogh Parish Centre at 1pm. Registration from 12 noon. All sponsors will be entered for a draw for a mountain bike valued at €500. Certificate of achievement will be awarded to all participants. Helmets are compulsory. Minimum age 16 years. Route maps will be provided on the day. Further information from Ger Campion on 087 289 0450 or Clogh Parish Office 056 440 1942.

Summer Festival for Youth
Knock Summer Youth Festival will be held from 23rd to 26th July 2009 at Our Lady’s Shrine in Knock, Co Mayo. It is open to people between the ages of 18 and 35, and costs €70 for the weekend.
Please contact Fr. Willie Purcell, Callan on 087 628 6858 for information re coaches etc.

Pray for the Deceased
Recently Deceased: Joan Cody, 1 Cypress Green. Teresa Hayden, Carlow.
Anniversaries: Jimmy Byrne (Sun 10.00), Mary Norris (Sun 12.00), Nicholas (Brod) Comerford (Sun 12.30), James Bolger (Tue 10.30), Thomas & John Phelan, Anne & Edward Whelan, Mary Power, Mary Holland, Sr. Kieran Hickey, Breda Joyce, Ann Quirke, Tony Henderson, Danny Galvin, Catherine Manogue, Felix Campbell, Bridget Ward, Bridie Walsh, Esther Loughman, John Loughman.
Intentions for next weekend: Tommy McGuire (Sat 6.15), Vera Brannigan (Sat 7.00), Devina Crosby (Sun 10.00), Joe Cody (Sun 12.30).

Music for Kilimanjaro
Local parishioner Ger Mulvey is launching a CD of original songs in aid of the African Charity Kilimanjaro Direct at 9.00pm on Friday, 24th July in the Kilkenny Ormonde Hotel. This charity, set up Sheila Ryan, music teacher in the Presentation Secondary School, raises money for projects in a remote part of Tanzania. Sheila herself travels to Tanzania a number of times each year to oversee the projects and so far the charity has funded the construction of a number of houses using local labour, as well as the education of a number of children. The big project now on hand is the construction of a school for the local children. All of the production costs of the CD have been met, so all of the sale proceeds will go directly to projects on the ground. It is hoped to raise enough to fund the construction of a house for a family in need and one of the classrooms in the new school. Everybody is welcome to the launch event and the post-launch party. A great night’s entertainment is guaranteed on the 24th, with music by Carlow band ‘Daktari’.

Bus to Knock Shrine
Thursday, 23rd July, leaving EBS Patrick Street, Kilkenny at 7.30am. Fee on booking €20. Contract Pauline: 776 5540, Marian 776 2248, Eileen 776 3259.

Exposition of Blessed Sacrament
The Blessed Sacrament is exposed for worship at St. Fiacre’s Church on Mondays from 11am until 10pm and at St. Patrick’s Church on Fridays from 10am until 1pm and from 4pm until 9pm. Many parishioners have generously undertaken to sit and pray before the Blessed Sacrament for specific lengths of time during these hours. More volunteers are welcome: please contact the Parish Office if you could spare a particular hour during these times.
Of course if you cannot commit to a particular time each week please feel free to drop in for some quiet prayer at any time.

Gluten Intolerance and Communion
People with gluten intolerance (coeliac condition) are invited to approach the altar at the same time as the Ministers of Holy Communion, i.e. before general distribution of Communion. Please stand with the Ministers of Holy Communion. You will then be offered Communion from the chalice. Otherwise, having approached the altar in the general line for Communion, bypass the priest/minister and receive from the chalice on the altar. We welcome your presence at our Eucharistic celebrations.

Society of St. Vincent De Paul
The monthly collection for the local conference will be taken up at all Masses this weekend. Please be generous.
We are blessed in St. Patrick’s Parish with a busy and hard-working conference of the Society of St. Vincent De Paul. During the Summer the members hold meetings every two weeks but are contactable at other times through the Parish Office or the priests. The next meeting will be at the Parish Centre on Monday, 27th July at 8pm. The conference offers discrete and confidential help to those in financial need.

Youth 2000 Summer Festival
13th - 16th August at Clonmacnois, Co. Offaly
For young people age 16 - 25, an opportunity not to be missed to experience the Catholic faith and to meet new friends. See posters/flyers in church porch, watch this Newsletter or visit www.youth2000.ie for information.

Tax Refunds to Registered Charities
Thanks to all who returned their completed forms recently. There are still a few forms outstanding. If you were a tax payer and contributed at least €250 to the St. Patrick’s Parish and/or priests’ collections last year please sign and return the CHY2 Form to the Parish Office without delay. In this way we can recover from the Revenue Commissioners (at no extra cost to you) the tax paid on the money you contributed to the parish last year. Contact the Parish Office for clarification or further information.

Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, 12th July 2009

Encyclical Letter Caritas In Veritate (Love in Truth) Published
On Wednesday of last week Pope Benedict XVI published his new Encyclical Letter, Caritas In Veritae (Love In Truth) on integral human development in charity and truth.
Globalisation is a key theme of Caritas In Veritate, which revisits the teachings on “integral human development” expounded by Pope Paul VI in his landmark 1967 Encyclical Letter Populorum Progressio, seeking to apply them to the contemporary world.
Pope Benedict’s first encyclical Deus Caritas Est (God is Love) explored the centrality of the Christian call to love in the life and mission of the Church. The Pope’s new encyclical highlights the inseparable connection between love and truth. In Pope Benedict’s own words “without truth, charity degenerates into sentimentality. Love becomes an empty shell, to be filled in an arbitrary way.” Some of the key issues raised by Caritas in Veritate are:
· Love means the opting for engagement in the field of justice and peace.
· Christians need to be ready to proclaim this love in society.
· Truth is a necessary component of love because without truth the true meaning of love can be distorted, reducing it to an empty sentimentality.
· The Social Teaching of the Catholic Church derives from the dynamic of love given and received through our relationship with God and our neighbour on both the micro and macro-levels.
· Justice is inseparable from charity. Charity goes beyond justice, but never lacks justice.
· Promotion of the common good - of individuals, families, and groups in society - is a requirement of justice and charity.
· The chief challenge facing society today is that of globalization.
· In a globalised society our understanding of the common good must be extended to the relations between nations.
· We need to match the interdependence of nations with an ethical interaction of consciences and minds.
· We need to share goods and resources, not only technical progress.
· We need to ensure that, in the context of an ever more globalised labour market, measures taken by States to increase economic competitiveness do not militate against the fulfillment of their obligation to protect the poor and the most vulnerable (for example in pensions and child benefit payments).
· We need to recognise that while the mobility of labour can produce significant benefits, it can also give rise to “psychological instability”, resulting in “situations of human decline” as a consequence of the negative impact on areas such as family life.
· “The right to food, like the right to water, has an important place within the pursuit of other rights, beginning with the fundamental right to life.” This has significant implications for the relations between developed and developing nations, in areas such as agrarian reform and overseas development aid.
· The Church does not offer technical solutions or interfere in politics, but cannot renounce its mission of truth.
The full text of the Encyclical is available for download at www.catholicbishops.ie

Cemetery Mass at Foulkstown
Don’t forget the annual Mass at Foulkstown Cemetery will be celebrated at 7.30pm on Thursday, 30th July. We ask you to inform interested people who may not see this announcement.
We invite plot-owners to prepare their graves for the occasion and, if necessary, give some assistance to those in the locality who are unable to look after their family graves.

Counselling
Low cost counselling is available at St. Patrick’s Parish Centre. Contact Kate for further details 087 750 6815.

Latin Mass
The traditional Latin Mass (permitted by Pope Benedict XVI in his Motu Proprio of July 2007) is celebrated at St. Patrick’s Church at 5pm on Sundays.

Stretched Out
Depending on your viewpoint it’s refreshing, or alarming, how certain Paul can be in his statements on complex issues. Take today’s Second Reading for example. Here he just baldly states that God ‘chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be blameless before him in love,’ and that has ‘made known the mystery of his will …. As a plan for the fullness of time’. Clearly, for him, God took great care with us humans, his creation. Two things are striking here: his reference to God’s pre-creation will and, for want of a better expression, his post temporal one. Again, for Paul human beings are not an after-thought in the mind of God. No! Even before creation’s foundation is set, way before any humans appear on the scene, God already has a plan for them – and a great one at that! This seemingly quirky creation, queerer and more chaotic than we can ever imagine, progresses according to a divine plan. Here we feel the power of faith at work. For only faith can work at this level. Science has nothing to say about pre-foundational creation, about the awesome void of our pre-pyrotechnic cosmos, about the deafening silence of its final destination readily dwarfing even the Big Bang’s birth cry. Yet here we have unscientific Paul opening our minds to realities that only faith can reveal, and stretching them to their limits, and then some. Are we ready for the strain of trying to comprehend God, small as a loving father yet enormous enough to encompass creation?
Fr. Tom Cahill SVD

St. John Vianney
An information night on the life of St. John Vianney (the Curé d’Ars) will take place in the Kilkenny Ormonde Hotel on Monday, 13th July at 8pm. The Year For Priests (19th June 2009 - 19th June 2010) has been put under the patronage of St. John Vianney who is the patron saint of priests. The DVD and input presentation will show the life of this saintly man who, through his devotion to the Eucharist and confession, brought many to God.
Further Information from Joe Maher 087 652 7510 or Fr. Willie Purcell 087 628 6858

Questions people ask
I am puzzled by the words of Jesus that no one is lost except the one who has destined to be lost (John 17:12). Does this refer to Judas and does it mean that God predestined him to be lost?
This difficult text probably refers to Satan, a fallen angel, who became the evil spirit of perdition. The notion that God predestined any person to be lost is totally contrary to the mission of Jesus who showed so much concern for the salvation of all sinners that he shocked the pious people with the extent of his mercy. Scripture assures us that the Lord wants nobody to be lost and everybody to be brought to repentance. (1 Peter 3:9)
Fr. Silvester O’Flynn OFM Cap

Pray for the Deceased
Recently Deceased: Baby Alfie Smith.
Month’s Mind: Owen McDonagh (Sun 10.30).
Anniversaries: Sr. Vianney Hickey (Sat 7.00), Pauline Kennedy (Sun 10.00), Jeremiah Doheny (Sun 11.00), Catherine Dowling (Sun 12.00), Teresa Delahunty (Sun 12.30), Patrick Morris (Fri 9.30), Bridget O’Leary, John Delaney, Nuala Bourke, Peg Horrigan, Christy & Brigid Murray.
Intentions Next Weekend: Jimmy Byrne (Sun 10.00), Mary Norris (Sun 12.00), Nicholas Comerford (Sun 12.30).
May their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed rest in peace. Amen.

Loughboy Library
Blast off with books!: join the summer reading challenge for children and be part of the weekly draw for a €10 book token. Registration cards available from staff.
Story Time: for aged 8 and under every Friday at 12 noon, all welcome.
Mobile Phone Training: for over 55s recommencing on Tues Aug 18th at 11am, please book a place.
Exhibition: of oils, watercolours and acrylics on display until July 20th.
Free membership: for all except those in full-time employment, the best value in town!

Anniversaries and Newsletter
Please, please, please, DO NOT leave anniversaries or other items into our former house on Ormonde Road. It is no longer ours, we do not have access to it and we will not get anything left in there until the new owners drop them up to us which could be weeks. Items left to the Parish Office, the Priests’ Houses, St. Patrick’s or St. Fiacre’s Sacristies before Thursday will ensure publication. Thanks.

Links to Useful Websites
Catholic Bookshop: www.veritas.ie St. Anthony Messenger Magazine Online and books: http://www.americancatholic.orgYou Tube Vatican: http://www.youtube.com/vatican
Diocese of Ossory: www.ossory.ie
Irish Church Information including Mass times in Irish Parishes: www.catholicireland.com
Marriage Preparation: www.gettingmarried.ie

Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, 5th July 2009

Beyond Reasonable Doubt
There’s some strange stuff in today’s Gospel. Jesus, an unmarried 30-year-old, unlettered carpenter very forwardly starts to teach in his local synagogue. From his listeners’ stunned reaction it must have been his first time to do so. You’d expect them to be indignant at his self-promoting posturing in the synagogue, as they’d see it, and to sneer at what he says. But no! They’re impressed, amazed even, at his wisdom. In fact, so impressed are they that they just can’t believe it. They can’t get their head around the fact that someone like him – an ordinary Joe Soap of a carpenter – could have so much more than they have. Jealousy rears its ugly head, and instead of opening their minds to his wisdom they close their hearts to his person. That’s not all. He could do no deed of power there except to cure some people who were sick. They distance themselves from him and would not allow him to work the miracle: personal transformation.
What this episode shows is that knowing about Jesus is not enough. We have to know him for the wonder to work. The miracle of transformation is a two way thing. God and man at work together. We see Jesus in his humanity, but acknowledge him in his divinity too. As with those from his hometown, familiarity with the home-grown Jesus can breed contempt. We need to delve deeply, to go boldly where reason cannot take us. Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe.
Fr. Tom Cahill SVD

Summer Outdoor Adventure
Ossory Youth is currently recruiting young people for the annual summer outdoor adventure programme for 12-14 year olds. The programme comprises six days of land and water based outdoor activities running from Monday, 10th August to Tuesday, 25th August and including an overnight trip to Carlingford Adventure Centre, Co. Louth. The programme cost is €120.00. For booking or more information contact Patrick Bookle, Ossory Youth at 056 776 1200 or 087 212 9006 or pbookle@ossoryyouth.com.

Questions People Ask
Q. Why do people call Mary ‘ever virgin’ since the gospel clearly speaks of the brothers and sisters of Jesus?
A. The gospel identifies Mary as the mother of Jesus but the evangelists never refer to her as the mother of brothers and sisters of Jesus. They may have been stepbrothers and sisters, as children of Joseph from a previous marriage. Or, more likely, they were close cousins. In the local language of Jesus’ time, because of the close bonds of the wider family, cousins were regularly called brothers and sisters. For instance, in the Old Testament, Tobias refers to his cousin Sarah as his sister.

Pray for the Deceased
Recently Deceased: Ann Comerford, 41 Marble Crest. Frances Brennan, Dublin and formerly St. Fiacre’s Place.
Anniversaries: Sharon Galvin (Sat 6.15), Jim Nugent (Sat 7.00), Josephine Phelan (Sun 10.00), Martin Crotty (Sun 11.00), Maurice Nagle (Sun 12.00), Dr. Patrick Boyd (Sun 12.30), Paddy Bergin & Sr. Margaret Mary Bergin (Fri 10.30), Sean Hennessy, Denis Molloy, Annie Cody, Tony Coyne, Mary Ann Murray, Thomas Murray, Denis Murray, Katie Murray, Mary Fry, Mary Hayes, Tommy Hayes, Rosanna Hayden, Michael McGrath, Sean Hennessy, Gretta Kiernan, Gerrard McCarthy, Annie Murphy, Elizabeth Manogue.
Intentions Next Weekend: Sr. Vianney Hickey (Sat 7.00), Pauline Kennedy (Sun 10.00), Owen McDonagh (10.30), Jeremiah Doheny (Sun 11.00), Catherine Dowling (Sun 12.00), Teresa Delahunty (Sun 12.30).

In Memory of our Children
Compassionate Friends is holding a service for families in which a child has died. The service will take place in the Parish Church, New Ross on Sunday, 19th July at 3pm. Refreshments in the Pastoral Centre next door. All welcome.

Rosary
The monthly rosary on the first Sunday in James Green at the statue of Our Lady of Kilkenny continues this Sunday July 5th at 3pm.

Foulkstown Cemetery
By now the development of the new section of the graveyard is complete. The last task to be completed was the laying of tarmac to make the new section more accessible and to stop the culmination of water around graves. So far the work carried out has consisted of the following: a drainage system to get rid of excess water; a new section of available plots and new tarmac.
This latest development has cost the parish close to €35,000, money well spent I’m sure you will agree. If anyone would like to make a donation towards this incurred expense, you can do so by contacting any of the priests or Cemetery Committee members.
Of course this is an opportunity to say a big ‘thank you’ to the hard working Cemetery Committee in Foulkstown who work all year round to make the cemetery look so well. Without their help and expertise the running of our cemetery would be a lot more expensive on the parish.
Don’t forget the cemetery Mass in Foulkstown is on the last Thursday of this month (30th) at 7.30pm. Please tell your friends and help those who may be struggling to maintain graves.

Recent Bag Pack
Thanks to over 100 people who helped with last weekend’s bag pack at Supervalu, Loughboy. Your efforts and the generosity of shoppers raised €4,068 for our parish funds. Well done.

Hurling Finals
All join in wishing our parish representatives on the Kilkenny Senior and Minor Teams all the best in this weekend’s Leinster Finals.

Knock Summer Youth Festival 2009
The weekend is jam packed with talks, workshops, music, drama, mime, Masses, concerts, dancing, and, don't worry, absolutely loads of time to chill out and meet new people.
If you have any questions give us a shout on 094 938 8100 or 087 692 7850 or visit our website: www.knock-shrine.ie/youthfestival for lots more information.

Costello for King!
James Stephen’s GAA Club and St Patrick’s Parish have joined forces and are gearing up for a major fund raiser in the months of September and October.
The three city GAA clubs, James Stephen’s, O’Loughlin Gaels and Dicksboro, have agreed on a novel ‘King of the Castle’ fund-raising drive, from which all money generated will be split 50:50 between the clubs and their nominated charities.
Each club must nominate a candidate: Michael Costello of Wallslough will represent ‘The Village’, in this first ever King of the Castle competition.
To be crowned King Mr Costello must raise the most money, beating off his rivals from ‘The Locks’ and ‘The Boro’, but the charities will be the big winners overall.
Michael (‘Mickie’ or ‘Coss’) is a well known, hugely respected and loved parishioner. He has worked tirelessly for over 50 years on numerous parish causes. He has always been first to put himself forward for hard work and has given many long hours with great drive and more importantly his roguish personality brings out the very best in everyone involved.
Michael has nominated St Patrick's Parish Centre and the Senior Citizens of St Patrick's Parish as the beneficiaries of his efforts.
A committee of hardworking ladies and gentlemen have been meeting together over the last few weeks to group together some fund-raising events in September and October. They would sincerely welcome anyone who would like to get involved or even anyone with an unique fund raising idea to contact one of the following: Tadhg Donohoe 087 980 4783; Pat Millea 086 803 4258 or Fr Dan Carroll 087 907 7769. All ideas and offers of help appreciated.

Latin Mass
Beginning this weekend the traditional Latin Mass (permitted by Pope Benedict XVI in his Motu Proprio of July 2007) will be celebrated at St. Patrick’s Church at 5pm on Sundays. Bishop Freeman has appointed Fr. Tom O’Toole, Kilmacow as celebrant.

Lecture at Rothe House
Brian Siggins will give a lecture about The Great Exhibition which was held in Dublin in 1907. The Chairman of the Organising Committee was the Marquess of Ormonde, so there is an interesting Kilkenny connection. This lecture will take place in the Phelan Room, Rothe House on Wednesday, 15th July at 8.00pm. Entry €5.

Parish Draw
Thanks for your support. Results below.

1st Prize - €1,000 Mary Power, Bamford Cross,

Promoter, Mary Parsons
2nd Prize - €200 Mrs McGrath, St. Fiacre’s Place,

Promoter, Lena McCarthy
3rd Prize - €100 Jim & Kathleen O’Neill, Sheestown,

Promoter, Mary White
4th Prize - €100 Mary McInerney, Archers Ave,

Promoter, Sean Manogue
5th Prize - €100 Val Reynolds, c/o Promoter,

Promoter, Nancy Power
6th Prize - €50 Helen Lacey, 7 Parnell Street,

Promoter, Catherine Kinsella
7th Prize - €50 Una Roche, Elm Green,

Promoter, Joan Cody
8th Prize - €50 Breda Kelly, c/o promoter,

Promoter, Rita O’Leary
9th Prize - €50 Ann Condon, Castleinch,

Promoter, Ann Condon
10th Prize - €50 Sr. Conleth, St. John of God Convent,

Promoter, Sr. Joanne Holohan
11th Prize - €50 Leo McAdams, c/o promoter,

Promoter, Sean Leahy
12th Prize - €50 Eilish Lanigan, c/o promoter,

Promoter, Barbara Teehan
13th prize - €50 Birdie Brannigan, 12 Fr. Hayden Road,

Promoter, May Larkin

Promoters’ Prizes
Fr. Dan Carroll, St. Patrick’s, Ann Condon, Castleinch

Flag Day

Vita (formerly Refugee Trust International) is an Irish Charity working in Africa with families affected by hunger and climate change. Vita will be holding a Flag Day in Kilkenny City on Thursday 9th July 2009.

Exposition of Blessed Sacrament
Don’t forget the Blessed Sacrament is exposed for worship from 11am - 10pm at St. Fiacre's on each Monday. Feel free to drop in at any time.