Listening Sessions – Ossory May 2010
The Listening Sessions continue during this coming week. Six sessions have taken place and have been a very positive experience for all who participated. Bishop Freeman will attend each meeting and parishioners are invited to come along to speak and listen. The schedule for this coming week is as follows: Monday 17th May: St Patrick’s Parish Centre, Loughboy at 8.00pm for the parishes of St Patrick’s, St Mary’s and Danesfort; Tuesday 18th May: Callan Parish Hall at 8.00pm for the parishes of Callan, Ballycallan and Tullaroan; Thursday 20th May: Canon Malone Hall at 8.00pm for the parishes of Lisdowney, Ballyragget and Conahy; Friday 21st May: Castlecomer Community Hall at 8.00pm for the parishes of Clogh, Muckalee and Castlecomer.
There is an open invitation to all to attend whichever meeting suits.
Questions people ask
What is the divine indwelling?
Many people have favourites places of pilgrimage where they feel close to God. Perhaps the most important pilgrimage is the journey inwards to recognise the presence of God with us and within us. St. Paul told the Romans, ‘the Spirit of God has made his home in you’. He added that when we don not know how to pray, the Holy Spirit prays within us in ways beyond the scope of words. The indwelling of God is like a secret room. Jesus said that when we pray we should go into that secret room, close the door, and be attentive to God within us.
Fr. Silvester O’Flynn OFM Cap
Come and Worship
Castlecomer Parish has launched a CD “Come and Worship” in conjunction with the Life in the Spirit seminars. The CD is a collection of songs of praise that were sung at the healing Masses. It is available at St. Patrick’s Parish Centre and at the Capuchin Friary. Cost €10.
High Minded
A recent survey conducted by researchers at Durham University, England, on people’s attitude to sermons came up with some surprises: 96.6% if those surveyed said they liked the Sunday sermon, and 60% said it gave them a sense of God’s love. Attitudes differed according to faith groupings. Evangelicals liked sermons most, Catholics wanted ones that educated rather than challenged. Baptists and Catholics favoured use of the Bible in sermons more than Anglicans and Methodists did. And, while Baptists wanted sermons to span an hour and then some, Catholics wanted them short. Ten minutes max. So, that to say about the Ascension of the Lord that may be educative, and, yes, challenging too, yet brief? Its description in the first and third readings today (Acts 1:1-11 and Luke 24:46-53) takes only seconds to read. To focus the mind, then, let me ask you which you think is weirder: to believe that the Ascension was real, or to believe that the value of a 6ft bronze sculpture by Alberto Giacometti, sold recently in Sotheby’s, is really worth the £65 million paid for it. The fact of the Ascension is of immeasurably more value than any worked on piece of metal could possibly be. It has the power to stir the imagination, to engage the heart and to intrigue the mind with its promise. And, unlike artfully pressed and pounded metal, faith in the Ascension has the power to effect change. Belief in God’s Word ascending can raise even hearts of stone with money to burn to hearts of flesh burning with love for those who suffer.
Fr. Tom Cox
Loughboy Library
The Library will host a flower arranging workshop this Friday May 21st at 11am. Ring to book your place and to find out what you need to bring. This is a free event and is part of the Bealtaine festival celebrating creativity in older age. Phone 056 779 4176
Outdoor Mass
Mass will be celebrated at Melville Heights on Friday 28th May at 7.30pm. All are welcome.
Pray for the Deceased
Recently Deceased: Paddy O’Brien, Assumption Place, Maura Mahony Nee Kennedy, Clara & Kerry, Gavin McBride, Old Golf Links Road, Rene McCauley, Meadow Hill, Billy O’Brien, Hazel Grove.
Months Mind: Charlie Blackmore (Sat 7.00), Pat Horan (Sun 9.30), William Brennan (Sun 11.00)
Birthday Remembrance: Anthona Burke (Sat 6.15)
Anniversaries: Ciaran Flood (Sun 10.00), Patrick O’Connell (Sun 12.00), John Coppinger (Sun 12.30), Patrick Morris (Tues 9.30), Luke Daly (Wed 9.30), Nicholas Dunphy (Wed 10.30), Sarah Kelly (Thurs .9.30), Kilkenny Active Retirement Group (Thurs 10.30), Jack Carroll (Fri. 10.30), Jimmy Hogan (Sat 9.30), Eileen Culleton, Kathleen Coyne, John Doheny.
Intentions for next weekend: John & Catherine Alley (Sat 6.15), Joe Davy (Sat 7.00), Tony Martin (Sun 9.30), Eileen Hickey, Kieran Hickey, Kevin & Nancy Grogan, John Grogan, Nellie Garrehy (Sun 12.00), Tom & Oliver Kennedy (Sun 12.30)
Society of St. Vincent de Paul
The Society of St. Vincent de Paul is the largest, voluntary, charitable organisation in Ireland. Its membership of 9,500 volunteers throughout the country are supported by professional staff, working for social justice and the creation of a more just, caring nation. This unique network of social concern also gives practical support to those experiencing poverty and social exclusion, by providing a wide range of services to people in need. Thankfully we have energetic and hardworking members of the Society in St. Patrick’s Parish.
The members of the St. Patrick’s Conference wish to thank you for your continued generous support to our local fundraising efforts. While extra demands have been made on our resources in recent times they continue to meet local needs and assist all who approach them for help. Your voluntary donations are used prudently in the local community.
Mary, who lost her job twelve months ago, recently approached the Society for help. She explains how she feels now: More than anything, I know that someone cares, that I’m not totally alone and that’s been the biggest help to me. I can see that it won’t always be like this and that we will get back on our feet, I feel hope for the future and for my kids.
The members of St. Patrick’s Conference may be contacted by calling to the Parish Centre at 8.00pm on Monday evenings or by telephone on 087 681 0589.
First Holy Communion
Congratulations to all involved with this year’s First Holy Communion Class at St. John of God School. The girls received the Eucharist for the first time on Saturday.
We continue our prayers for the boys and girls from our other schools who will receive the sacrament during the coming weeks.
Lourdes
There are still a few seats available on the Ossory Pilgrimage to Lourdes which leaves Kilkenny on next Saturday, 22nd May. Seats are being offered at a special price of €550 (usually €720). To book Tel. 087 251 7766 (No single rooms available)
Famine Memorial
MacDonagh Junction is pleased to announce that a multi-denominational religious ceremony to commemorate the re-interment of the Famine Skeletal remains (discovered during excavation work at the site in 2005) will take place at the Famine Memorial Garden at Goods Shed Square, MacDonagh Junction Shopping Centre on Wednesday 19th May at 5.30pm sharp. The ceremony will be jointly performed by Fr Frank Purcell, St John’s, Elaine Murray Church of Ireland, David Moore Kilkenny Presbyterian Church and Mark Forsyth Kilkenny Methodist Church. Kilkenny Gospel Choir will perform during the ceremony and they will be joined by a Colour Party drawn from the 3rd Infantry Battalion based at James Stephens Military Barracks, Kilkenny as well as a Trumpeter from St Patrick’s Brass & Reed Band.”
Pentecost Sunday
A Traditional High Mass will be celebrated on Pentecost Sunday, May 23rd in St. Patrick's Church, Kilkenny at 5.00 pm.
Parish Team Meeting
A meeting of all members of the Parish Team Meeting will take place in the Parish Centre on Thursday next. Members are asked to attend.
Mendelssohn’s Elijah
The Kilkenny Choir presents the magnificent and dramatic Mendelssohn’s Elijah with Taitis Grigalis singing Elijah, soloists Roisin O’Grady, Madeline Shaw, Eamonn Mulhall, Malcolm Proud—organ. Full symphony orchestra, leader Cldagh Vedres and Kilkenny College Chamber Choir and Kilkenny Youth Choir as the heavenly hosts. Conducted by Philip Emondson. Adm €20/€15
Garden Fair
S.O.S. Callan Road, will hold a Garden Fair & Coffee afternoon on Sunday May 16th from 2pm to 5pm. Everyone is welcome. Admission is free.
Field Day
Last weeks field day was a great success, Sincere thanks to all who attended and especially those who took the time to organise and run the event. Both the Village hurling club and the parish benefited from this event.
Rubbish in Foulkstown
Some callous individual(s) decided to dump their trash in our cemetery recently, the resting place of our families and friends. They obviously have no respect for the dead but they might have some fear of the law as dumping in our cemetery is illegal.
If anyone notices anything suspicious, please take the registration details of any car and we will follow it up. A CCTV system is now in place to help deter such dumpers.
Sick Calls
If you know of someone, a family member or neighbour or friend who is currently in hospital or housebound and would like a priest to call to them, then please let us know. We are happy to visit when requested .
Parish Centre
Those wishing to book the Parish Centre can contact Mr. Ted Byrne at the parish centre.
Don’t forget, we have a religious goods shop available in the foyer of the centre and the range of goods available is extensive.
St. Patrick’s Listening Session
Please join us on Monday 17th May: St Patrick’s Parish Centre, Loughboy at 8.00pm, We join with St Mary’s and Danesfort to voice our concerns about the church in these difficult times. All are welcome to speak and to listen.
The Listening Sessions continue during this coming week. Six sessions have taken place and have been a very positive experience for all who participated. Bishop Freeman will attend each meeting and parishioners are invited to come along to speak and listen. The schedule for this coming week is as follows: Monday 17th May: St Patrick’s Parish Centre, Loughboy at 8.00pm for the parishes of St Patrick’s, St Mary’s and Danesfort; Tuesday 18th May: Callan Parish Hall at 8.00pm for the parishes of Callan, Ballycallan and Tullaroan; Thursday 20th May: Canon Malone Hall at 8.00pm for the parishes of Lisdowney, Ballyragget and Conahy; Friday 21st May: Castlecomer Community Hall at 8.00pm for the parishes of Clogh, Muckalee and Castlecomer.
There is an open invitation to all to attend whichever meeting suits.
Questions people ask
What is the divine indwelling?
Many people have favourites places of pilgrimage where they feel close to God. Perhaps the most important pilgrimage is the journey inwards to recognise the presence of God with us and within us. St. Paul told the Romans, ‘the Spirit of God has made his home in you’. He added that when we don not know how to pray, the Holy Spirit prays within us in ways beyond the scope of words. The indwelling of God is like a secret room. Jesus said that when we pray we should go into that secret room, close the door, and be attentive to God within us.
Fr. Silvester O’Flynn OFM Cap
Come and Worship
Castlecomer Parish has launched a CD “Come and Worship” in conjunction with the Life in the Spirit seminars. The CD is a collection of songs of praise that were sung at the healing Masses. It is available at St. Patrick’s Parish Centre and at the Capuchin Friary. Cost €10.
High Minded
A recent survey conducted by researchers at Durham University, England, on people’s attitude to sermons came up with some surprises: 96.6% if those surveyed said they liked the Sunday sermon, and 60% said it gave them a sense of God’s love. Attitudes differed according to faith groupings. Evangelicals liked sermons most, Catholics wanted ones that educated rather than challenged. Baptists and Catholics favoured use of the Bible in sermons more than Anglicans and Methodists did. And, while Baptists wanted sermons to span an hour and then some, Catholics wanted them short. Ten minutes max. So, that to say about the Ascension of the Lord that may be educative, and, yes, challenging too, yet brief? Its description in the first and third readings today (Acts 1:1-11 and Luke 24:46-53) takes only seconds to read. To focus the mind, then, let me ask you which you think is weirder: to believe that the Ascension was real, or to believe that the value of a 6ft bronze sculpture by Alberto Giacometti, sold recently in Sotheby’s, is really worth the £65 million paid for it. The fact of the Ascension is of immeasurably more value than any worked on piece of metal could possibly be. It has the power to stir the imagination, to engage the heart and to intrigue the mind with its promise. And, unlike artfully pressed and pounded metal, faith in the Ascension has the power to effect change. Belief in God’s Word ascending can raise even hearts of stone with money to burn to hearts of flesh burning with love for those who suffer.
Fr. Tom Cox
Loughboy Library
The Library will host a flower arranging workshop this Friday May 21st at 11am. Ring to book your place and to find out what you need to bring. This is a free event and is part of the Bealtaine festival celebrating creativity in older age. Phone 056 779 4176
Outdoor Mass
Mass will be celebrated at Melville Heights on Friday 28th May at 7.30pm. All are welcome.
Pray for the Deceased
Recently Deceased: Paddy O’Brien, Assumption Place, Maura Mahony Nee Kennedy, Clara & Kerry, Gavin McBride, Old Golf Links Road, Rene McCauley, Meadow Hill, Billy O’Brien, Hazel Grove.
Months Mind: Charlie Blackmore (Sat 7.00), Pat Horan (Sun 9.30), William Brennan (Sun 11.00)
Birthday Remembrance: Anthona Burke (Sat 6.15)
Anniversaries: Ciaran Flood (Sun 10.00), Patrick O’Connell (Sun 12.00), John Coppinger (Sun 12.30), Patrick Morris (Tues 9.30), Luke Daly (Wed 9.30), Nicholas Dunphy (Wed 10.30), Sarah Kelly (Thurs .9.30), Kilkenny Active Retirement Group (Thurs 10.30), Jack Carroll (Fri. 10.30), Jimmy Hogan (Sat 9.30), Eileen Culleton, Kathleen Coyne, John Doheny.
Intentions for next weekend: John & Catherine Alley (Sat 6.15), Joe Davy (Sat 7.00), Tony Martin (Sun 9.30), Eileen Hickey, Kieran Hickey, Kevin & Nancy Grogan, John Grogan, Nellie Garrehy (Sun 12.00), Tom & Oliver Kennedy (Sun 12.30)
Society of St. Vincent de Paul
The Society of St. Vincent de Paul is the largest, voluntary, charitable organisation in Ireland. Its membership of 9,500 volunteers throughout the country are supported by professional staff, working for social justice and the creation of a more just, caring nation. This unique network of social concern also gives practical support to those experiencing poverty and social exclusion, by providing a wide range of services to people in need. Thankfully we have energetic and hardworking members of the Society in St. Patrick’s Parish.
The members of the St. Patrick’s Conference wish to thank you for your continued generous support to our local fundraising efforts. While extra demands have been made on our resources in recent times they continue to meet local needs and assist all who approach them for help. Your voluntary donations are used prudently in the local community.
Mary, who lost her job twelve months ago, recently approached the Society for help. She explains how she feels now: More than anything, I know that someone cares, that I’m not totally alone and that’s been the biggest help to me. I can see that it won’t always be like this and that we will get back on our feet, I feel hope for the future and for my kids.
The members of St. Patrick’s Conference may be contacted by calling to the Parish Centre at 8.00pm on Monday evenings or by telephone on 087 681 0589.
First Holy Communion
Congratulations to all involved with this year’s First Holy Communion Class at St. John of God School. The girls received the Eucharist for the first time on Saturday.
We continue our prayers for the boys and girls from our other schools who will receive the sacrament during the coming weeks.
Lourdes
There are still a few seats available on the Ossory Pilgrimage to Lourdes which leaves Kilkenny on next Saturday, 22nd May. Seats are being offered at a special price of €550 (usually €720). To book Tel. 087 251 7766 (No single rooms available)
Famine Memorial
MacDonagh Junction is pleased to announce that a multi-denominational religious ceremony to commemorate the re-interment of the Famine Skeletal remains (discovered during excavation work at the site in 2005) will take place at the Famine Memorial Garden at Goods Shed Square, MacDonagh Junction Shopping Centre on Wednesday 19th May at 5.30pm sharp. The ceremony will be jointly performed by Fr Frank Purcell, St John’s, Elaine Murray Church of Ireland, David Moore Kilkenny Presbyterian Church and Mark Forsyth Kilkenny Methodist Church. Kilkenny Gospel Choir will perform during the ceremony and they will be joined by a Colour Party drawn from the 3rd Infantry Battalion based at James Stephens Military Barracks, Kilkenny as well as a Trumpeter from St Patrick’s Brass & Reed Band.”
Pentecost Sunday
A Traditional High Mass will be celebrated on Pentecost Sunday, May 23rd in St. Patrick's Church, Kilkenny at 5.00 pm.
Parish Team Meeting
A meeting of all members of the Parish Team Meeting will take place in the Parish Centre on Thursday next. Members are asked to attend.
Mendelssohn’s Elijah
The Kilkenny Choir presents the magnificent and dramatic Mendelssohn’s Elijah with Taitis Grigalis singing Elijah, soloists Roisin O’Grady, Madeline Shaw, Eamonn Mulhall, Malcolm Proud—organ. Full symphony orchestra, leader Cldagh Vedres and Kilkenny College Chamber Choir and Kilkenny Youth Choir as the heavenly hosts. Conducted by Philip Emondson. Adm €20/€15
Garden Fair
S.O.S. Callan Road, will hold a Garden Fair & Coffee afternoon on Sunday May 16th from 2pm to 5pm. Everyone is welcome. Admission is free.
Field Day
Last weeks field day was a great success, Sincere thanks to all who attended and especially those who took the time to organise and run the event. Both the Village hurling club and the parish benefited from this event.
Rubbish in Foulkstown
Some callous individual(s) decided to dump their trash in our cemetery recently, the resting place of our families and friends. They obviously have no respect for the dead but they might have some fear of the law as dumping in our cemetery is illegal.
If anyone notices anything suspicious, please take the registration details of any car and we will follow it up. A CCTV system is now in place to help deter such dumpers.
Sick Calls
If you know of someone, a family member or neighbour or friend who is currently in hospital or housebound and would like a priest to call to them, then please let us know. We are happy to visit when requested .
Parish Centre
Those wishing to book the Parish Centre can contact Mr. Ted Byrne at the parish centre.
Don’t forget, we have a religious goods shop available in the foyer of the centre and the range of goods available is extensive.
St. Patrick’s Listening Session
Please join us on Monday 17th May: St Patrick’s Parish Centre, Loughboy at 8.00pm, We join with St Mary’s and Danesfort to voice our concerns about the church in these difficult times. All are welcome to speak and to listen.
