Happy Christmas
Frs. Dan, Roderick and Liam join in wishing all associated with St. Patrick’s Parish a holy, peaceful and happy Christmas. May God bless and protect us in this holy season. May all travellers be safe and may patience and Christian love and goodwill mark this holiday time.
We take this opportunity to thank everyone who help out in any way to make this wonderful parish function so well. We won’t name names, because there are so many people who help in prayer, action and support. People help out so quietly and generously that all runs so smoothly. To everyone, we offer a sincere and heartfelt ‘thank you’.
We also say thanks to all for your generous support this Christmas and indeed throughout the year. We appreciate your prayers, kind words and material support. We pray that the New Year will be filled with every grace and blessing for you.
We hope those who join us for Christmas - either as visitors or former parishioners returning for the festivities - will have a wonderful time among us.
Parish Office
The Parish Office will be closed all next week. However, if you need to contact one of the priests or conduct parish business you may call 056 776 4400 and follow the computerised prompts. If the person you require is not available immediately you may be invited to leave a message.
In urgent cases you can contact the priest on duty by dialling 056 776 4400 and pressing Option 2.
Christmas Thanks
Sincere thanks to all who are helping to make our Christmas celebrations more meaningful and prayerful.
We are grateful to all in our choirs, sacristies, those who read the Word of God and distribute the Eucharist, those who collect and who clean; sometimes thankless tasks but we are grateful. Thanks also to all who help run and maintain our Parish Centre.
Pray for Our Deceased Friends
Recently Deceased: Ted Kelly, Clologue, Ferns. Reposing at his residence. Removal from his residence on Monday at 1.30pm to St. Briget's Church Clologue for Funeral Mass at 2.00pm with burial afterwards in the adjoining cemetery. Rosaleen Crotty, Archers Mount.
Months Mind: James Ryan (Sat 11.00).
Anniversaries: Betty Furniss (Sun 9.30), Mary & Christopher Coogan (Sun 12.00), Jimmy King (Mon 11.00), James Kearney (Wed 11.00), Roseanna Smyth (Thurs 11.00), Ann & John Bissett (Fri 11.00), Ted Kenny, Norah Bartholomew, Kathleen Fahey, Nancy Ronan, Brigid & Michael Kenny, Bridget & Tommy Casey, John Condon, Richard Gaule, Martin Doheny, Brendan Doheny, Mary Doheny, Martin Browne, Peg Browne, Mary O’Dwyer, John & Mary Rhatigan, Angela Davis.
Intentions for next weekend: Attracta Bradley (Month’s Mind) & John Bradley (Sat 6.15), Denis O’Shea (Sat 7.00), Mary Costello (Sun 10.00), Thomas Drohan (Sun 10.30), Geraldine Cody (Sun 12.00), Eddie Taylor (Sun 12.30).
May they rest in peace. Amen.
Men’s Shed
What is Men’s Shed? A Men’s Shed is a workshop where skilled and unskilled men meet and share their experiences with each other, swap stories and work together on community/personal/group projects. All men are welcome from age 18 and above. Membership is free. Meetings are every Tuesday from 2.00pm to 4.30pm. Activities include restoring old furniture, gardening, personal projects, learn new skills and hone old ones plus many more. Contact Ann 056 772 2566 or email kilkenny@menssheds.ie
Foulkstown School Reunion
The Foulkstown National School Past Pupils’ Reunion will take place on Saturday, 19th May 2012. There will be a special Mass in Foulkstown Church at 7.30pm and a dinner dance in Springhill Court Hotel immediately afterwards. Please tell any friends and relatives who may be home for Christmas.
Mass Times This Week
Mass will be celebrated at St. Patrick’s Church at 11.00am each day during the coming week. This will be the only public Mass in our parish during the week.
Eucharistic Adoration
There will be no Eucharistic Adoration at St. Fiacre’s Church on Monday 26th December (St. Stephen’s Day). Eucharistic Adoration will continue at St. Patrick’s Church on Friday, 30th December from 4.00pm - 9.00pm.
Envelope Collection
The total collected in last weekend’s envelopes amounted to €3,725.00. Thank you for your support in this collection and in all our collections during the year.
DVD of Carol Service
This year’s very successful carol service at St. Joseph’s Church in Foulkstown has been recorded for posterity. Copies of the DVD will be available for sale at the Parish Shop. Cost: €15.
Eucharistic Congress Bell 2012
The Eucharistic Congress Bell will travel through the Diocese of Ossory from 8th to 19th January 2012. The purpose of the Bell travelling around the diocese and around the other Irish dioceses is to call people to prayer and bring them to a greater awareness of the forthcoming International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin next June.
Our diocese will receive the Bell from the Diocese of Waterford and Lismore at Rice Bridge in Waterford on Sunday 8th January and will pass it on to the Diocese of Ferns on New Ross Bridge on Thursday, 19th January.
The Bell will be in St. Patrick’s Parish on Friday, 13th and Saturday, 14th January. Among the events in our parish will be a Diocesan Youth Mass celebrated by Bishop Seamus at St. Fiacre’s Church on Friday, 13th January. Visit http://www.ossory.ie/2011/12/eucharistic-bell-itinerary-for-ossory/ for more information on the bell and it’s itinerary.
Need Someone to Listen?
Christmas can be a lonely and a trying time for many people. Some may feel isolated and alone. There is someone to listen 24 hours of every day. Call the Samaritans on 056 776 5554 or 056 776 5750 at any time. The Carlow/Kilkenny Samaritans are based at 2 Abbeybridge, Dean Street, Kilkenny.
Bishop’s Christmas Message
Bishop Seamus Freeman has issued a special Message for Christmas 2011. Among other things he says: “Christmas calls all of us to deepen our awareness of being Christians. This should mean something special and important to each one of us. As St. Paul reminds us, as Christians we are members of one another.
Many people this Christmas will not be as happy as they would wish to be. This should be a concern for all people of good will. For the past number of years Irish generosity and solidarity has been so generous to help the various victims, in different parts of the world, with extraordinary generosity. This year the greatest need is probably as home, at least for many of our citizens. Let us pray that our generosity can be as effective as is our tradition. People are without their homes, their jobs, and their dignity. Let us all do whatever we can to alleviate the pain of so many of our brothers and sisters.”
The full text of Bishop Seamus’ message is available on www.ossory.ie
Society of St. Vincent De Paul
The members of the St. Patrick’s Parish Conference of the Society of St. Vincent De Paul wish to acknowledge the many donations of money, food, toys and material goods received in recent weeks. The gifts received are being used to help in our community.
Parish Website
We remind our visitors - especially our former parishioners - that our parish website (www.patricksparish.net) is updated regularly with news and information about our activities. We invite you to keep an eye on it.
Questions People Ask
Q. Do we know for certain that Jesus was born on 25 December?
A. We have no way of knowing the actual date. Two reasons are given for the selection of this date. It took over from the Roman feast of the Unconquered Sun at the winter solstice. Christians decided to celebrate the birth of Jesus as the light of God who came to conquer the darkness of sin. The second reason is that it is nine months after the feast of the Annunciation and the conception of Jesus. The Annunciation was an older feast than Christmas. It was celebrated on 25 March to connect with the Jewish tradition that this was the first day of creation and the day when Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son Isaac. Thus the conception of Jesus was linked with creation and sacrificial death.
The X Factor
Some people may not acknowledge today as Christ’s Day, that He is the X-Factor of the X-Mass scene. This world is crying out for Light, for Hope, for Joy, for Love and today we celebrate that God is present with us in this world: EMMANUEL. We must allow that Love to penetrate our hearts and celebrate with our family and friends the Joy that lives amongst us. And when we have finished celebrating the X Factor of Christmas, remember that then the real work of Christmas begins: When the song of the angels is stilled. When the star in the sky is gone. When the kings and princes are home. When the shepherds are back with their flocks. The work of Christmas begins to find the lost; To heal the broken; To feed the hungry; To release the prisoner; To rebuild the nations; To bring peace among people; To make music in the heart.
Howard Thurman
