13th October, 2024

Adamstown Parish Newsletter

Weekend of Sat 12th & Sun 13th  October 2024

Volume 24.  Number41

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ADAMSTOWN ATHLETIC CLUB

Well done to all our athletes at the County Cross Country in the JFK memorial park on Sunday last – especially our brave U8 & U9 – 1st cross country race ever, well done to

U8. Olivia & Eddie, U9 Ciara, Molly & Anna.

U11 – Leah 17th. U13 Anna 13th, Charlie 3rd

U15 Emma 7th, Sean 5th

JUNIOR CERT RESULTS

Wishing all our Junior Cert students the very best as they received their results on Wednesday last and hopefully they got the results they hoped for.

COMMUNITY CENTRE – CHESS

A very successful afternoon of Chess & draughts, thanks to everyone who took part in our first session . We had 10 boards playing in the Centre and a beginners learning table going non-stop for the two hours . Well done to all our players.

Hope you are looking forward to next week.

THURSDAY NIGHT CARD GAME

The Thursday night Card game continues in the Community Centre each week at 8.30pm. Winners on Thursday 11th were

Micksy & Breda Bolger, Jer Sweeney,Tom Wickham, Matt O’Neill, John Hanley, Kathleen Whelan, Bridie Dillon, Phil Jackman, Joe Kehoe.

COLÁISTE ABBÁIN THANKS

A massive thank you to the hundreds of primary school students and their families who attended our Open Night on Wed last. We are still buzzing from the event! What a night! We can’t wait to share photos and videos from the event over the coming days but in the  meantime , I think I can speak for everyone who visited our school on Wed night by saying a massive thank you to all of our wonderful students who helped out on the night and in particular our Head Girl Faye and Head Boy Patrick who played a blinder meeting and greeting our guests. We are always so proud of our students but it’s nights like this where they really shine.

Huge congratulations to all our students on your fantastic Junior Cycle results. Your hard work, dedication, and resilience have truly paid off. We are so proud of your achievements.

USE – (Ireland’s Own)

“Why is our native language called the mother tongue?” asked the teacher.

“I suppose” said little Tommy, “it’s because fathers don’t get  much chance of using it”.

A Heart Never Forgotten;  In Loving Memory of Fr. Jim

Living with Fr. Jim was an unforgettable privilege. He wasn’t just a priest, he was a light in all our lives, one who  taught us how to find joy in every moment. Jim had a way of making you laugh with just a glance or a perfectly timed one-liner.

I’ll never forget  the time we attended a funeral, and though he’d lost  most of his sight, he nudged me and whispered about a lady in cropped trousers, saying, “They need to return them to the shop – they forget a bit”

Jim’s vision may have faded, but his view of life was pure and crystal clear. He found humour in even the hardest of days and could bring a smile to anyone, no matter the circumstances.

Whether we debated politics or the meaning of happiness, Jim always left me with something to think about – and always with  a smile. He taught me the power of kindness, of laughter, and how to see life for what it truly is, a gift to be shared.

I believe  God brought me into Jim’s life knowing he needed someone who could match his  humour and stubbornness.

In return, Jim showed me, and all of us, what truly  matters – love, joy, and laughter. His legacy lives on in every heart he touched, and from each of those hearts to yours, Fr. JIm, we want to say thank you – For the laughs, the memories, and the gentle, kind man that you are. You are home now, but never  forgotten.  Not by a million percent.

As Fr. Jim would say to  me. “Whatever you do, don’t tell Adamstown you’re from Dublin – They’’ be lighting candles for weeks.With love & gratitude, Patricia  Kilty.

RELICS OF ST. BERNADETTE – Thank you

Bishop Ger would like to thank all who  made the visit to the Holy Relics of St. Bernadette such a success recently.

Particular thanks must go to the organising committee, the Cathedral staff, Musicians and Choirs, parishioners and volunteers and the members of Ferns Hospitalité and The Irish Pilgrimage Trust.

Thanks also to all from far and near who visited the Cathedral during the various events and who no doubt benefited greatly from the spiritual experience. Please note that all petitions that were offered during the visit will be transported to Lourdes during the Diocesan Pilgrimage which will take place from May 20th – 26th next year.

PRAYER FOR THE WEEK – For Peace

O Heavenly Father, God of love and peace, send down Your blessed peace into our hearts, our homes, our country and our world. Amen.

CHURCH NOTICES

IN MEMORIAM

Sat 12th – Denis, Elizabeth & Fr. James Cummins & deceased members of the Cummins family, Raheenduff (A)

Also – Fr. Jim Furlong, Month’s MInd and Robert & Margaret Furlong, Misterin (A) & deceased members of the Byrne Family,  Tomgarrow (A)

Also   –  Cecilia Heffernan,  Month’s MInd.

Sun 13th – Thomas (Cha) Sinnott, Dungarvan & Clonroche (A)

Sat 19th – Kathleen Rothwell, Groveside (A)

Also –  Thomas & Elizabeth Walsh, Brocurra (A)

Also – Bud O’Neill, The Boola (A)

Sun 20th –  Bernard Doyle, Oldcourt (A)

May they rest in peace.

Mass each week day morning at 9.30am.

Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament every Thursday from 10.00am – 1.00pm.

Note – Sunday morning Mass each week at 11.00am

FEAST DAYS THIS WEEK

Tuesday – St. Teresa of Avila – (1515-82) deeply contemplative, highly active and practical, established Carmelite convents under a reformed rule, and wrote much on prayer and spiritual life. Patron of Spain.

Thursday 17th – St. Ignatius, Bishop of  Antioch, died a martyr at Rome c.107. He urged Christians to unity in and through the Eucharist and around their local bishop.

READERS OF THE LITURGY

Sat 12th – Family Mass         Sun 13th – Callie Doyle

Sat 19th – Anthony McGee..  Sun 20th – Kathleen O’Connor

Sat 26th – T.J. McDonald.     Sun 27th –  Betty O’Shea

REFLECTION – Youth and Age

Youth is not a time of life, it is a state of mind. Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years: people grow old only by deserting their ideals. Worry, doubt, self-distrust, fear and despair, these are the long, long years that bow the head and turn the growing spirit back to dust.

You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt; as young as your hope, as old as your despair.

So long as your heart receives messages of beauty,cheer, courage, grandeur and power from the earth, from man, from the infinite, so long are you young.

When the heart is covered with the snow of pessimism and the ice of cynicism, then I am grown old indeed, and may you, Lord, have  mercy on my soul.

(General Douglas MacArthur)

THE HISTORY OF APRONS (Tina Trivett)

I don’t think most kids today know what an apron is.

The principle use of Mam’s or Grandma’s apron was to protect the dress underneath because she only had a few. It was also because it was easier to wash aprons than dresses and aprons use less material.  But along with that, it served as a pot holder for removing hot pans from the oven. It was wonderful for drying a child’s tears, and on occasion, was even used for cleaning out dirty ears. From the chicken coop the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven. When company came, these aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids, when it was cold, she wrapped it around her arms. These big old aprons wiped away many a perspiring brow, bent over the stove. Kindling wood was brought to the kitchen in that apron. From the garden  it carried all  sorts of vegetables, after the peas had been shelled, it carried the hulls. In the autumn, the apron was used to bring apples that had fallen from the trees. When an unexpected visitor arrived it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds. When dinner was ready, she would go out and wave her apron and the men knew it was time to come for the dinner. Remember Mam or Grandma used to set hot baked apple pies on the window sill to cool. It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that ‘old-time apron’ that served so many purposes. Would  we go crazy now trying to figure out how many germs were on that apron?

 I don’t think I ever caught anything from that apron but love.

A SMILE

An elderly lady was invited to an old friend’s home one evening for dinner. She was impressed by the way her friend preceded every request to her husband with endearing terms such as; honey, love darling etc. The couple had been married for 60 years and clearly, they were still very much in love.

While the husband  was out of the room the lady friend leaned over to her hostess to say ‘I think it’s wonderful after all those years that you still call your husband all those loving names’.

The elderly lady replied, ‘I have to tell  you the truth. His name slipped my mind about ten years ago and I’m scared to death to ask the cranky old so and so what his name is’.

SAINT PADRE PIO HEALING MASS

Individual blessings with the glove of Padre Pio

Concelebrated Mass by Fr. Bryan Shortall O.F.M. Cap.

The Very Rev. Fr. Sean Devereux P.P. & Very Rev Fr. Paddy Cushen P.P. in  St. Aidan’s Church Ferns. Friday 25th October at 7.30pm. Confessions available throughout.