27th October, 2024

Adamstown Parish Newsletter

Weekend of Sat 26th & Sun 27th October 2024  

Volume 24.  Number 42

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SHAMROCK VINTAGE CLUB AGM

Shamrock Vintage Club will hold its Annual General Meeting on Tuesday 5th November in Raheen Hall at 9pm.
Current members and new members are very welcome.

THURSDAY NIGHT CARD GAME

The weekly ‘30’ Card Game continues in the Community Centre each week at 8.30pm. Winners on Thursday 24th were: JIm & Trish Wickham, Kathleen Whelan, Paddy Furlong, Tom Rochford, Michael McLoughlin, Kay Whelan, May Pender, Mickey & Breda Bolger.

REMINDER – Adamstown AFC Reunion

Adamstown AFC Cabaret & Awards Reunion Cabaret this Sunday night at 8pm in Foley’s of Newbawn.
Guests of honour on the night  will be our 1983/’84 team and their families to mark the 40th anniversary of their Division 1 title winning season. Come join us for music, food and refreshments as we celebrate our players from last year also.

ICA SPONSORED WALK

Reminding everyone of our Sponsored Walk this Sunday at 2pm in Adamstown Community Centre, also with a Cake Sale in aid of our Senior Citizens Christmas Party. We would love you to join us for the walk and afterwards drop in for a cake and a cuppa and catch up with neighbours and friends.

COLÁISTE ABBÁIN NEWS

Well done to our U 14 football team defeating Meanscoil Gharman and Ramsgrange Community School in the Wexford GAA School Blitz. Also to our Senior football team on an excellent win against Enniscorthy Community and Bunclody Community Colleges. This win should guarantee a home quarter final. Well done all and thanks coaches Mr. Walsh, Mr. O’Connor our TY helpers.
Great to see over 50 students out football training n Tuesday evening after school.

IRISH NATURE – WHERE OUR TREES CAME FROM

During the 18th and 19th centuries, lovely new varieties of trees were introduced to Ireland. Limes, beeches and horse chestnuts were planted in avenues. In 1740 a committee gave awards to anyone who planted trees. Around this time American oaks, spruces and trees from the east were planted.
One of Ireland’s most popular trees, the horse chestnut, originally grew wild in northern Greece and Albania. In the 17th century it was introduced to France from Constantinople, reaching Ireland some years later. Not  surprisingly, the horse chestnut thrives in Ireland’s mild climate and will often grow to over 100ft. How did this familiar Irish tree get its unusual name? Some say it’s winter twigs have marks on them resembling horseshoes.
Others believe that in the 16th century the Turks fed their sick horses on the tree’s chestnuts as a cure. However, despite the tree’s magnificent size and foliage the horse chestnut’s wood is soft, rendering it quite useless for anything requiring strength. Interestingly, Samuel Hayes, owner of thewell-wooded estate, Avondale, in Co. Wicklow, wrote the first book on Irish tree planting.  A member of the House of Commons, in 1788 he presented an ‘Act for encouraging the cultivation of trees’. Before 1795 he planted a beautiful Spanish chestnut in Avondale. However, in Ireland Spanish chestnuts weren’t planted in such large numbers as beech or horse chestnut. Because they like fruit, Roman soldiers introduced the Spanish chestnut to England and Northern Europe in 100 AD. And even though its fruit doesn’t ripen in Ireland, the sturdy Spanish chestnut grows exceptionally tall in our climate.. There’s an intriguing old Ulster tale concerning one of these vintage Spanish chestnut trees. Firmly rooted in the graveyard of St. Patrick’s Church, Cairncastle, Co. Antrim, it’s said to have come from one of the ships of the ill-fated Spanish Armada that floundered on the Co. Antrim coast at Ballygally in 1588. A sailor’s body from one of the Spanish Galleons was washed ashore. In the corpse’s pocket were some chestnuts. They were buried with the body. Through time, the seeds germinated… eventually growing into today’s lovely tree. (Ireland’s Own

CHURCH NOTICES

IN MEMORIAM

Sat 26th – Tom Furlong, (Junior) Castlelodge (A)

Also – John & Katie Power, The Leap (A)

Sun 27th – Denis, Mary & deceased members of the Dunne family, Raheenduff (A)

Also – Mary Ann Nolan & Annie Hendrick, New Ross (A)

Pray for Bríd Ryan, Nash, Gusserane  (A)

May they rest in peace.

Monday 28th – Mass at 11.00am.

Friday 1st Nov – Feast of All Saints.

Vigil Mass Thurs 31st at 7.30pm.

Friday – Mass at 11.00am.

Sat 2nd Nov – Feast of All Souls – Mass at 11.00am.

Visitation of the Sick on Friday 1st & Sat 2nd November.

MISSION SUNDAY COLLECTION

A sincere thanks to all who contributed to the Mission Sunday collection last weekend. The collection amounted to €663.00.

Thank you for your generosity.

WEXFORD CARE FOR THE EARTH GROUP

“God has joined us so closely to the world around us that we can feel the desertification of the soil almost as a physical ailment, and the extinction of a species as a painful disfigurement”  (Pope Francis)

THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD

A later prisoner of Auschwitz, Anne Frank, was to write in her diary: In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart. I simply can’t build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery and death.’ It is a moving statement – partly because in the face of Nazi brutality it seems naive and partly because even in the depths of misery and despair the  human spirit rises to embrace goodness and hope. Maximilian Kilbe’s martyrdom is a true witness to the death and resurrection of Jesus, because it is testament to the triumph of good over evil, however overwhelming the odds, and however invincible the powers of evil seem to be. Kolbe’s self-sacrifice shines out in triumph, eclipsing the sordid cruelty of the Nazi regime. His selflessness provided us with a worthy image of the twentieth century, one that shines out of the dark squalor and suffering and reminds us that we are made in the image of God and destined to be with him for eternity.

(Tim Fetherson – Bible Alive Magazine)

WHEN PADRE PIO was visited by a  soul from purgatory

Padre Pio is known for his many mystical experiences during prayer, often piercing the heavenly veil while on earth. One such experience involved an unexpected encounter with a soul from purgatory.

One day while praying alone, Padre Pio opened his eyes to see an old man standing there. He was surprised by the presence of another person in the room and explained in his testimony, “I could not imagine how he could have entered the friary at this time of night since all the doors are locked”

Seeking to unravel the mystery, Pio asked the man, “Who are you? What do you want?. The man responded, Padre Pio, I am Pietro Di Mauro, son of Nicola, nicknamed Precoco. I died in this friary on 18th September, 1908, in cell number4, when it was still a poorhouse. One night, while in bed, I fell asleep with a lighted cigar, which ignited the mattress and I died, suffocated and burned. I am still in purgatory. I need a holy Mass in order to be free. God permitted that I come and ask you for help.” Pio comforted the poor soul by saying, “Rest assured that tomorrow I will celebrate Mass for your liberation,”  The man left and the next day Pio did some investigative work and discovered the veracity of the story and how a man of the same name died on that day in 1908. Everything was confirmed and Padre Pio celebrated a Mass for the repose of the old man’s soul. This was not the only appearance of a soul from purgatory asking Padre Pio for prayers. Pio claimed, “As many souls of the dead come up this road (to the monastery) as that of the souls of the living.” Many times the souls would ask for a Mass to be said for them, highlighting the spiritual weight of a Mass and how it can lessen the time a person spends in purgatory before embracing the glories of heaven.

(Philip Kosloski – Totus Tuus)

PRAYER FOR THE WEEK – Evening Prayer

Father and Mother God, I pray this night for all I met this day,

as this day closed I thank you Lord for what was good,

and I ask for your help in all that was difficult.

I pray also for family and friends who need help, prayer and support.

May tomorrow bring to all I meet signs of your love and care.

I  make this prayer through Christ our Lord. Amen.

A THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK

A good laugh with a loved one or co-worker is often just the thing to help overcome friction and communication problems.

CLOCKS GO BACK THIS SUNDAY NIGHT

A reminder that clocks go back this Sunday night.