January 17th, 2021

ST. VINCENT de PAUL COLLECTION 2020

Dear Fr. Nolan,

I wish to acknowledge with thanks the donation of €655 received from Adamstown Parish by the Sacred Heart Conference of St. Vincent de Paul. Your support and that of the people of Adamstown Parish is appreciated and all monies will provide much needed support for families locally.

Yours, Joan Furlong.

SYMPATHY

We offer our deepest sympathy to Michael Ridgeway, Misterin on the death of his wife Geraldine, also her sons Ronan, Fergus, daughters Isult and Sarah extended family neighbours and friends. A private family funeral Mass was celebrated in St. Abban’s Church on Wednesday last with burial in the adjoining cemetery.

May her gentle soul rest in peace.

COVID-19 HELPLINE

Support group ALONE has a national support line and additional measures for older people who have concerns or are facing difficulties relating to the outbreak of Covid-19.

The support line is open Monday to Friday from 8.00am –

8.00pm by calling 0818 222 024.

NEW ROSS LIBRARY SERVICES 2021

Log onto newrosslib@wexfordcoco.ie for a full list of the courses and activities which the staff at New Ross Library have organised for the coming weeks. Library spaces remain closed to the public in line with Government guidelines.

The online library is open 24/7. Free eBooks, eAudiobooks, eNewspapers, eLanguage learning, online courses, comics and graphic novels, business and company research and more can be found at www.wexfordcoco.ie/libaries/ebooks-and-eresources. The library delivers a Book Call Service for elderly or vulnerable citizens. You can request a bag of books and the library will deliver directly to your door.

 Phone: 053 9196566 from 9.3am – 5.30pm, Mon to Friday.

BEREAVEMENT SUPPORT GROUP

Due to the current Covid-19 restrictions, New Ross Bethany Bereavement Support Group is unable to provide a monthly drop-in service or face-to-face meetings.

The group is continuing to provide support for all who are bereaved through its telephone service. Please contact 087 3846577 if you need to speak to someone at this difficult time. If you are suffering a bereavement, if you have lost a loved one due to Covid-19, please note you are not alone as the volunteers at this support group are there for you.

‘BE IT EVER SO HUMBLE’….

(Jim Rees – Ireland’s Own)

Some songs have the ability to make a nest in your mind and stay forever. In most cases, it is a few bars of the air that has us whistling or humming, driving us demented as we try to recognise what it is. Read the heading on this article again – you’ve heard it a thousand times – but do you know how the song came about or who wrote it?

John Howard Payne was an American actor, playwright and poet. In his early twenties, he moved to England and quickly became known in theatrical circles. In 1822, the manager of Covent Garden Theatre bought his play called Clari, subtitled The Maid of Milan. For some reason, it could not be staged in the form submitted, so Payne did a quick re-write and added a number of songs. Composer George Bishop was drafted in to write the music. One of the songs, ‘Home! Sweet Home! had a simple lyric. It was a sentimental theme and caught the imagination. It warned against the vanity of chasing life’s worldly trappings when in reality ‘there’s no place like home’

Some of the greatest names in opera have used snatches of it to emphasise poignant scenes in their works. In 1939 Hollywood made a blockbuster based on the idea – The Wizard of Oz. Poor John Payne had little business sense and gained very little from his song. He died in 1852 at the age of 60. With Payne out of the way, Bishop decided to dust off the old song and he published it as a parlour ballad and within a short time 100,000 copies were sold. It became even more popular in the 1860’s as the American Civil War tore hundreds of thousands of men from both sides away from loved ones. Whatever their political differences, these men shared the deep desire to be back in the safety of their homes.  Few songs or poems could depict their imagined peaceful perfection so potently, the antithesis to the horrors of war. It was so powerful that the Union army banned it, believing that it led to desertion.

Home, Sweet Home

Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,

Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home.

A charm from the skies seems to hallow us there,

Which seek thro’ the world, is ne’er met elsewhere.

Home! Home!

Sweet, sweet home!

There’s no place like home!

There’s no place like home!

An exile from home splendour dazzles in vain,

Oh give me my lowly thatched cottage again.

The birds singing gaily that came at my call,

And gave me the peace of mind dearer than all.

Home, home, sweet, sweet home

There’s no place like home,

there’s no place like home!

CHURCH NOTICES

IN MEMORIAM

Sat 16th – Joe Crosbie, New Ross & Misterin (A)

Sun 17th – Willie Stafford & David Forrestal, Oldcourt (A)

Pray for Noel McCarthy, Tomgarrow

May they rest in peace.

‘OUR CHILDREN’

“In our Native Language the word ‘unborn’ is translated as

‘beo gan breith’, which literally means “alive but not born”

The genius of our own native tongue sums it up: alive but not yet born. The baby in the womb is alive and no one has the right, and can never have the right, to end this little human life. It is always wrong to intentionally do so. The command of God is crystal clear, “You shall not kill”. Nor do we have the right to vote to take a life. It is undemocratic. It is not fair”

(Excerpt from the Pastoral Message of Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan of Waterford & Lismore)

A Prayer for Children from The Family Book of Prayers.

We pray for our children wherever they may be, asking Jesus, Mary and Joseph to watch over and guard them throughout their lives and that the faith we have passed on to them may sustain them through all that life will put before them. Amen.

FAITH AND SCIENCE: a match made in heaven

Fr. Conor McDonough – Irish Catholic

Our community of faith has a glorious tradition of scientific research and innovation, and two figures from that tradition are particularly relevant today. During a plague in 1656, the Jesuit polymath Athanasius Kircher examined the blood of plague victims with a rudimentary microscope, spotting small organisms there which he suggested might be causing the spread of plague. It was a major step in the direction of the “germ theory” of disease with which we’re so familiar, and Kircher proposed, among other preventive measures, the use of face masks. Two centuries later, the devout Catholic layman, Louis Pasteur, discovered that administration of the attenuated form of a virus can provide immunity. This led him, at great personal risk, to develop vaccines against chicken cholera, anthrax, and rabies. “Happy the man”, Pasteur famously said, “who contains in himself the ideals of science and the ideals of the Gospel”   Amen to that!

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK – ‘Money Will Buy’

A bed but not sleep,

Books but not brains

Food but not appetite

Finery but not beauty

A house but not a home.

Medicine but not health

Luxuries but not culture

Amusements but not happiness

A crucifix but not a Saviour.

Religion but not salvation.

A good life but not eternal life.

A passport to everywhere but heaven.

(Jerry White – “The Power of commitment”)

DID YOU KNOW?

The Custom of saying ‘Bless you’ when someone sneezes was first used by ancients when they believed that breath was the essence of life, and when you sneeze a part of your life is escaping. Evil spirits rush into your body and occupy the empty space. By saying ‘God bless you’ the speaker is protecting the sneezer from the evil spirits.

LOOKING BACK!

Wexford County Council Rehab Foundation in Association with People of the Year Awards 2005. At this Award Ceremony among the many people receiving awards was, M. J. Booth from Adamstown, he was the recipient of an Award for Arts and Culture. The presentation was made by RTE’s Joe Duffy, and sponsored by Grannell Motors Ltd.

NATURE – ALL AROUND US – THE RED FOX

(Calvin Jones – Irish Wildlife)

The red fox, Ireland’s largest land predator, is common throughout the country in both rural and urban habitats.

Elusive, and largely nocturnal, the fox usually stays well hidden and many people go about their lives completely oblivious to the proximity of this striking mammal. Adult foxes grow to around a metre in length and weigh between five and seven kilos with the dog fox being slightly larger than the vixen. In captivity foxes can live for up to fourteen years, but the lifespan of wild adults is much less. The fox’s earth can be found in a variety of habitats, but a favourite rural location is at the periphery of woodland where there is plenty of cover and easy access to both the wood and to the open pastures beyond. On average 4 – 5 cubs are born around March, the young are born blind and covered in chocolate-coloured hair. Their eyes open at about 2 – 3 weeks. Despite high mortality rates the fox remains an incredibly successful animal, and is one of the opportunist champions of the animal kingdom. Foxes thrive in urban environments the world over and take full advantage of our wasteful existence to eke out a very satisfactory living in our cities, as scavenging is much easier than hunting for a living. In rural communities foxes get a bad name for attacking livestock, and while it is true that a fox will feed on a dead sheep, or will carry away a dead lamb if it comes across one, there are few substantial claims of foxes taking healthy livestock. Similarly the fox that takes chickens or duck is only acting on a predators instinct to avail of the most easily available food. Foxes are a wonderful part of our natural heritage, and, in spite of high mortality and often unjustified persecution, are adaptable and successful enough to remain so for many years to come.

GOD MADE US A FAMILY

We need one another

We love one another

We forgive one another

We work together

We worship together

Together we use God’s Word

Together we love all men

Together we serve our God

Together we hope for Heaven.

(Church Art Calendar 2020)