February 7th, 2021

Adamstown Parish Newsletter

Weekend Sat 6th & Sun 7th February 2021  

Volume 22.  Number 5                                                               www.saintabbans.com

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ENROLMENT IN ADAMSTOWN N.S.

If you have a child due to start in Adamstown National School this coming school year, we are now open for Enrolments. Please e.mail the school at

scoilabbain@gmail.com. or phone 053 9240694 to have one posted out to you.

WEXFORD GAA STANDS AGAINST BULLYING

Wexford GAA in association with People Newspapers, are calling on the county’s young Model stars to help create a vibrant, new anti-bullying poster campaign so we can stamp out the scourge of bullying once and for all.

This competition is open to two age brackets, under 13 and under 17 and the two winning entries will each have their poster proudly displayed at Chadwick Wexford Park and published in the People Newspapers. Each winner will also receive a Wexford jersey signed by Davy Fitzgerald.

Create your anti-bullying poster (in JPEG form) and simply email it to wexfordphotos@peoplenews.ie

All entries must include your name, age, address and a contact number for parent or guardian. Closing date Friday 19th February.

TEXACO ART COMPETITION

The search to find the young artists who will excel in this year’s Texaco Children’s Art Competition is now on.

This is the 67th year of the competition and is the longest running arts sponsorship in Ireland. The closing date for entries is Wednesday March 24th and winners will be announced in May. Last year five entries from Wexford won prizes. Details are available through Texaco service stations and at www.texacochildrensart.com

LETTER FROM SR. BREEDA RYAN – MEDICAL MISSIONARIES OF MARY, DROGHEDA.

Dear Fr. Robert,

Thank you very much for the used stamps that I received this morning from Mrs Bessie Fortune. I am delighted to get them as our retired Sisters work on the Stamps each day trimming and sorting. The money that we receive from the Stamp Collectors go to a needy mission in Kenya where our Sisters run a Clinic in a deprived area. Please convey our thanks and appreciation to those who collect the used stamps for us. We can use all stamps that are not damaged or torn. You have a great Parish and people are so generous and hardworking for the Missions.

Wishing you a safe and healthy 2021. We pray for you daily in our Community Prayers.

Sincerely, Sr. Breda Ryan MMM.

MARRIAGE PREPARATION COURSES 2021

All Marriage Preparation Courses are being delivered on line by Accord. Updates regarding local courses will be provided by Accord.  Book online at www.accord.ie

NOT –

( An Inspirational Poem for the times we’re in)

You are not your age, nor the size of clothes you wear.

You are not a weight, or the colour of your hair.

You are not a name, or the dimples in your cheeks.

You are all the books you read, and all the words you speak.

You are your croaky morning voice, and the smiles you try to hide.

You’re the sweetness in your laughter, and every tear you’ve cried.

You’re the songs you sing so loudly when you know you’re all alone.

You’re the places that you’ve been to, and the one that you call home.

You’re the things that you believe in, and the people whom you love.

You’re the photos in your bedroom, and the future you dream of.

You’re made of so such beauty, but it seems that you forgot.

When you decided that you were defined by all the things you’re not.  (Erin Hanson)

BEREAVEMENT SUPPORT GROUP

To all who are bereaved at this difficult time, Bethany Bereavement Support Group are continuing their telephone support. If you need to talk to someone, please ring

087 3846577

GERALDINE RIDGEWAY – RIP

Eulogy spoken at her funeral Mass by her daughter.

“We are the proudest family to have been on this journey with the bravest soul known to me.

Watching you Mam taking each life’s breath knowing and understanding time and reality. Never giving up hope. Continuing on with such courage and strength, will and determination to live every moment together, feel every emotion to its fullest, experience everything you truly loved (even against all the odds). Doing what you were told you would never do again. Going places you never thought you’d see again. Eating the foods you never thought you’d taste again, and made possible by your personal chef and carer Dad. Even in the final days together, memories were made, words were spoken, feelings were felt, jokes were made, laughs were had, tears were cried. You are there now Mam forever surrounded by love. With you Mam Lil, your Dad Jack, your sister Pauline and brother John, sister-in-law Bridget, best friend Mary and daughter Nicola and Lou who passed just before you. Mam know that we are all here with Dad, as the proudest family that could be to have been in this world, with the bravest, wittiest, kindest, most thoughtful person. With such grace and elegance, what else is left to say only you did absolutely everything YOUR WAY!”

CHURCH NOTICES

IN MEMORIAM

Sat 6th Feb – Margaret Comerford, Oldcourt (A)

Sun 7th – Ned, Margaret Finn, Sr. Genevive Finn,

Sr Camillus Finn, Canon James Finn, Kellystown (A)

Sun 7th – Lu Duggan, Tomgarrow (Month’s Mind)

Sun 14th – Geraldine Ridgeway, Misterin (Month’s Mind)

Pray for Eileen Hayes.

Pray for John & Sheila Murphy, Kellystown (A)

May they rest in peace.

Thurs 11th February: Feast day of Our Lady of Lourdes and World Day of Prayer for the sick.

Fr. Nolan will celebrate Mass at 9.30am that morning for the sick. If you would like to have someone remembered at Mass, please drop a note into the Envelope Box in the Church Porch or on to the Parish website.

SPIRITUAL HOLY COMMUNION PRAYER

My Jesus, I believe that you are present in the Most Holy Sacrament,

I love you above all things, and I desire to receive you into my soul.

Since I cannot at this moment receive you sacramentally,

Please come spiritually into my heart.

I embrace you now as if you were already there and I unite myself wholly to you.

Never permit me to be separated from you. Amen.

NOTRE DAME CATHEDRAL FIRE

On April 15th 2019 the iconic Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris was ravaged by fire. Thankfully the Blessed Sacrament was safely removed along with hundreds of relics. Retrieved also from the raging inferno was the Crown of Thorns one of the most precious relics in the Cathedral. This great treasure was the gift of the saintly King of France, Louis IX, which he purchased from a Byzantine Emperor in the 13th century. Each year 14 million people visit Notre Dame; now as the restoration work progresses there are no visitors. Notre Dame has hosted the Coronation of numerous Monarchs during its long history. The word Coronation has its origins in the Latin word Corona in English a Crown.

Scripture tells us that during the Passion of Jesus they plaited a Crown of Thorns and placed it on His head and they mocked Him. Jesus became familiar with suffering and acquainted with grief. ‘My Kingdom is not of this world’

So many families, so many health care workers like Jesus have been familiar with suffering and acquainted with grief during the past year. We pray that all who have worn the crown of thorns may share with Jesus the crown of glory.

Amen.

COVID-19 HELPLINE

Support group ALONE has a national support line and additional measures for older people who have concerns relating to the outbreak of Covid-19. The support line is open Monday – Friday from 8.00am to 8.00pm. by calling

0818 222 024.

PRAYER FOR THE YEAR – ST. BRIGID

May St. Brigid bless the house wherein you dwell.

Bless every fire, every wall and door,

Bless every heart that beats beneath its roof

Bless every hand that toils to bring it joy,

Bless every foot that walks its portals through,

May Brigid bless the house that shelters you.

WELCOME NEWS ON DEFERRMENT OF VAT

We welcome the announcement from the Government that they are deferring their proposed VAT increase on candles, which they had announced in 2020. We have a lovely history in St. Abban’s Church of lighting candles very regularly. Every time you walk into the church you are met by a beautiful warm welcome with the number of candles shining brightly on the candelabras from visitors who drop in to light a candle and say a prayer. We appreciate this gesture from parishioners and visitors to our church as this provides an additional income towards the cost of running the Parish. May this thoughtful and prayerful custom long remain.

POPE’S INTENTION FOR FEBRUARY

(Universal):  We pray for women who are victims of violence, that they may be protected by society and have their sufferings considered and heeded.

THE BIG SNOW OF 1947 (Ireland’s Own Feb 2017)

As the weather is forecast to turn wintry with snow & sleet in the coming days, let us look back at February 1947.

Leinster & Munster had been battling the snows since the middle of January. Following Artic winds blowing for several weeks, on 25th Feb 1947 Ireland became pounded by the most powerful blizzard of the 20th century. On the fifty days between Jan 24th & March 17th, it snowed on thirty of them. “The Blizzard of Feb 25th was the greatest single snowfall on record and lasted for close on fifty consecutive hours. The freezing temperatures solidified the surface and it was to be an astonishing three weeks before the snow began to melt. Hundreds of people lost their lives, thousands of sheep and cattle perished. When at last the green fields of Ireland reappeared, the countryside looked as if it has been battered by a twister – it was a veritable ocean of mangled bicycles, broken poles, fallen trees and the corpses of dead animals. An unexpected positive was that the Big Snow appears to have done the arable farmers a favour for the yields of corn and potatoes in the summer of 1947 were as lush and bountiful as any there had ever been. This lends some credence to the old theory that frost and snow are good for ridding the soil of pests and disease.

USEFUL HELPLINES:

AWARE – 1890 30 33 02

SAMARITANS – 1850 60 90 90

GROW –  1890 474 474

1LIFE – 1800 247 100

CONSOLE – 1800 20 1890

DID YOU KNOW?

The 1908 English Grand National was won by a 60-1 horse called ‘Rubio’ which had spent three years pulling a plough on a farm