June 6th, 2021

Adamstown Parish Newsletter

Saturday 5th & Sunday 6th June 2021   

Volume 22.   Number 21

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READING GLASSES FOUND

A pair of glasses has been found in the Cemetery recently.

Glasses were in a hard case and the owner may collect them in Cullen’s Gala shop.

EXAM GOOD WISHES

It has been an extremely difficult sixteen months with the Covid-19 Pandemic for students who will be doing the State Examinations this week, we extend our good wishes to all students and hopefully they will get the results they aspire to.

Best Wishes to the Class of 2021 – Coláiste Abbáin

Class of 2021, you have shown fantastic strength, courage and resilience as you adapted and faced the many difficult challenges in your senior cycle years. You are amazing role models! We wish you the best of luck in your Leaving Certificate and look forward to hearing of your future endeavours!!

“The highest goal has not yet been achieved,

The greatest idea has not been conceived.

The loftiest honour has not been received,

The laurels are yours for the winning!

The sweetest melody hasn’t been sung,

The swiftest race has yet to be run.

The noblest victory hasn’t been won,

Make this your bright beginning”

EXAMINATION PERSPECTIVE –  Echo Newspaper 2000

Fr. Bill Cosgrave:

As exam fever hits at this time every year and the talk is all about honours, passes, colleges and apprenticeships, etc.

Maybe this is also a good time to examine some of the other requirements for success and happiness in life.

• One needs to be able to make and keep commitments and promises
• Have an optimistic and positive disposition
• Have the capacity to delay gratification and to want and work for ones goals
• Have the ability to motivate yourself and others
• Have a good sense of humour
• Have the ability to enjoy yourself and relax.

‘1845: MEMENTO MORI’ IRISH TOUR OF GLASS FAMINE MEMORIAL COMING TO WEXFORD

An installation of 1,845 hand-blown glass potatoes 1845: Memento Mori opened in Strokestown Park Famine Museum on 29th May. This exhibition dedicated to the Potato Famine made by Paula Stokes has taken 15 years to complete. 1845 is significant as it references the year that the potato blight came to Ireland, marking the beginning of mass starvation, disease and emigration.

This exhibition will visit Johnstown Castle Estate Museum & Gardens, Co. Wexford from 17th July – 21st August 2021.

It has been received very favourably and with huge emotion.

A BIT OF HISTORY – ADAMSTOWN ICA

Taken from 102 Years of Co. Wexford I.C.A.

The book was published in 2012 by Co. Wexford I.C.A. Federation.

An I.C.A. Guild was first formed in Adamstown in 1944. There are no official records of the early years, but we know that cookery, needlework, fruit bottling and jam making would have been very popular at that time. When St. Abban’s Hall was opened in 1955, the ladies of the ICA served suppers at the dances, until such time as the debt on the hall had been paid off. For many years, kettles for the tea were boiled on an open fire, even when quite large crowds were being catered for. We are told of a summer outing which took place to An Grianán, in the late 50s, when the ladies had their picnic while sitting on the lawn there, where loaves of bread and ham were cut up to make sandwiches, while the boiling water for the tea came from the kitchen in An Grianán. The outing then continued to Butlin’s Holiday Camp in Mosney, Co. Meath.

During the seventies and early eighties, the Guild hosted the Senior Citizens’ Christmas party in St. Abban’s Hall. A sale of work and jumble sale was held on Patron Sunday to raise funds for the party. Records show that in 1980, the cost was £104, while the sale of work realised £136.4.8p. An annual summer outing was also organized for senior citizens; and some years, the Guild also had a Children’s Christmas party.

There were classes for the making of string bags, sea grass stools, wool rugs and leatherwork. At a very special sewing class in the seventies, complete trousers suits were made to perfection and later worn by the ladies, in spite of the fact that they were all cut from the same pattern and were very much the same colour. Among the signs of the times, reflected in the minute books of the meetings are: the showing of slides by the rare member, who was lucky enough to have enjoyed a foreign holiday, a visit during a summer outing to Newbridge Rope Factory, and a competition for the “best 15 pence worth”. In February 1976 a demonstration was given on the advantages of deep freezing, a subject which would have been very new at that time. Something worth remarking about the Guild during the sixties and seventies is the fact that many members were quite young, and raising young families, so it was a meeting place to discuss topics of babies, and children of early school-going years as well as all the other usual activities.

In 1980 a new Community Centre was opened in the parish. The activities and games available in the centre became very popular with the ladies, and interest in the I.C.A. began to wane, so that on Tuesday 20th November 1984 the Guild was disbanded.

Note: The Irish Country Women’s Association was founded in May 1910 by a small group of women in Bree, Co. Wexford. Its aim was to improve the standard of life in rural Ireland through education and co-operation.

CHURCH NOTICES

IN MEMORIAL

Sat 5th June – Willie Moore, Oldcourt (A)

Sun 6th – Canon Noel Hartley, former P.P. of Adamstown who died recently.

Sat 12th June – Bena Barron, The Leap (A)

also Maura Kelly, Tomgarrow (A)

Pray for Syl and Statia Barron, Coonogue (A)

May they rest in peace.

Sun 6th June, Feast of Corpus Christi.

Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament Sunday afternoon from 3pm – 4pm.

Feast Days this week:

Friday 12th – The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Sat 12th – The Immaculate Heart of Mary.

ADAMSTOWN PRAYER GROUP RETURNS

The Adamstown Prayer Group will return on Sunday,

June 13th at 7pm. All are welcome. Usual social distancing protocols will apply e.g. wearing masks.

We look forward to seeing you.

SIMPLY DIVINE PROGRAME ON S.E. RADIO

Simply Divine Programme on South East Radio on Saturday 12th June at 10.04am. Maria Colfer speaks with Father Brendan Kilcoyne on the future of the Catholic Church in Ireland.

ADORATION OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT

Bishop Denis has given permission to Priests that Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament can be brought back once Covid-19 safety measures are in place.

UPDATE RE FIRST HOLY COMMUNIONS AND CONFIRMATIONS

Email received from Fr. John Carroll, Bishop’s House.

A response from the Department of the Taoiseach has been received. Public health advice remain that special religious ceremonies, including First Holy Communions and Confirmations, should continue to be postponed for the month of June. In line with the gradual reopening of society, from 5th July onwards, we have been told that these ceremonies may take place, while complying with Covid-19 guidance.

Please ensure that all of our Covid-19 safety measures continue to be followed. Furthermore, given that the more serious concerns relate to the social gatherings which typically follow these events, we should continue to remind all concerned to adhere to prevailing public health advice on household mixing and indoor and outdoor gatherings.

WEEKLY ENVELOPE COLLECTION FOR MAY 2021

Thanks to all who contribute to St. Abban’s Parish,

by direct debit, weekly, monthly, yearly or at other times, your generosity is much appreciated.

TRUCE

The Irish Civil War with brother against brother and father against son ended on May 24th 1923.

Let us remember in prayer all causalities of war.

HOW SAMUEL BECKETT HELPED BUILD A HOSPITAL IN POST-WAR FRANCE

(Frontline – Your Red Cross Supporter Newsletter)

During the Second World War, following the allied invasion, the charming town of Saint-Lo was almost totally destroyed. Three men stood in the rubble, making plans to build a hospital – an army officer, a young doctor and Samuel Beckett. Beckett was among a group of Irish volunteers who decided to build a Red Cross hospital in Saint-Lo. The Irish state set up a lottery to collect funds. The French Ministry of Reconstruction provided the buildings. And the Irish brought everything else. The young writer from Dublin had been eager to get to France but couldn’t afford the trip. However, Beckett spoke fluent French and passable German, so he served as an interpreter between the French and the German prisoners of war who would help build the hospital. When he arrived, he was deeply moved by what he found, describing Saint-Lo as “the capital of ruins”. The Irish Hospital had tremendous impact on the rebirth of Saint-Ló. Thousands of local people benefited from the care they received from the Irish – many of them as orphaned children.

Beckett’s short time in Saint-Lo seemed to inspire his writing. Over the next few years, he would produce the prose trilogy Molloy, Malone Dies, and The Unnameable, as well as his breakthrough play Waiting for Godot.

THE BLIND LEADING THE BLIND

(Beautiful Thoughts for Beautiful Minds – John Scally)

Eamonn deValera attended every All-Ireland final during his presidency – even though by the end of his reign he was almost totally blind. One of his later All-Irelands had a number of controversial refereeing decisions. The losing manager was asked for his thoughts afterwards. He observed: “Dev saw more of the game than the ref did”

PRAYER FOR THE WEEK – FOR EXAMS

Lord, pour out your Spirit of Wisdom on these students,

help them to remain calm, to attend carefully to the questions asked,

to think clearly, to remember accurately,

and to express themselves well.

Grant that they may reflect the best of the work they have done

and the best of the teaching they have received.

Accept their best efforts in these examinations

and in the great test of life on earth.

May your love be upon them, O Lord,

as they place all their trust in you.

We ask this through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

IT HAPPENED IN JUNE  – 6th June 1944

Known as D-Day, the Normandy Landings began when over 150,000 Allied troops landed along the Normandy coast. Codenamed ‘Operation Overload’, the invasion was one of the largest amphibious military assaults in history.

(Pioneer Magazine June 2021)