August 15th, 2021

Adamstown Parish Newsletter

Weekend of Saturday 14th & Sun 15th August 2021   

Volume 22.  Number 31

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SYMPATHY

We extend our condolence to Mary Flood, and all the family, Oldcourt on the death of her twin sister, Margaret (Peggie) Cowman, Rathfardan, Clonroche in her 91st year on Thursday 5th August.  A private family funeral Mass took place in Christ The King Church, Poulpeasty on Saturday 7th with burial in Cloughbawn Cemetery.

May she rest in peace.

ADAMSTOWN LOTTO

The next draw in the Adamstown Lotto takes place this Friday 20th August in the Community Centre for a Jackpot of €9,800. Please note all tickets and money must be returned to Cullen’s Gala by 8pm on the night of the draw. Do buy a ticket and be in with a chance.

BIRTHDAY GREETINGS

We send best wishes to Fr. Leo Staples who recently celebrated his 96th birthday. Fr. Leo has worked in Kenya since his ordination in 1952.

WEDDING BELLS

We send our congratulations to Victoria Moore, Tomgarrow and Liam Lalor, Ballinakill, Co. Laois whose Nuptial Mass was celebrated in St. Abban’s Church on Wednesday 11th August. Fr. Robert Nolan P.P. officiated.

Sláinte saol fáda agus bás in Eireann..

SYMPATHY

James Patrick Dalton, 76, passed away peacefully surrounded by loving wife Ingrid and loyal friends at Columbus, Georgia on August 9th 2021 after a long illness. James and Ingrid resided for a number of years at Raheenduff and were held in the highest affection and esteem by friends and neighbours. Our deepest sympathy to Ingrid and the extended family. His funeral Mass will take place in the Holy Family Church, Georgia on Saturday August 21st. May he rest in peace.

ADAMSTOWN ATHLETIC CLUB NEWS

Congratulations to Ciara Mooney who came 2nd in the Under 17 National Championship 3k. Race Walk recently.

Well done Ciara and continued success.

ADAMSTOWN COMMUNITY CENTRE NEWS

Adamstown Community Centre has been awarded a grant of €2,500 towards the cost of a new heater for the Community Centre Hall. This grant has been awarded by Wexford County Council through their Community Enhancement Programme for 2021.The work will be completed in the Autumn.

The Committee very much appreciate this grant, which will benefit all organizations that use the facilities of the Centre.

A BIT OF HISTORY : 1971 –  50 YEARS ON

ADAMSTOWN INTERMEDIATE HURLERS WIN CO FINAL

(Taken from Jimmy McDonald’s book From Distant Past of Ever Present Volume 1)

Having won the Junior championship in 1970 Adamstown qualified for the Intermediate Final in 1971. Having beaten Askamore in the quarter final, and a controversial single-point semi-final victory 3 – 7 to 3 – 6 over Davidstown/Courtnacuddy at O’Kennedy Park, New Ross, they faced Enniscorthy Shamrocks in the County Final which was played on 21st August 1971 at Wexford Park and was a much closer and tougher game than the 5-19 to 2-7 final score-line might suggest, and if in any doubt just ask Matt O’Neill or the well-known former Shamrocks player Larry Byrne. Adamstown gave a great exhibition of hurling in the final with a sparkling display by Jimmy Galway in particular as he accounted for 1-13 of their total score. Eamonn Furlong too was on fire in the forward division with 1-3 to his credit. Greg Bolger scored 1-1, Paddy Whitty and Joe Bradley 1-0 each and Harry Doran 0-2. The team lined out in the final as follows: Tom Rowe, John Whelan, Frank O’Gorman, Paddy English, Leo Tector, Philip Doyle, Jim Rochford, Greg Bolger, Patrick Fortune, Jimmy Galway, Jimmy Furlong, Harry Doran, Paddy Whitty, Joe O’Reilly, Eamonn Furlong.

Subs: Oliver Lawlor, Amby McDonald, Mick Furlong (Coonogue), Dave Lawlor, Seamus Bradley (Carrigbyrne), Pat Furlong. The referee was the late Pete Crowley (Wexford town) 

The following Adamstown players represented Wexford in the Leinster Intermediate hurling championship of 1972, eventually going under to a strong Dublin side.

Tom Rowe, Jim Rochford, Jimmy Galway, Eamonn Furlong, Jimmy Furlong.

Incidentally included in the Wexford Minor hurling team playing Dublin in Croke Park on the same day was Michael Hickey and sub Mosey McCabe.

Note: The then Bishop of Ferns Most Reverend Dr. Donal Herlihy decided in 1972 to divide Adamstown into a separate parish from Newbawn and Raheen, but it was agreed that for G.A.A.purposes they would remain together under the name of ‘St. Abbans’

YOUR LOCAL LINK TRANSPORT

For more information go to transportforireland.ie

WORDS OF WISDOM – (John Wayne)

Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It’s perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we’ve learned something from yesterday.

CHURCH NOTICES

IN MEMORIAM

Sat 14th – Tom (Tiddler) Byrne, Kellystown (A)

Sun 15th – Padraig and Susan O’Gorman, Kellystown (A)

May they rest in peace.

FEAST DAYS THIS WEEK

Tuesday 17th – Our Lady of Knock

Parish priest and rector of Knock Shrine, Fr. Richard Gibbons, has announced that the National Novena of Our Lady of Knock is being postponed until later this year.

The Annual novena of prayer and reflection was due to take place from 14th – 22nd  August.

Sat 21st – St. Pope Pius X

SUNDAY ENVELOPES

If you wish you may use 365 Banking and transfer your contribution periodically to the Parochial Account, please put your Sunday Envelope number or your name on your donation.

Adamstown Parochial A/C Current Account

BIC:  BOFIIE2D

IBAN: IE04 BOFI 9066 6276 8462 48

UNDERMINING PUBLIC BUY-IN – Excerpt from-

(Editorial -The Irish Times Saturday 7th August 2021)

Amidst the controversy this week over former minister Katherine Zappone’s party at a five-star hotel, Catholic church officials noted in passing that correspondence to Government from the four archbishops over the past few months has not even elicited a response. It was a telling insight in a week when the Government’s policy of stratifying the right to gather and socialise by activity finally blew up in a storm of recrimination. It is increasingly apparent that there is one set of rules for certain favoured groups and another set for others. Sporting bodies are allowed to welcome thousands of people at their stadiums, for example, and pubs and restaurants are free to admit vaccinated customers. Yet live music venues and theatres still find it unfeasible if not outright impossible to resume operations, and the Catholic church is told that it should not allow First Holy Communions or Confirmations. Those religious occasions are discouraged because people might gather in unsafe environments afterwards, yet several thousand fans can attend a match with no such concerns. It is difficult not to conclude that the relative lobbying power of the key industry and faith groups is beginning to show. Compared to other countries, the State has taken an almost uniquely stringent approach to religious gatherings throughout the pandemic. Ireland has come a long way since the days when church leaders could dictate policy, but Archbishop of Dublin Dermot Farrell was well within his rights to point to “a lack of consistency” in public health advice as he defended his decision to allow Confirmations and First Holy Communions. Not unreasonably, he asked how “it’s ok to have a bash in the Merrion Hotel with 50 people present but yet it’s not possible for a parent to take their child along to receive the sacrament”

CHURCH RETURN FASTER –

 than, gyms, pubs and restaurants. 

(Chai Brady – Irish Catholic 29/07/2021)

Church-goers were faster than any other sector to return when restrictions were lifted according to the latest Government research, a revelation which has been dubbed “a hopeful sign” by people in frontline ministry.  Dr. Pete Lunn, head of the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) Behavioural Research Unit, told The Irish Catholic that in general people returned to activities slowly at each stage of reopening, but church attendance was an outlier.

“For people returning to eating outdoors, gyms and hospitality venues and so on, we saw that change steadily week on week” Dr. Lunn said. “But when restrictions were lifted to allow church services again there was a step jump in the data. The people who would normally go to Mass – and then obviously were not allowed to go – as soon as they were allowed go to Mass they went back pretty quickly”.

He said than when churches reopened in May, along with some other indoor venues as part of the Republic’s reopening plans, attendance at indoor locations jumped from 5.5% of the population to 13.7%. “This is very different from the other curves that we are generating of people’s behaviour” Dr. Lunn said, “When we looked at that what we discovered was the large majority of that was accounted for by people going back to church, it wasn’t the libraries, museums, the galleries. It’s not a huge proportion of the population but what made it different was that it happened in one go”.

IT HAPPENED IN AUGUST – (Pioneer Magazine)

2nd Aug 1939 – Albert Einstein wrote a letter to President Franklin D Roosevelt concerning the possibility of atomic weapons. “A single bomb of this type carried by boat and exploded in a port, might very well destroy the whole port together with some of the surrounding territory”.

Six years later, on 6th August 1945, the first Atomic Bomb, developed by the US, was dropped on the Japanese port of Hiroshima. The bomb was dropped over the centre of Hiroshima at 8.15am, by the American B-29 bomber ‘Enola Gay’. The bombing killed over 105,000 persons and destroying the city. Another estimated 100,000 persons later died as a result of radiation effects.

A THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK – Jonathan Swift

You should never be ashamed to admit you have been wrong. It only proves you are wiser today than yesterday.

SUNSET PRAYER – Pope Francis.

O Lord, I offer you this night.

I thank you for today, knowing your constant presence was with me.

I unite my prayer and love with the love of your heart.

I remember in prayer all dear to me.

May I live in love for all I meet tomorrow.

And with the prayer of Mary, mother of the Church,

mother of God.

O Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in you. Amen.