January 9th, 2022

Adamstown Parish Newsletter

Weekend of Sat 8th & Sun 9th January 2022  

Volume 23   Number 2

ADAMSTOWN LOTTO

The next draw in the Adamstown Lotto takes place this Monday night in the Community Centre for a Jackpot of

€11,600 – a lovely way to start off the New Year.

All you have to do is buy a ticket and be in with a chance.

Please return you tickets to Cullen’s Gala by 8pm on Monday night.

Wishing all our ticket buyers & sellers a Happy and Peaceful New Year and thanks for your continued support.

THE LITTLE SPOTTED COWS OF GOD

(Joe Kennedy – Country Matters: Sunday Independent)

Professor EO Wilson – the renowned Harvard scientist described as the ‘father of biodiversity’ who died last week aged 92 – once said that if the world’s insects were wiped out by the actions of mankind it would take the earth 10,000 years to recover. Professor Wilson, author of numerous books, was perhaps best known for his treatise on ants (though he was absorbed by all insect life) but brought to my attention this past week was a species of popular insect much loved by children.  This was a beetle called a ladybird, of the family Coccinellidae, which, say some folkloric sources, gets its name from Our Lady – with seven spots corresponding to the ‘seven joys and sorrows’ Curiously, there is a link with Spain in religious connotation with the name in Irish “bóín Dé”, and Spanish “vaquilla de Dios” both meaning “God’s little cow”.

One rare ‘cow’ was spotted in Cork at Christmas time, but this may have been a harlequin beetle, an unwelcome Asian intruder, widespread in Europe but rarely recorded here.

These are larger than ‘normal’ ladybirds and may cause a decline in our own species of about 19 variants as they will predate them, as well as eggs and larvae of butterflies and moths, and are also an orchard pest. Harlequins can arrive here on imported produce and can fly over long distances. A couple of sightings have already been recorded from Cork.

If you spot a harlequin beetle, please inform the National Biodiversity in Waterford Institute of Technology West Campus at Carriganore for verification.

A PARENT’S THANKS FOR TEACHERS LOOKING AFTER HER CHILDREN IN PRE-SCHOOL (Ireland’s Eye)

Thank you teachers,

For all your patience every day,

For every tear you wipe away,

For little hands you gently hold,

For all the stories you have told.

For all the songs and nursery rhymes you share,

For teaching children how to care,

For being kind and being fair,

For every shoe you had to tie,

For all the sweet things that you do,

To help our children all year through.

But most of all, I thank you for being there in place of me.

I am grateful and will always be.

CULLEN’S GALA WINNERS

Congratulations to the two ladies who purchased S.E. Radio Bingo books in Cullen’s Gala, one lady won €600 last week & the other lady won €900 this week.

JAMES A CULLEN SJ: 100 YEARS

(Fr. Robert McCabe – Messenger Magazine)

News of the death of Fr. James A Cullen on 6th December 1921 spread from his Jesuit community in Dublin to his native Wexford and to parishes around Ireland.  Crowds thronged to his Requiem Mass, followed by a procession of thousands towards Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin. Many along the route were ordinary Dublin people who had a particular reason for attending. They had travelled up from the country to pray the light of Heaven on a man who had helped them to turn their family difficulties around. Others had travelled with him on pilgrimage to Lough Derg or on his mission work around the country. Prof. Paddy Corish (a fellow Wexford man) would describe him as a “veritable human dynamo”.  Since his childhood in New Ross, James Cullen knew success and failure. He had a deep appreciation of his fortunate start in life on the eve of the Great Famine. As a young priest, he saw the good fortunes of the men who worked the vessels which (before the railways) transported grain between Enniscorthy and Wexford. He heard their songs and arguments too and was painfully conscious of how they wasted their earnings.  He noticed similar patterns in the many towns and parishes he visited from his base at the House of Missions in Enniscorthy. The tension between success and failure was the force which motivated the ‘veritable human dynamo’ to highlight a better way forward for the people of his time. He developed a printing system so that a grammar of diligence, could be promoted in his The Messenger Magazine and in the pages of The Irish Catholic. Fr. Cullen’s work to repair the fabric of Irish society has continued to spread to other countries. Even the parish First Friday devotions in many parts of the world can be traced back to his devotional initiatives. His Pioneer Total Abstinence continues to spread to other countries and is spreading in Zambia, Fiji, USA and Australia. The Apostleship of Prayer is now named as the Pope’s Worldwide Network of Prayer and the Pope’s video is broadcast monthly on Youtube. His Messenger of the Sacred Heart continues to offer support for body and soul to readers around Ireland and now around the world.

SYMPATHY

The death occurred on Thursday last of Mamie Aylward, Ballyvergin & Parkstown, Glenmore, Co. Kilkenny in her 100th year. We extend our sympathy to her sisters Nellie and Theresa, extended family, neighbours and friends. Her funeral Mass was celebrated in St. James’ Church, Glenmore on Sat 8th Jan, with burial in the adjoining cemetery. May she rest in peace.

CHURCH NOTICES

IN MEMORIAM

Sat 8th – Terry McDonald, The Leap (A)

Sun 9th – Lucille Duggan, Tomgarrow (A)

Also        Pat Furlong, Raheenduff (Month’s Mind)

Sat 15th – Joe Crosbie, Misterin (A)

Also         Willie Stafford, Oldcourt (A)

Sun 16th – Nicholas & Mary Byrne, Kellystown (A)

Pray for Lizzy, Kitty & Mick Byrne, Tomgarrow (A)

Pray for Geraldine Ridgeway, Misterin (A)

May they rest in peace.

READERS OF THE LITURGY

Sat 15th Jan – Liam Whelan    Sun 16th – Sheelagh Delaney

Sat  22nd – Anthony McGee    Sun 23rd – Callie Doyle

Sat 29th –   T. J. McDonald     Sun 30th –  Kathleen O’Connor

Thanks to our Readers of the Liturgy for their contribution to our Masses over the past year.

ANNOUNCEMENT OF EASTER

Know, dear brothers and sisters that, as we have rejoiced at the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, so by leave of God’s mercy we announce to you also the joy of his Resurrection, who is our Saviour.

On the second day of March will fall Ash Wednesday,

and the beginning of the fast of the most sacred Lenten season.

On the seventeenth day of April you will celebrate with joy Easter Day, the Paschal feast of our Lord Jesus Christ.

On the twenty-ninth day of May will be the Ascension of

Our Lord Jesus Christ.

On the fifth day of June, the feast of Pentecost.

On the nineteenth day of June, the feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.

On the twenty-seventh day of November, the First Sunday of the Advent of our Lord Jesus Christ,

to whom is honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

BLESSINGS FOR THE NEW YEAR (The Prayer Trust)

Lord, as now we face, the next New Year,

let it be a time of grace.

A year of blessings that increase

A year of favour and your peace.

For all the human race.

For a new start I pray, let it begin this very day.

A time of healing for our woes,

A time of mercies, when pardon flows

For those who go astray.

A time of goodness for those held dear,

A time of pardon for those we fear.

Lord, let this be a blessed year.   Amen.

POPE’S INTENTION FOR JANUARY

For true human fraternity

We pray for all those suffering from religious discrimination and persecution; may their own rights and dignity be recognised, which originate from being brothers and sisters in the human family.

A SMILE – COMPENSATION (Ireland’s Own)

O’Shea was explaining to O’Toole how nature sometimes compensates for a person’s deficiencies. “For example,” said O’Shea, “if a man is deaf he may have better sight and if a man is blind he may have a very keen sense of smell.” “I think I know what you mean”, said O’Toole, “for I’ve often noticed that if a man has one short leg, then the other one is always a little bit longer”

CHRISTMAS MORNING

A priest was tidying up on the gallery of the church, putting some leaflets away after Christmas morning Mass when he heard a noise. Looking down into the church, he saw a little boy cycle up the aisle at great speed. He jumped off his bike, grabbed the baby Jesus from the crib, strapped him to the carrier of the bike and make a hasty exit from the church.

The priest was dumbfounded and did not know what to do.

He considered calling the boy’s family but felt that might only cause trouble. Within minutes the boy returned, cycled to the crib and left Jesus where he had found him. The priest called to him: “Why did you do that?”  “Ah Father,” the boy beamed with pride “I wrote to Santa for a bike and told Jesus that if Santa delivered, I would come here and bring him for the first spin on it” A boy of his word”        The word was made flesh.

WELCOMING 2022

January is also a month of trust and hope. As bells ring out at midnight, we enter into 2022 with confidence that God will always be with us. May the roads and paths of 2022 rise to meet us all with a kindly direction; and may we find God’s warm hand in all the New Year brings:

And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:

“Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown”

And he replied: “Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God.

That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way”

So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night.

And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East.

CHRISTMAS DUES THANKS

Fr. Nolan would like to thank you for your contributions to the Christmas Dues.

ADORATION

Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in St. Abban’s Church will resume this Thursday 11th January following 9.30am Mass and will conclude at 3.00pm.

You will be very welcome to come along a spend some time in silent prayer and reflection.