15th May, 2022

Adamstown Parish Newsletter

Weekend of Sat 14th & Sun 15th May 2022  

Volume 22   Number 20

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ADAMSTOWN LOTTO

The next draw in the Adamstown Lotto takes place this Monday 16th May in the Community Centre for a Jackpot of €13,400. Well worth a €2 ticket.

The Lotto committee extend their deepest sympathy to Liam Whelan and all the family on the death of his father Seán Whelan, Kellystown on Tuesday 3rd May.

May his gentle soul rest in peace.

ADAMSTOWN PHARMACY – COVID 19 BOOSTER

Adamstown Pharmacy are offering Covid 19 second booster vaccines to all people over the age of 65 years.

If it has been 4 months or more since your last Covid vaccine and you are over 65 years please contact Adamstown Pharmacy on 053 9240460 or 053 9240454 or at adamstownpharmacy@gmail.com to arrange an appointment.

ADAMSTOWN ATHLETIC CLUB NEWS

Well done to everyone on Sunday last at the Counties.

Our medal winners were: U-9 boys relay 2nd place: Henry, Thomas, Shane & Patrick. U-11 girls relay 2nd place: Pippa, Lilly, Anna, Grace. U-10 girls turbo javelin 1st Lauren, 3rd Grace. U-11 girls shot putt; 1st Pippa, 3rd Lilly.  U-12 girls 600m. 3rd Emma. U-12 boys turbo javelin 1st Bobby.

U-16 boys javelin; 1st Watt. U-16 long jumps 1st Watt.

Congratulations everyone.

ADAMSTOWN GAA CLUB

Cul Camps Summer 2022 

Booking now available, so don’t delay, as numbers are limited. Fantastic fun for all the kids.

Best of luck to Ellen O’Brien in Sunday’s Leinster Final.

A proud day for Aidan & Michelle to see both their daughters part of the Wexford team and fantastic for the club to have players with their talent for our younger girls to look up to.

Ellen’s pace and stamina mark her down as a very difficult proposition for any opponent. She also recently dipped her toe into the management side of the game leading St. Mary’s Mercy Convent, New Ross to a Leinster U-14 title.

NEW ROSS BEREAVEMENT SUPPORT GROUP

New Ross Bereavement Support Group are organising an Open Evening entitled:

“Grieving in These Exceptional Times” The Evening will be facilitated by Grief Counsellor Brid Carroll and will take place on Thursday 26th May at 7.30pm.

Venue: St. Michael’s Pastoral Centre, Michael St. New Ross.

Everyone is welcome to attend.

FIRST HOLY COMMUNION

Children from Adamstown National School will receive the Sacrament of First Holy Communion on Saturday next

21st May in St. Abban’s Church at 11.00am.

Please remember the children and their families in you prayers. We hope they all have a lovely day.

There will be a family Mass this Sunday at 10.30am in St. Abban’s Church for all the Holy Communion children and their families.

UKRAINE COLLECTION

Sincere thanks to all who contributed so generously to the recent Special Collection for Ukraine. Nationally, this collection has raised to date over €3.25 million. The war in Ukraine, and the terrible suffering which has resulted, has seen tremendous outpouring of compassion and generosity from our parish communities. Your contributions will bring much-needed relief to those in the region whose lives and livelihoods have been devastated.  The funds raised will be used by the international Catholic Church agency, Caritas Internationalis, which is currently operating on the ground in Ukraine and its surrounding areas. We continue to keep the people of Ukraine in our thoughts, praying for peace and an end to this appalling humanitarian crisis.

(From Bishop’s House)

AN IRISH PILGRIMAGE GUIDE TO THE HOLY LAND

An Irish Pilgrimage Guide to the Holy Land is a new book by Michael Kelly, Editor of the Irish Catholic newspaper which explores the places associated with the life of Christ. Michael, who has led many pilgrimages to the Holy Land, says he hopes the book can also act as an ‘armchair retreat’ for people who cannot travel to the Holy Land bringing the Gospel to life for them. It is available now from all good bookshops, www.columbabooks.com or by calling

01 6874096 price €16.99

SYMPATHY

We extend our sympathy to Teresa McDonald, Woodview Drive and all the family on the death of her mother Ann McDonald, 45 Glentire Heights, The Ballagh on Saturday 7th May. Her funeral Mass was celebrated in St. John the Baptist Church, The Ballagh on Monday 9th May with burial afterwards in the adjoining cemetery.

May she rest in peace.

SPANISH BLIND GOLF OPEN

Our best wishes to Paddy Power, Woodview Drive, who with his three team mates will represent Ireland at the Spanish Open from May 22nd to May 26th. The event will take place in Madrid. Paddy’s guide will be Cllr. Pat Barden.

Every success to the Irish team.

CHURCH NOTICES

IN MEMORIAM

Sat 14th – Patsy O’Connor, Newtown (A)

Sun 15th – Pat Foley, The Leap (A) and the deceased members of the O’Brien family Adamstown and

deceased members of the Foley family, Newbawn (A)

Sat 21st – Tommy & Bernie Whitty, Oldcourt (A)

Sun 22nd – Eunan Flood, Oldcourt (A)

Pray for Jim & Mary Connors, The Hill (A)
May they rest in peace.

Mass every weekday morning at 9.30am

Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament every Thursday after 9.30am Mass until 2pm.

Rosary at Knockreigh Grotto Monday – Friday at 8pm for the month of May.

READERS OF THE LITURGY

Sat 14th – Liam Whelan.          Sun 15th – Nessa Cloney

Sat 21st – T. J. McDonald.   Sun 22nd – Kathleen O’Connor

Sat 28th – Anthony McGee.   Sun 29th – Callie Doyle

Sat 2nd June – Annette English.  Sun 3rd – Ann Ryan

Feast Days this week:

Mon 16th – St. Brendan was a Kerryman who was born in 486. He studied at Clonard under Finnian. His name is connected with many places in Kerry such as Ardfert and Mount Brandon. He visited Scotland and reached the Hebrides and possibly areas beyond. He founded a monastery in Clonfert in 586 and died there in 578.

NOTICE FROM BISHOPS HOUSE – Synodal Process

“The Diocese of Ferns invite you to a meeting to present the Ferns Diocesan Submission to the National and World Synodal Process as requested by Pope Francis. The venue will be the Riverside Park Hotel in Enniscorthy and the date is Monday, May 23rd at 7.30pm.  All are welcome to attend. If you wish to read the submission in advance of the meeting, also called a Synthesis, then you can do so on the Hook of Faith Website. https://www.thehookoffaith.com/

I BELIEVE IN THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD

The slip of a vine planted in the ground bears fruit at the proper time.

The grain of wheat falls into the ground and decays only to be raised up again and multiplied by the Spirit of God who sustains all things.

The Wisdom of God places these things at the service of man and when they receive God’s word they become the Eucharist which is the Body and Blood of Christ.

In the same way our bodies which have been nourished by the Eucharist, will be buried in the earth and will decay, but they will rise again at the appointed time, for the Word of God will raise them up to the Glory of God the Father.

Then the Father will clothe our mortal nature in immortality and freely endow our corruptible nature with incorruptibility for God’s power is shown most perfectly in weakness.

(St. Irenaeus of Lyons (130-202 A.D.)

PRAYER GROUP

Prayer Group had a very interesting speaker last Sunday night. He was Phil Brennan, accompanied by his wife Elaine, originally from Gorey (Brennan’s 64). He is involved with the All-Ireland Peace Choir, which was formed after a bomb attack in Omagh in 1998 that killed 31 people. He is also involved with St. Declan’s Camino from Ardmore to Cashel.

During his talk he played some beautiful Taizé music. His talk was much appreciated by the 25 people present.

THE HAWTHORN (WHITETHORN)

The flowering of hawthorn in May is celebrated above all other species, in the folk tradition not only of Ireland but of all countries of northern Europe because it so evocatively proclaims the arrival of summer. It is a plant of woodland’s edge in nature, needing lots of light. The introduction of agriculture 6000 years ago greatly increased the area of suitable habitat for it, when hawthorn became the defining species of the hedges we used to parcel grazing and croplands into fields, where it bursts into such profligate extravagance of bloom as summer opens that it catches every eye. Our sense of smell is powerfully alerted by hawthorn. The main ingredient in that so-distinctive smell is a chemical called trimethylamine. This is a smell to which flies and beetles are especially attracted, and these are the insects whose pollination services the flowers are seeking.

Structurally the fruits – the familiar haws – are like little apples, and are a critical source of food in autumn and winter for birds such as blackbirds and redwings. At one time they were considered of medicinal value in treating kidney stones and edema. In that long-ago Garden of Eden where we first saw it, bursting into blossom as spring gave way to summer, few flowers have lifted our spirits as hawthorn or whitethorn: the may-tree. It’s no surprise that May blossom is celebrated in the poetry of so many different peoples and cultures. But surely none will be more familiar to most readers than that hymn we used to sing so regularly and fervently in what now seems a long-ago age of a different piety. O Mary, we crown thee with blossoms today,

Queen of the angels, Queen of the May.

It may come as something of a surprise to learn that this was only written some time in the late nineteen century by an American composer named Mary E. Walsh. 

(John Feehan – Messenger Magazine)

PRAYER FOR THE WEEK (The Prayer Trust)

Lord, we thank you for the joy of sharing in your work.

One sows, another reaps, yet together we rejoice.

Those who have toiled hard and long preparing the ground;

Those who have sown the seeds, often long ago;

Those who have kept vigil watching in prayer;

Those who collected the harvest at the appointed time.

Together we rejoice and thank you for calling us to share in this work. Amen.

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK:   (Ali Bracken, Sun Ind)

Katie Taylor has a framed CS Lewis quote in her gym in the US, which reads: “Integrity is about doing the right thing, even when no one is watching”.