My Jimdo Geocities Lifeboat
=====================================
WASTE: At this time of year around 30% more waste is generated. This includes over 1 billion Christmas cards which are thrown away each year. It’s estimated by the Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs, that around 50,000 trees are cut down each year to make enough paper to wrap presents. Also, around 12 million tonnes of plastic enter our environment each year, equivalent to a bin lorry load every minute.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/24-ways-to-waste-not-this-christmas
==============================
JUNK Foods: The final list of unhealthy food products that will be banned from advertisements by the government is the most comprehensive.
It includes ready meals, whether Chinese, Thai, Italian or traditional, and even stuffed pastas such as ravioli and tortellini.
All forms of breaded vegetable, fish, meat and poultry are also in this list – including fish fingers, chicken nuggets and chicken Kievs.
Sandwiches sold by both retailers and in the out of home sector feature on junk food list.
These include wraps, bagels, and paninis.
Sushi, fajita meal kits and dried noodle products will not be banned from advertising before watershed.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
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Thought
FR. GERARD’S CORNER
Be Open to Listening
We all have ears, but very often we are not able to hear. Why is this? It is interior deafness, which is worse than physical deafness, because it is the deafness of the heart. Taken up with haste, by so many things to say and do, we do not find time to stop and listen to those who speak to us. We run the risk of becoming unaffected by everything and not making room for those who need to be heard. Think of children, young people, the elderly, the many who need
to be heard. Let us ask ourselves: how is my capacity to listen going? Do I let myself be touched by people’s lives? Do I know how to spend time with those who are close to me in order to listen? May the Lord open not only our ears but also our hearts!
LAST WORD: Every job is a self-portrait of the person who does it
------------------------------------------------
NOTE FROM FR. JIM Lenihan .
At the end of July this year I had a really bad summer flu that lasted about 3
weeks, I lost my hearing as well as my taste and my ability to smell. I must say it
was quite inhibiting and I was pretty concerned that they might never return. But
what really stuck me was how I totally take these wonderful gifts and blessings
for granted. It’s so true that we only appreciate something when we lose it. In
today’s Gospel we see Jesus taking a deaf and dumb man to one side in privacy to
free him of his inflictions. Jesus insists that he tells no one about his healing. Tell
no one?!!! The man just explodes with joy and excitement and wants to tell the
whole world his amazing news. A similar reaction was seen sometime ago where a
25-year-old deaf woman who, thanks to a new electronic implant, was hearing for
the first time (a symphony), she cried, she laughed, she threw her hands in the air
at the marvel, she jumped up and down with excited amazement to the extent
that her attached wires would allow her, she was intent on hearing every sound,
and she looked gratefully and tearfully at her doctors.The word ‘Ephphatha’, ‘be
opened’ in todays Gospel was also mentioned at your baptism as the priest blessed
your mouth and ears, praying that one day that you’ll hear the Good News of your
salvation with your ears and with your mouth proclaim it with joy and excitement
from the rooftops. Has that happened for you yet? If we only knew the incredible
faculties we received at baptism and realise the immense privilege we have to be
called children of God and have been blessed with a pathway to heaven. Our ability
to hear and speak and even to taste and smell are great gifts that we take for
granted and to lose them would be a devastating blow, but they’d be no loss at all
in comparison to the magnificent gift of God’s love which brings an indescribable
joy of being saved for eternity and an unspeakable loss of losing our soul.
=====================
==================================
=======================
RAYER TO OUR LADY OF KNOCK
Our Lady of Knock, Queen of Ireland, you gave hope to your people
in a time of distress and comforted them in sorrow.
You have inspired countless pilgrims to pray with confidence
to your divine Son, remembering His promise,
“Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find”.
Help me to remember that we are all pilgrims on the road to Heaven.
Fill me with love and concern for my brothers and sisters in Christ,
especially those who live with me.
Comfort me when I am sick, lonely or depressed.
Teach me how to take part ever more reverently in the Holy Mass.
Give me a greater love of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.
Pray for me now and at the end of my death. Amen
==========================
REFLECT: Those last words lead me to my next point. Peter said those words because he was feeling bad about himself. But what God in fact wants us all to do, whether truly virtuous, or caught in the struggle of sinful weeds, or collapsed in faith and morals, is to come to him no matter what. Don’t depart. Keep coming to God. He is our hope. He is not going to abandon us. He can work for our souls what we cannot do for ourselves. Without him we can do nothing, but with him all is possible. “Come close to God and he will come close go you” (Jas 4:8). Let us never forget those words, “Where sin abounds there even more is God’s grace!” (Rm 5:20).
https://www.legionofmary.ie/news/article/july-allocutio-2024
======================================
(JTA) — One of the most prestigious prizes in Jewish book publishing has gone to a nonfiction book that, by suggesting how Arabs and Jews might have learned to live together in historic Palestine, offers a glimmer of hope for a better future.
That’s one way to read “Palestine 1936: The Great Revolt and the Roots of the Middle East Conflict,” by the American-Israeli author Oren Kessler. There other way is to see the events described in the book — a period of military and political consolidation by Zionists and near total rejection of a Jewish state by the Palestinians — as the inevitable harbinger of the bloody impasse of the next 88 years.
===================
April 2024
--------------------
FULL moon on 24th; Land around here is the wettest ever’------------------
The 1921 drought stands out as the most severe and most widespread drought in Europe since the start of the 20th century. The precipitation deficit in all seasons was large, but in none of the seasons in 1920 and 1921 was the precipitation deficit the largest on record. The severity of the 1921 drought relates to the conservative nature of drought which amplifies the lack of precipitation in autumn and winter into the following spring and summer.
https://cp.copernicus.org/articles/17/2201/2021/
-----------------------------
Weather 1920; Carrick-on-Shannon, 12 January 1920 - The main roads on both the Leitrim and Roscommon sides of Carrick-on-Shannon are flooded today after fierce winds, accompanied by rain, hail, thunder and lightning, swelled the waters of the River Shannon to the point of bursting its banks. In Roscommon, some houses were knocked down by the force of the gale, and there are reports of cattle being killed by lightning.
In Tipperary and Limerick rivers also burst their banks, leaving low-lying areas completely submerged by water and roads in and out of certain localities impassable.
-------------------------------------
GREENS: Vegetable growing in Ireland will be difficult, due to weather and the low return for work risk and involved. Fresh vegetables are available in the wild, only lookout for them and save on imports and reduce their C02 footprint; https://www.botanical-online.com/en/food/wild-vegetables
AGE Friendly Kerry; The overarching goal of Ireland’s Age Friendly Cities and Counties Programme is that every local authority area in Ireland will be a great place in which to grow old.
https://www.kerrycoco.ie/community/age-friendly-programme/
================================
============================
Chrissie Roche - From an Irish Rambling House DVD
https://youtu.be/7OxK7UvZ5S8?si=lAFQnXNYWFynjzaq
==============================
Everyone Stunned" Absolutely Stunning!
I love London
https://youtu.be/N--sxmGm_bs?si=UmJCCvFLaNW-U-BX
----------------------------------------
https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/kingsguard
============
What Is a Normal PSA for a Man Without Prostate Cancer? | Ask a Prostate Expert, Mark Scholz, MD
https://youtu.be/ZUSkWb5QP8A?si=y2AtCqRFJNTo5Eus
==================================
10 Things You Didn't Realize Your iPhone Can Do for You
By Tim Brookes Published Jan 1, 2024
==============================
Newspapers search Newtownsandes
======================================
Tintean Ballybunion Feb 2024
===========================
Paul Vaughn and 5 other advocates received a federal conviction of FELONIES for their 2021 peaceful protest at a mill facility near Nashville, Tennessee.
Shocking Persecution: ProLife Father of 11 gets 10 Years in Prison?
https://www.youtube.com/live/4mFeZp-dai4?si=_qiTdY4BCw710BU_
===============================
In April 2006, Lynch opened a medical marijuana dispensary in the seaside city of Morro Bay. As he would later testify in court, dispensaries seemed “like a pretty common business across the state” but there were none in San Luis Obispo County.
Lynch himself used medical marijuana to help with cluster headaches.
“I figured if it could help me along, I understood how it could help other people also,” Lynch said in a recent interview with The Times. “That’s one of the reasons I started up the dispensary.”
The mayor, city attorney and members of the Chamber of Commerce were at the ribbon cutting for the Central Coast Compassionate Caregivers dispensary. A photo captured the mayor shaking Lynch’s hand as he smiled.
=================================
As artificial intelligence grows in its ability to diagnose and prescribe, she said, “We will have to preserve the good of responding to human need and suffering to avoid the problem of distancing the physician from the patient.”
Instead, the Church would like to see AI “helping people to collaborate more with one another, to improve communication and augmenting connection.” Good uses of AI will reflect the gift of human creativity and “help us see the full beauty of the human person.”
====================================
Media
https://media.benedictine.edu/categories/news
============================
Why Are We Misled About Prostate Cancer? Dr. McDougall's Expert Guide to Beating Prostate Cancer
https://www.youtube.com/live/-lt7UO3h3wE?si=ofL1He7c50z4BRpx
=====================
Prayer to Saint Brigid (c.454 – 524)
You were a woman of peace.
You brought harmony where there was conflict.
You brought light to the darkness. You brought hope to the downcast.
May the mantle of your peace cover those who are troubled and anxious,
and may peace be firmly rooted in our hearts and in our world.
Inspire us to act justly and to reverence all God has made.
Brigid you were a voice for the wounded and the weary.
Strengthen what is weak within us.
Calm us into a quietness that heals and listens.
May we grow each day into greater wholeness in mind, body and spirit.
Amen
===========================
KINDNESS DURING LIFE
I would rather have one little rose from the garden of a friend,
Than to have the choicest flowers when my stay on earth must end.
I would rather hear the kindest words that can now be said to me,
Than flattered when my heart is still and this life ceased to be.
I would rather have a loving smile from friends I know are true,
Than tears shed round my casket when I bid this world adieu.
Bring me any flower today be it pink or white or red.
I’d rather have one blossom now than a bouquet when I’m dead.
------------------------
MANNERS, MORALS, RESPECT, CHARACTER, COMMON SENSE, TRUST, PATIENCE, HAPPINESS, INTEGRITY, LOVE – are things MONEY CANNOT BUY.
LAST WORD: Guilt is regret for what we have done. Regret is guilt for what we did not do.
-----------------------------
A NOTE FROM FR. JIM Lenihan ....
Recently I heard an excellent talk given by Monsignor Charles Pope. He spoke
about our times and how our culture has gone fairly crazy. There’s no doubt but
our moral compass as a people has gone skew ways. Certain behaviours and
attitudes which would have been considered totally wrong twenty years ago are
now considered right. And things twenty years ago considered right are now
considered gravely evil. I thought Monsignor Pope’s explanation on why this has
happened is very interesting. He said ‘In our culture today we have reduced love to
kindness. Now, kindness he said is an aspect of love no doubt, but so is rebuke,
correction and being honest enough to tell others the consequences of their
behaviour. He spoke about parents who hopefully love their children and
sometimes they can say, ‘Sure, sure, it's fine and let them have their way. But any
parent worth their salt will at other times say, "Heck no, and if you do it, you'll be
punished." And a loving parent will have to do both. Kindness has its place, but
sometimes at the end of the day, you have to finally say, “This isn't permissible.
This is intolerable”. This will lead to certain consequences’’.
To truly love someone, you must Will their good and this includes encouraging,
challenging, correcting and telling them some home truths. The problem we have
today is fraternal correction (which is a loving thing to do) is not considered kind.
Today’s ‘kindness’ which is sentimental and based on mere feelings will lead to a
false love. It’s destructive for the person themselves and society. But today if you
dare correct or rebuke certain actions and behaviours you could be accused of
hate speech. In fact at present in our country the Hate Speech Bill is being
considered by our politicians. This could be an extremely problematic for those
who stand up for traditional values and beliefs. We pray for our country and the
future generations that we’ll all come to know the God of Love and Truth and will
the good of every human being
------------------------------------------------
Payer to St Brigid
Bridget, you were a woman of peace.
You brought harmony where there was conflict.
You brought light to the darkness.
You brought hope to the downcast.
May the mantle of your peace
cover those who are troubled and anxious.
And may peace be firmly rooted in
our hearts and in our world.
Inspire us to act justly and to
reverence all God has made.
Bridget, you were a voice for the
wounded and the weary.
Strengthen what is weak within us.
Calm us into a quietness that heals and listens.
May we grow each day into greater
wholeness in mind, body and spirit.
Amen
==========================
-------------------------------------------
Patrick J. Passmore Features
November 2, 2023
“I’m sorry for your troubles.” — traditional Irish greeting to the bereaved
The Irish wake has been the subject of poems, songs, films and stage plays. For all the clichés, the Catholic triduum of death, resting and resurrection is, at the heart, a traditional ritual of mourning, community and remembrance of a life well lived, traditionally in the family home but adapted for current times and locales.
A wake is not a uniquely Irish custom, but in parts of Ireland, it still provides an opportunity for parish, community and friends, far and wide, to pay respects.
======================
Ottawa Police Service (OPS) leadership singled out a detective because she opposed Covid mandates and was critical of the vaccine, and even forbid her from discussing Covid at work, according to evidence and testimony provided during Detective Helen Grus’ discreditable conduct tribunal, which recessed Friday.
The 20-year OPS veteran and Grus’ legal team say they still lack disclosure for key pieces of evidence to defend against allegations she brought the force into disrepute by probing links between the Covid vaccine and sudden infant deaths, including access to final autopsy reports and other evidence seemingly germane to the charge.
https://tnc.news/2023/08/19/ottawa-detective-singled-out-covid2/
==============================
Google Flights has introduced a new feature to help travelers answer the perennial question: “Should I buy my flights now or wait and hope the price decreases?” The tech company has long offered users insight into whether the airfares they’re looking at are low, typical, or high compared with historical price averages for that particular route.
=============================
PARISH PASTORAL UNIT
ABBEYFEALE, ATHEA, TEMPLEGLANTINE, TOURNAFULLA, MOUNTCOLLINS
10th Sept 2023 www.abbeyfealeparish.ie email fealechurch@eircom.net Church Sacristy 068 - 51915 Parish Office 068 - 31133 086/8661651 Anne
A Lesson in Christian Love
A few years ago a remarkable story of generosity featured on the Joe Duffy radio show.
It was the story of an Irish man named Shane O’Neill, who had a history of drugs
offences and ended up serving time in prison in Belgium. On release from prison he went
to the Irish embassy to ask for the price of a flight to return home, but as it was a Friday
evening the embassy was closed until Monday. As Shane walked away from the
embassy, he was lucky to cross paths with a good Samaritan, a man named Charlie
Kiernan, a Dublin man who offered to help him in his hour of need.
Worried that Charlie would judge him if he told him he had been a prisoner, Shane in-
stead told Charlie he had been robbed. "He was the first fellow that ever put his hand out
to help me," said Shane. "We got into a conversation and he said, 'You must be hungry
are you?' And I said, 'I’m starving.' He said 'Do you want to come with me? I’ll get you
something to eat.' During the meal Charlie asked Shane if he wanted him to book a flight
home for him? I said 'You'd hardly do that for me?'
Once the pair arrived in Dublin, Shane asked Charlie for his address so that he could re-
pay him for his generosity and was shocked when he refused, insisting Shane use the
money to help someone else in need in the future. "It made me think the whole way
home,” said Shane., “This man is my saviour, now I’m going to really change my life."
This random act of kindness teachers us everything that we need to learn about Christian
love and the Commandments. St Paul in his letter to the Romans says in the reading for
today’s Mass “Love your neighbour as yourself. Love is the one thing that cannot hurt
your neighbour, that is why it is the answer to every one of the commandments.”
The Tracks We Leave
It was the author of ‘Huckleberry Finn,’ Mark Twain who once remarked; ‘I don’t think
much of a man’s religion if his dog and cat aren’t the better of it.’ It was an insightful
comment during the 19th century when the industrial age was in its heyday and nature’s
bounty was being plundered relentlessly while all creatures great and small were mostly
regarded as fair game for hunting or experimentation and otherwise insignificant to
human progress.
The World Day of Prayer for Creation on 1 September and the season of creation which
follows instituted by Pope Francis and concluding on the feast day of St Francis of Assisi
on 4 October, allows us opportunity to renew our commitment to cherish and conserve the
natural world and its creatures. A world we have so taken for granted and which is now
clearly reaching the limits of its capacity for exploitation and neglect. Young people and
many young at heart people of all religious traditions and none have almost uniquely
found common ground on this issue, one which Pope Francis identified so early in his
papacy. Whether we see a divine hand at work in the wonders that surround us in earth,
sky and seas, as the Scriptures reveal and St Thomas Aquinas sought to demonstrate or
whether we believe creation to have evolved in a series of random events, unfolding in a
coincidently beautiful and harmonious way, most of us now realise the precarious point
we have reached as nature’s harmony is disrupted and large sections of the natural world
and its creatures disappear like the legendary unicorn in the face of human indifference or
greed. The burning of ancient forests and assaults on Indigenous peoples, the suffering of
poorer nations most vulnerable to climate change, the reckless wars and policies pushing
nature’s boundaries to breaking point. All of these challenges to our humanity and faith
are worthy of prayer during these weeks and beyond. Among Indigenous peoples, the
Dakota tribe of North America had a saying; ‘We will be known forever by the tracks we
leave.’ That is true, assuming of course that future generations will survive long enough
to reflect upon our present follies. (Fr Paul Clayton Lee)
======================
Centenary of the Legion of Mary - 2021-2022
==========================
Quote of the Day
Even at Mary’s school, servitude to Jesus means service before self. In fact, as soon as the Archangel Gabriel left her after the Annunciation, Mary did not sit back complacently, revelling in her newly invested dignity of Mother of God, but she went with haste to help her cousin Elizabeth who was with child in her advanced age.
So also, at the marriage at Cana in Galilee, while others were enjoying the festive meal, Mary saw the empty wine jars and she ‘provoked’ Jesus’ first miracle. For Mary, therefore, to be a handmaid of the Lord meant to go out and meet the needs of others, and she continues to do this even today from her throne in heaven.
She teaches us not to be weighed down with our titles and achievements, or to be puffed up with what we think of ourselves or with what others say about us, but rather to put our time and talents joyfully at the service of God and neighbour.
His Eminence, Ivan Cardinal Dias, Former Prefect, Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, Vatican
==============================
People in well-off countries can help avert climate breakdown by making six relatively straightforward lifestyle changes, according to research from three leading institutions.
The study found that sticking to six specific commitments – from flying no more than once every three years to only buying three new items of clothing a year – could rein in the runaway consumption that is partially driving the climate crisis.
The research carried out by academics at Leeds University and analysed by experts at the global engineering firm Arup and the C40 group of world cities, found that making the six commitments could account for a quarter of the emissions reductions required to keep the global heating down to 1.5C.
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July 31, 2023
"It is one thing to give birth, and another very different thing is to be a mother," one of my brothers wrote when my mother died in December 2017. Last September, my father died, and today I can add to those words: it is one thing to procreate, and another very different thing is to be parents, being a father, and being a mother. My parents had flaws and made mistakes, but as I once commented to another brother, they were parents.
In the days before his death, my father dreamed every night that he was with the family — my mother, him, all their small children — all of us together. It was what he carried in his heart: his wife, sons and daughters, and all his descendants. He was very proud that he already had a great-great-granddaughter! He did carry us in his heart.
===========================
Pamela Popper
20,166 views Apr 11, 2019
PSA is not a marker for cancer, and the risk of being harmed as a result of having the test is 30 times higher than the chance that a man will benefit.
Subscribe to Dr. Pam’s weekly newsletter and video clips here! https://wellnessforumhealth.com/news/
============================
BOOK: Krakatoa
By Simon Winchester
From a Sunday Times bestselling author comes a gripping account of the devastating eruption at Krakatoa and its impact around the world. “Brilliant… One of the best books ever written about the history and significance of a natural disaster” (The New York Times).
The Escape Artist
By Jonathan Freedland
This “overwhelmingly inspiring” forgotten story (Daily Mail) follows Rudolf Vrba, who at 19 years old became the first Jew to escape Auschwitz — and alerted the world to the horrors inside. “Rich in the kind of details that haunt you long after you have turned the last page” (The Sunday Times).
Ultra-Processed People
By Chris van Tulleken
A #1 Sunday Times bestseller “packed with ‘I never knew that’ moments” (Hannah Fry): Discover the harm that ultra-processed food may be doing to our bodies in this thought-provoking book that includes evidence against the consumption of these foods, solutions to improve the food and diet industries, and more.
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Reflection
BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE
If you have a tender message or a loving word to say,
Do not wait till you forget it but whisper it today.
The tender word unspoken, the letter never sent,
The long-forgotten messages, the wealth of love unspent.
For those some hearts are breaking, for those some loved ones wait.
So, show them that you care for them before it is too late.
Like a quiet friend who sits with us in the midst of our trials, God’s presence is with us and offers great solace on days when we don’t have the strength to carry our burdens alone.
------------------
HEALING PRAYER AT BEDTIME.
Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit, go back into my memory as I sleep. Every hurt that has ever been done to me – heal that hurt. Every hurt that I have ever caused to another person – heal that hurt. All the relationships that have been damaged in my whole life that I am not aware of - heal those relationships. But Lord, if there is anything that I need to do – if I need to go to a person because they are still suffering from my hand, bring to my awareness that person. I choose to forgive, and I ask to be forgiven. Remove whatever bitterness may be in my heart, Lord and fill the empty spaces with your love. Thank you Lord Jesus. Amen.
LAST WORD: The Pessimist complains about the wind, the Optimist expects it to change, but the Realist adjusts the sails.
---------------------------
THE TRULY RICH ARE THOSE WHO ENJOY WHAT THEY HAVE!!
---------------------
NOTE FROM FR. JIM Lenihan....
I heard a priest say once that in preparing new Eucharistic ministers in his parish
he noticed one of them was extremely fearful. So on her first Sunday performing
her new ministry he reassured and encouraged her beforehand and kept an eye on
her during Holy Communion and thankfully she got on fine. Afterwards when he
said to her ‘You did great so there’s was no need to worry!’ She said in response
‘But Father I had a little secret, while giving out communion I held a miraculous
medal in my other hand which gave me great peace’. The priest thought to himself.
Did she realise that she had Jesus the prince of peace the second person of the
Holy Trinity, God Himself in her other hand!! Recently in America a survey
discovered that 70% of Catholics there didn’t believe in the Real Presence in Holy
Communion. On today's Feast day of Corpus Christi can we ask ourselves honestly
do we really believe in the Catholic teachings on the Eucharist. Reading recently
Fr. Brendan Williams book ‘Pilgrimage to our Father’s House’ he wrote in the
chapter called 'The Riches of the Eucharist' about the sufferings our ancestors
during Penal times. How priests had a five pound price tag on his head. He and his
followers risked the death penalty for celebrating Holy Mass. I’m sure those
brave followers of Christ didn’t died for bread!! The Feast of Corpus Christi was
proposed by St. Thomas Aquinas to Pope Urban IV, in order to create a feast
focused solely on the Holy Eucharist, emphasizing the joy of the Eucharist being
the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ. Having recognized in 1264
the authenticity of the Eucharistic Miracle of Bolsena Italy. Since this feast day
began due to a Eucharistic miracle I encourage you to google Eucharistic miracles,
especially Buenos Aires Argentina, and Lanciano, Italy. May we all have a profound
love and respect for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.
---------------------------------------
Saint Anthony of Padua – Feast Day: 13th June. Saint Anthony was born into a
wealthy noble family in Lisbon, Portugal, on 15th August 1195. He was christened
Fernando Martins de Bulhom. He received a good education in his native city before
joining the Regular Canons of Saint Augustine there at the age of 15. Soon
afterwards, he was transferred to their monastery in Coimbra which was then the
capital of Portugal, where he devoted himself to prayer and to the study of theology
and Latin. He also developed there a great knowledge of the Bible.
When the relics of Franciscans who had been martyred were brought to Coimbra in
1220 this had a profound effect on Fernando who requested permission to become a
Franciscan. Granted that permission he took the name Anthony as he joined in 1221
that new order which had been founded by Saint Francis of Assisi in 1209. Anthony
wished to go as a friar to Morocco in North Africa to preach Christianity and to die
there as a martyr. However illness forced him to return home immediately after his
arrival in Morocco. On his way home a storm forced his ship off course and he
ended up in Sicily and he was to spend the last 9 or 10 years of his life in Italy. He
travelled all over that country preaching the Gospel. He was a great teacher and a
very eloquent preacher and many miracles were attributed to him during his
lifetime. He settled in Padua in the north-east of Italy in 1226 and that’s where he
passed away on 13th June 1231 at the relatively young age of 35. Less than a year
later he was canonised on 30th May 1232 by Pope Gregory IX. He was declared a
Doctor of the Church in 1946. Apparently lilies were placed on his tomb in Padua
shortly after his death. Mysteriously these did not wither for a considerable period
of time and so the tradition arose of the Franciscans blessing lilies in his honour on
his Feast Day. Many graces have been received by people through these blessed
lilies and cures have been reported through them. People also invoke St Anthony’s
intercession to help them to find things that are lost.
----------------------------------------
Sacred Heart Novena
Lord Jesus Christ your heart was moved with love for those who sought You.
You healed the sick, fed the hungry and forgave sinners.
You showed to those who would listen the way to true life,
for You are the Way, the Truth and the Life.
Your heart is still moved today by your people and their needs.
Open my heart to hear your word, to accept your love and to respond to your call.
In particular, I beg you to grant me the favour that I ask
during this Novena, (make your request silently)
provided that it will contribute to my own eternal good
and to the building up of your Kingdom of love, peace and justice here on earth.
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in You.
---------------------------------------
====================
The Presbytery, Abbeydorney (066 7135146, 087 6807197)
abbeydorney@dioceseofkerry.ie
28th May 2023, Feast of Pentecost.
Dear Parishioner,
I think the name of Fr. Brendan Hoban, a priest of Killala
Diocese, one of the smaller dioceses in Ireland (Mayo etc.), who is well
known as a commentator on religious and social matters and one who tries
to make sense of all the changes in our world. (He was ordained in 1973, a
year after yours truly.) He has written a number of books and a few of those
are about the history of his own diocese, which involved a huge amount of
research. His article from the ‘Western People’, to which he contributes
weekly, has come as a result of something that President Higgins said
recently, which sparked a lot of discussion and gave rise to a lot of letters to
our newspapers – some agreeing with our president and some strongly
disagreeing. Fr. Brendan sees what was said as ‘food for thought for all of
us’ and giving us the chance to ask ourselves many questions and to think
about what the two words ‘needs’ and ‘wants’ mean in our lives.
A major part of the article is devoted to a modern parable. Mention of
parables will, I think, lead us to thinking about the better-known parables
of Jesus e.g. The Prodigal Son and the Good Samaritan. To some people,
parables may seem like simple stories about things that, if they did not
happen, could easily happen. If we see ourselves in the parable, it will be of
more interest than just a story which makes us laugh or cry. Staying with the
parables of Jesus, there were times when his disciples were unsure about
the message he was giving and whether it was meant for them.
This week’s issue of the Kerryman newspaper carries an interview with
Francis and John Brennan, who have been in the news recently, following
their announcement that they hope to sell their two hotels in Kenmare – The
Park and the Landsdowne Arms. A natural question to be asked in the
interview was regarding their decision to leave their business, at a time
when it was going very well. Part of the answer to the question reminded
me of the Mexican fisherman in the parable who had decided how to live in
a meaningful and satisfying way. “We could be here forever, for another 25
to 30 years but life is too short not to get out and enjoy it.”
Fr. Denis O’Mahony
-----------------
We must not be defined by economic growth.’ Brendan Hoban.
President Michal D. Higgins hits the nail on the head with his intervention on
our obsession with economic growth. ‘Many economists remain stuck’, he
said, ‘in an inexorable growth narrative, a fixation on a narrowly defined
efficiency (and) productivity’. It’s focus, he continued, is too narrow be-
cause it loses touch with everything meaningful. The economic history of
Ireland, since independence, has placed growth at the centre of economic
life, with a rising tide presumed to lift all boats. The more difficult truth is
that increased growth has not decreased inequality but rather has encour-
aged greed and acquisitiveness, as the recent Celtic Tiger exemplified. As
one of the richest countries in the world and currently ranked 25th of the
major world economies, the question for Ireland is: how much more of
what we already have do we really need?
Here’s a parable for our time. ‘An investment
banker from the United States was at the pier of a coastal Mexican village
when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the boat, were
several large yellow-fin tuna. The banker complimented the Mexican on the
quality of the fish and asked him how long it took him to catch them. “Only
a little while”, replied the Mexican. The banker asked why he didn’t stay
out longer and catch more fish and the Mexican replied that he had enough
to support his family’s immediate needs. The banker then asked, “What do
you do with the rest of your time”. The Mexican fisherman said, ‘Well, I
sleep late in the mornings, fish a little, play with my children, take a siesta
with my wife, and stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and
play the guitar with my friends. I have a full and busy life’. The investment
banker scoffed: “You should spend more time fishing and, with the pro-
ceeds, buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds, from the bigger boat, you could
buy several boats and, eventually, you could buy a fleet of fishing boats. In-
stead of selling your catch to a middleman, you could sell directly to a pro-
cessor, eventually opening up your own cannery. Of course, you would have
to leave this little village and move to Mexico City and maybe eventually to
New York if the business continued to thrive”.
The Mexican fisherman asked, “How long would
that take?” The banker replied, “Maybe 15 to 20 years”. The fisherman
asked, “What would I do then?” The banker laughed out loud and said,
‘Don’t you see, that’s the best part of it. When the time is right, you could
float your company on the stock market, you could sell your stock to the
public and become a rich man. You could make millions”. The fisherman
asked him, ‘What would I do then?” The banker said, “Well, then you could
retire. You could move to a small coastal village, where you could sleep the
morning, fish a little, play with your children, take a siesta with your wife,
stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your
guitar.
There are many versions of that story doing the
rounds. The above version appeared many years ago in The Tablet newspa-
per but it remains a parable for our times. In an age of incredible prosperity
– the present economic debate in Ireland is about where we are going to
put the extra billions flooding into the nation’s reserves – we should be
asking how much of what we have do we really need? Can we distinguish
between want and need, our own and others? Can we get off the merry-go-
round of more wanting more and give ourselves the space and the time to
make distinctions between what matters and what (like extra money in our
pockets) may well be peripheral? Or just selfish. Here’s another question.
What are we losing in the desperate effort of trying to get what we think
we want but don’t really need? Examples abound. Parents working so hard
that they lose contact with their own children and then, in later years,
regretting their false priorities?
Another example: Individuals postponing something indefinitely until the
optimum circumstances prevail and then seeing their happiness flowing
through their fingers like sand? Couples waiting for their children to be
reared before they can focus on their own relationship and, who wake up
one day to discover that their children are gone and there’s no relationship
to focus on! Again, workers running themselves into the ground producing
things their families don’t really need or value. A whole generation sold on
a series of wants, which the advertising industry has convinced them
are needs, and ending up with houses full of unused and useless material.
The point is that in a world, where everything seems to move so quickly and
decisions are taken on the run, we may need to slow down and have the
time and space to ponder the difference between wants and needs and the
price we (and those we love) may be paying for confusing them. Here’s
another comment that we could think about. ‘We must design the economy
so that it can offer every person access to a dignified existence while protect-
ing the natural world’. Pope Francis said it in his book, Let Us Dream. It has
more going for it, than hoping for more euros in our own pockets.
(Taken from ‘Western People’ newspaper, 17th May 2023)
Points to Ponder
The disciples are baptised in the Holy Spirit. This is a new birth and a new
baptism. The regenerative power of the Spirit makes it possible for us to
become children of God. With this new birth, we become a new creation,
formed by the same Spirit of God which moved over the world in the
opening lines of Genesis, when: ‘the earth was without form and void, and
darkness was upon the face of the deep.’
What is it that blinds me to the reality of what I read about Pentecost? What
makes me refuse to acknowledge that it can happen to me just as it did to
the Apostles? That, within my unworthy self, there is a temple in which the
Spirit adores without ceasing?
Lord, is it a fear that, by accepting your greatness at the centre of myself,
great things will be asked of me? Is it possible that, in my desire to avoid
pain, I also deprive myself of experiencing joy?
The risen Jesus penetrates the disciples’ defences, overcomes their fears,
and brings them joy. I ask him to pass through all my security systems and
liberate me from whatever prevents me from ‘having life and having it in all
its fullness’.
Jesus always brings peace and reconciliation, Saint Augustine called peace
‘the tranquillity of order’, meaning order in my relationships with God, with
other people and within myself. Where is there lack of peace in my life?
Who do I need to make peace with? Do I make space to experience God’s
forgiveness and gift of peace? I ask for his peace so that I may bring others
peace. (Intercom, May 2023)
Thought for the Day
The feast of Pentecost celebrates the unseen, immeasurable presence of
God in our lives and in our Church – the ruah that animates us to do the work
of the Gospel of the Risen One, the ruah that makes God’s will our will, the
ruah of God living in us and transforming us so that we may bring His life and
love to our broken world. God ‘breathes’ His Spirit into our souls that we
may live in His life and love; God ignites the ‘fire’ of His Spirit within our
hearts and minds that we may seek God in all things, in order to realise the
coming of His reign.’ (Fr. Anthony Kadavil - Intercom May 2023.
---------------------------
Saint Colmcille (Columba) – Feast Day: 9th June. Saint Colmcille also known as Saint
Columba was born in Garton, Co. Donegal, on 7th December 521 and was of royal
lineage. He studied under Saint Finnian of Moville and Saint Finnian of Clonard. He
founded monasteries in Derry, Durrow and possibly Kells in Ireland before leaving
Ireland. He left Ireland in 563, either for penance or to be a pilgrim for Christ and
settled on Iona off the west coast of Scotland. There he founded a monastery which
has become world famous! From that monastery, missionaries undertook the
conversion of Northumbria in England. Saint Colmcille (Columba) is noted for his
love for people and for all living creatures. He died on 9th June 597.
Saint Colmcille (Columba) is to be distinguished from Saint Columbanus (543 – 615),
another great Irish missionary, who spread the Gospel on mainland Europe around
the same time in France, Germany and Austria before founding his greatest
monastery at Bobbio in the north of Italy. His Feast Day is 23rd November.
===================
NOVENA TO ST ANTHONY - 4TH – 11TH JUNE: O Holy St Anthony, gentlest of Saints, your love for God and charity for your neighbour made you worthy when on earth to possess miraculous powers. Miracles waited on your word, which you were ever ready to speak for those in trouble or anxiety. Encouraged by this thought, I implore of you, to obtain for me my request ( Mention..) An answer to my prayer may require a miracle - even so you are the saint of miracles. O gentle and loving St, Anthony, whose heart was ever full of human sympathy, intercede for me and the gratitude of my heart will ever be yours. Amen
St. Anthony, powerful in word and work, grant what we ask of thee.
St. Anthony, our patron and advocate, grant what we ask of thee.
St. Anthony, attentive to those who invoke thee, grant us what we ask of thee.
St. Anthony, whom the Infant Jesus so much loved, grant us what we ask of thee.
-----------------
Not all blessings are in the form of money. Sometimes having people in our lives who truly care for us is a greater blessing.
Inhale peace, exhale stress – inhale faith – exhale worry.
Inhale courage, exhale fear – inhale love – exhale gratitude.
LAST WORD: Life is good when you are happy, but life is often better when other people are happy because of you.
---------------------------
Novena Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ your heart was moved with love for those who sought You.
You healed the sick, fed the hungry and forgave sinners.
You showed to those who would listen the way to true life,
for You are the Way, the Truth and the Life.
Your heart is still moved today by your people and their needs.
Open my heart to hear your word, to accept your love and to respond to your call.
In particular, I beg you to grant me the favour that I ask
during this Novena, (make your request silently)
provided that it will contribute to my own eternal good
and to the building up of your Kingdom of love, peace and justice here on earth.
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in You.
------------------------------------
Moms on Campus: How Are Catholic Colleges Helping Students Facing Unexpected Pregnancies?
Reflect
The importance of good people in our life is just like the importance of heartbeats….. It is not visible, but silently supports our life.
Heavenly Father, walk through my home and take away all my worries and my illnesses. Please watch over and heal my family & friends. Bless my home, family & friends with Peace, Love & Joy in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Mistakes are painful when they happen but years later a collection of these mistakes is what is called “Experience”.
A gossip is one who talks to you about others. A bore is one who talks to you about themselves. A brilliant conversationalist is one who talks to you about yourself.
HEAR BOTH SIDES BEFORE JUDGING
LAST WORD: Just about the time we learn to make the most of life – most of it is gone.
-------------------------------
Just a Thought
Last Sunday was Mother’s Day and it is celebrated in Ireland on the 4th Sunday of Lent. We should
honour and remember our mothers every day. So, let’s say a little prayer for them again this weekend.
‘Loving God, we thank you for all mothers and we do so in gratitude and praise for the blessings they
bring to us. We thank you for their love, their teachings, their guidance, their wisdom, their patience,
and their understanding. Thank you for the beautiful physical, emotional, and spiritual gifts they
possess. We give thanks for how they share these gifts constantly with us. Sometimes we take these
gifts for granted, but again this weekend - we remind all our Mums how special you are. Thank you for everything. Thank you for all the love you share with us. We ask God to abundantly bless you, to
protect you, to keep you in good health and to continue guiding you in all you do for us. We also
remember Mum’s deceased, we haven’t forgotten you, we ask you to hold us close in your love as we remember you with love today. Amen’
===================================================
A NOTE FROM FR. JIM......
This section has always been used by me as a means to share nuggets of wisdom
and spiritual insights that I pick up from time to time. But today I’m afraid it’s
going to be a bit mundane. It’s about parish financial matters. To begin I must say
I am incredibly taken aback by the generosity of the people of this parish to
myself personally and your financial support to the parish itself. I want to express
my sincere gratitude.
I was well aware even before I came to this parish that two church buildings here
were in need of major renovations which will obviously take a considerable amount
of money to restore. Having a healthy financial set up in a parish is vital before
tackling these challenges.
Part of a good financial system in a parish today is firstly having a good envelope
system. This enables us a charitable entity to prove that we’ve received these
donations. Thanks to people like yourselves that fall into this bracket the parish
can benefit from the Tax Rebate Scheme available to charities. If your
contribution exceeds €250 in Offertory & Dues (Parish Priest Collection) you can
help the parish through this scheme to claim money back from the government
which can be then used to benefit the parish. For example if one donates €250 in
total to the parish and the priest dues then Glenflesk parish claims back €112.32.
Over the past few weeks and in the next few weeks many of you will or have
received your CHY3 Enduring Certificate for your completion as follows: Fill in
your name, PPSN and signature allowing permission. You can then return it to
Jackie in the Presbytery.
I hope many of you will consider doing so which will be of great benefit for all.
Fr. Jim Lenihan.
=============================
LENT: Mon: Fast from unkindness
Tues: Fast from jealousy - love the giftedness of others
Wed: Fast with Jesus who is compassion and love
Thurs: Fast from judging others - go the extra mile today for someone
Fri: Fast in solidarity with those who never have enough to eat
Sat: Fast and remember all you have received from God
Some Prayer Ideas for Lent: Many make an extra commitment to gather for Mass
during Lent. Mass each day during Lent online and on the parish radio Mon to Sat
10 30am & 6.15pm, and weekends Sat 6.15pm, Sun 8am, 10.30am & 12noon.
We have a Lenten sacred space in the Cathedral that you are welcome to visit, and
as always we encourage you to pray the Stations of the Cross in the Churches or at
home during Lent.
--------------------------------
When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her ‘Give me a
drink.” John 4:7
The walk-through Samaria has been long and tiring. While his disciples go to town
to buy food, a thirsty Jesus sits by a well. It is there he meets the Samaritan woman
and asks her for a drink.In our world today too many people thirst for water, and
even more thirst for justice.Fifty-five year old Monjama Kosia lives alone in the
village of Tombolu in Sierra Leone. Despite her bad knees, she walks to the creek
two or three times a week to fetch water.
“There is no good drinking water in our community,” she explains. “Sometimes,
we have to climb just to get to where the water is.”
Today, Jesus is still thirsty at the well and we are the ones invited to draw water.
We can recognise the face of Christ in our sisters and brothers as we reach out in
solidarity to all who struggle to get their fair share of this precious, life-giving gift.
Lent prayer
Fountain of Life,
let your love well up within us.
Together may we reshape the world,
so that the thirst for water,
and for justice, is satisfied.
Amen
-------------------------------------------------------
Advice to Adult Children
WHEN PARENTS GET OLD … Let them grow old with the same love that they let you grow …
Let them speak and tell repeated stories with the same patience and interest that they heard yours as a child …
Let them overcome, like so many times when they let you win …
Let them enjoy their friends just as they let you …
Let them enjoy the talks with their grandchildren, because they see you in them …
Let them enjoy living among the objects that have accompanied them for a long time, because they suffer when they feel that you tear pieces of this life away …
Let them be wrong, like so many times you have been wrong and they didn’t embarrass you by correcting you …
LET THEM LIVE and try to make them happy the last stretch of the path they have left to go; give them your hand, just like they gave you their hand when you started your path!
------------------------------------------------------
The Well Within with Fr. Seamus O’Connell: The Gospel as a Life-Giving Source During Lent
on Sat. 11th March at 10.30 a.m. to 12.30pm in St. Brendan’s Pastoral Centre, Tralee
Lent is many things. It is a time to look at our lives: a time to step back, and wonder how we are doing, or where our life is going. It is a time when we bring God to the fore. It is a time to seek the Lord: maybe we try to pray that bit more, or go to Mass more often. It is a time when we give up things, a time of repentance. But it can also a time when we listen for God, or maybe even allow ourselves to be found by God. It is a time to do the opposite of what Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden. In their shame, they hid in the bushes from God. In Lent, we try to come out of the bushes, to come into God’s light from the places we hide ourselves—busyness, distraction, obligations.
We come out of Eden’s bushes, when we reach out to another person in their need—for their sake, and not our own. We come out of the bushes when a sincere prayer rises from the depth our heart. We come out of the bushes when we do not dismiss the challenge of the gospel, or no longer ignore where God calls us, or nudges us. We come out of the bushes when we realise that we have missed God, and hunger for the Lord anew, when we thirst for a deeper life.
Hearing Happening Hoping—also known as lectio divina—is an ancient way of reading the Scriptures so that they may connect with our day-to-day lives, refresh our living, and make us more receptive to God’s life that’s deep within every person, no matter who or what they are. The St Brendan’s Lectio Group is hosting an introduction to Hearing Happening Hoping in St Brendan’s Parish Pastoral Centre, Tralee on Saturday March 11th. Led by Father Séamus O’Connell, it will look at how we engage the newness and depth of the Sunday Gospels we read during Lent.
To register email: margaret.culloty67@gmail.com
=====================
The Way I See It
By Domhnall de Barra
I was amazed at the big crowd that turned up at Austin Stack Park, Tralee for the league game between Kerry and Armagh. The game had to be held up to accommodate the amount of people coming through the turnstiles and, from TV camera angles, it seems there was a full house. This is only February and a league game that a few years ago would only have attracted a few thousand or even less. There was a huge contingent who made the long journey from the North for this encounter and this was not unique. Most of the league games this year have been very well attended especially by supporters travelling long distances. It shows that people have an appetite for live events despite the fact that they could stay at home and watch all the action in the comfort of their own sitting rooms. I have also noticed the same trend at amateur drama productions in our own area. I have attended a few locally and each one was sold out in advance. I wonder if it is one of the after effects of Covid because we were prevented from gathering in numbers for so long or is there some other reason. Perhaps we want to see something real after all the fantasy we are subjected to on the small screen. There is nothing like being at the real thing. That is why people are prepared to pay extortionate amounts of money to see celebrities in concert when they could listen to them on their own devices and get a far better quality. I remember reading a comment one time about a man who watched comedy on his own and was left feeling flat because he had no one to share it with. I suppose we are naturally disposed to congregate together for enjoyment and sharing experiences. It may go back to the time when we settled in groups for protection. Anyway it is good news for the G.A.A. who must be raking it in especially since they now only accept card payments which cuts out the “fiddle”. The organisation will be better able to support the local clubs who do so much good in encouraging our young people to take part in a sport that will benefit them both mentally and physically.
To get back to the match in Tralee; it was an awful spectacle. Blanket defence, pulling and dragging, going backwards instead of forwards, dirty fouling and poor refereeing was the order of the day. The football was kicked very rarely and then just a short distance. Keeping possession at all costs seems to be the tactic employed by most managers. It is copied directly from soccer and we all know how boring most of those games are. Gaelic football has descended into a mixture of basketball and soccer where the traditional skills are almost gone. It is a far cry from the game that I played and enjoyed for years but then, who am I to talk. As long as the crowds are attending in such large numbers the tactics will be justified and no changes will be made. It is so refreshing to watch the hurling which is so skilful and athletic. It is without doubt the best field game in the world and one we should be really proud of.
As I write this column, the news has broken that there is an agreement between the EU and The UK concerning the Northern Ireland Protocol. The EU side have made some very big compromises but I wonder will it satisfy the DUP who really want to go back to a border with the republic and a return to the days when they ruled the roost in the six counties. Some of their members, much like the hard right of the Tories, believe they have a divine right to be in power and hanker after old glory days. The trouble is, when they were in power they did not cover themselves in glory. There was blatant discrimination against the nationalist community especially when it came to civil rights and employment. Where you went to school dictated whether you got a good job or not. Many people did not even have the right to vote and of course this led to civil unrest which culminated in what we now refer to as “the troubles”. We must remember that the British army wasn’t sent into Northern Ireland to defeat the IRA, they were brought in to defend the Catholic Nationalists against sustained Loyalist Protestant attacks. It caused untold misery that lasted far too long and cost too many lives which is why the Good Friday agreement is so important. It brought peace and stability and indeed prosperity to both sides of the divide. There are still, though, some who want the old days back. The horrific shooting of an off duty police officer while he was getting ready to go home after refereeing a junior football match shows that some of them “haven’t gone away”. I wonder what their mindset is and what they thought they might achieve by this heinous crime. When the troubles started, at least the IRA had a mandate from a large portion of the community. These mavericks have no such backing and have to be rooted out and dealt with. Peace in the North is too precious which is why I fervently hope that the DUP take their heads out of the sand and realise that this new deal is good for Northern Ireland and will benefit business people who will enjoy the best of being part of the UK and Europe as well. No trade deal will mean a border of some sort has to be erected and that would definitely lead to troubles we do not want to relive.
=========================
While Hayes echoes leftist talking points from his studio perch, Woodland Park continues teaching classic literature that educates its students about respect with writings from Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, and more, according to Illingworth. Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” will replace “Between the World and Me” in school curriculum.
“The district will not simply replace one divisive, racist document with another,” Witt said.
==================================
=======================
As Christmas Time Comes to a Close
With the celebration of the Baptism of the Lord, we can be confident that the Light which has come into the world
does not diminish or fade away. Rather, by virtue of the light of Christ, which we received at Baptism, we are called
to be the bearers of light to the world. Often Christmas is a time that these lights shine brightly and remind us of the
power and potential of the light of the Gospel message. (We might recall the “Christmas truce” of World War I, when
British soldiers in the trenches saw the lights from small candles the German soldiers across the line had lit and heard
the Germans singing carols. The British soldiers began to sing carols as well, and for a brief time these two warring
foes were at peace.) Christmas Time closes with the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, which this year is January 7/8th.
The feast serves as a bridge between Christmas and Ordinary Time.
Here are six ways to carry the joy of the Christmas season into this New Year:
1) Keep the Cards
Christmas cards we have received make a wonderful visual prayer list for the New Year! Keep them handy taking one
out each day and praying for these special people in your life. Give God thanks for them. This is also a great idea for
your family to do together during family worship or around the dinner table!
2) Send The Cards
Snail mail has almost become extinct...except at Christmas. Take time to write an actual handwritten note to
someone different each month of 2023; don’t just wait until next Christmas.
3) Give a Gift
Give an unexpected gift. We probably know what Jesus said recorded by Luke in Acts 20:35 – “It is more blessed to
give than receive.” Sometimes at Christmas or birthdays we feel “obligated” to give gifts though.
Keep our eyes open, and when we see a little something special that reminds you of someone, give it to them now;
don’t wait for a reason.
Let’s give of our words – a gift of encouragement. Hebrews 10:25 instructs us “but encourage one another,” and
Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:29 Words are free as far as money, but they may cost us a bit of thought and intentionality.
4) Celebrate
Again, for no other reason but to celebrate life, celebrate all that we have been gifted by God.
Life is too short to wait for an occasion; celebrate life, family, and God’s goodness ... today!
5) Be Intentional about being Kind, Generous & Grateful
Shopping during Christmas is so different from the everyday shopping experience. During the holidays people seem
kinder, more patient, joyful, generous, and grateful to others and to God.
Let’s bring that gift beyond Christmas. Let’s choose to smile at others more, be aware of their needs, give more
generously, and share the joy that comes from Jesus so others may find the hope only found in Christ!
6) Keep on Reading & Thinking About Jesus!
Don't stop with the Christmas story of Jesus' birth; get to know Who He is by reading through His life, His teachings,
His miracles, how He treated and loved those around Him, and the greatest gift - His death and resurrection!
If we are not intentional about recognizing and enjoying Christ’s presence as we walk throughout our day, we won’t
remember. We’ll fall back into the rut, the busyness of the ordinary.
=========================
Reflection
We cannot see the stars in the bright light of day,
but only in the darkness of night.
The Magi saw the star only because
they were not afraid to travel in the dark.
In a sense, all of us are night-time travellers.
However, we need no longer fear the darkness,
because with the coming of Christ
a light has come into the world,
a light that shines in the dark,
a light that no darkness can overpower.
===========================
Rathkeale Graveyard Records, Co. Limerick
This page features free records for Rathkeale Graveyard, Co. Limerick, transcribed by Dr. Jane Lyons and exclusive to From-Ireland.net. Surname Name Address Death Age Barrett Catherine 23/09/1935 74 Barrett Edward Codleappa 05/05/1951 86 Brandon Annie 1 Brandon Catherine 20/06/1944 76 Brandon John J. 06/03/1970 Brandon Margaret 14/03/1914 11 Brandon Mary 09/02/1974 Brandon Patrick 27/04/1942 72
=====================================
They’re not visible to the human eye, but unseen pollutants in the form of female sex hormones are frighteningly common in our waterways… and that is bad news for people and wildlife alike. Vicky Ellis investigates.
We have something sinister wreaking havoc in our waterways that we can’t see or smell and that has a direct effect on our physiology: female sex hormones – natural oestrogens and synthetic chemicals that imitate oestrogens. This invisible pollutant is penetrating all our natural waterways and entering our drinking water supply chain.
Research by Brunel University and the University of Exeter has found these pollutants are entering the water via our sewage systems, leading to reduced fish-breeding and feminising of fish and other aquatic organisms. Other studies have found a causational link between hormones in water and an increase in human male infertility, low sperm counts and testicular dysgenesis syndrome (a male reproduction disorder).
https://archive.cprekent.org.uk/environment/hormones-the-menace-in-our-water/
=========================
Matt Cook is editor-in-chief of Daily Medical Discoveries. Matt has been a full time health researcher for 26 years. ABC News interviewed Matt on sexual health issues not long ago. Matt is widely quoted on over 1,000,000 websites. He has over 300,000 daily newsletter readers. Daily Medical Discoveries finds hidden, buried or ignored medical studies through the lens of 100 years of proven science. Matt heads up the editorial team of scientists and health researchers. Each discovery is based upon primary studies from peer reviewed science sources following the Daily Medical Discoveries 7 Step Process to ensure accuracy.
https://www.dailymedicaldiscoveries.com/drinking-water-hurting-prostate-health/
======================
Small Farmers: Three years ago you won major concessions for small farmers. Now it’s all in danger. Action Alert!
When the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) was originally proposed in 2010, we and many other organizations were troubled. Small-farm and organic food advocates warned that the legislation would destroy their industry under a mountain of paperwork and other requirements.
Working with the natural health community, ANH-USA helped win the inclusion of an amendment from Senators Jon Tester (D-MT) and Kay Hagan (D-NC), which exempted producers making less than $500,000 a year in sales who also sold most of their food locally. This wasn’t easy. Big farms and processed food companies and their allies at the USDA and FDA did not like it, because they feel threatened by competition from natural food producers.
Now, through the rulemaking process, the FDA is trying to change the law in such a way that the hard-won exceptions provided by the Tester-Hagan Amendment are endangered.
In January we reported that the FDA had proposed two troubling FSMA rules:
https://anh-usa.org/government-against-farmers/
==============================
October 20, 2022 6:16 pm
National Dairy Show Media Partners Agriland Media took a trip to the Green Glens Arena in Millstreet to see what the National Dairy Show, which begins on Friday,
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======================
Clover Lawns, Explained
A clover lawn can be exclusively clover or a combination of clover and traditional turf grass, says Jen McDonald, a certified organic garden specialist and co-founder of Garden Girls, a garden design company based in Houston, Texas. "Clover is actually a legume, which means that it draws nitrogen from the air and pulls it to the ground, which is highly beneficial to the soil, grass, and plants nearby," she says, adding that it also means that you won't need to give it a boost with fertilizer.
https://www.marthastewart.com/8322420/clover-lawns?utm_source=pocket-newtab-global-en-GB
==========================
The popularity of Portugal among remote workers is due to several reasons, including the low cost of living, mild weather, an abundance of coworking spaces, connections to major European cities, and the country's fluency in English, Joana Mendonça, the head of legal at Global Citizen Solutions, an investment-migration firm with a strong presence in the Portuguese market, told Insider.
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Silent Humility
At the end of the Book of Job, the majesty and splendor of God confront Job. Instead of continuing his case, he humbly sits in silent awe before God, providing a powerful example for us.
The Power of Humility
The Book of Job teaches many things, but one of the most profound is the wisdom that comes from humility. Job discovers his place before God and gains a deeper understanding of who he is. Continually placing ourselves before God helps us to know who we are and make us more capable of responding to his will.
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Basically, when you’re still awake when your brain wants to sleep, all your little psychic demons come out to play, and you’re a lot more vulnerable to them.
That’s why doing what your brain would like and simply going to bed is one of the most effective and underrated solutions to life’s (seeming) problems.
Feeling depressed?
Just go to sleep.
Battling an itch to ditch your diet or end your sober streak?
Just go to sleep.
Getting caught up in a fruitless argument with your spouse?
Forget the adage about never going to bed angry; just go to sleep.
Don’t stay up thinking that if you simply ruminate on your problems a little longer, you’ll figure them out. Things will look a heck of a lot better when you wake up the next day, and you’ll have far more energy and wherewithal to tackle them.
As the wise psalmist wrote thousands of years ago: “Joy cometh in the morning.”
Or as the modern sage Dr. Steve Brule put it: “Go to bed early, you doofus, because when you’re sleeping, there’s no lonely times, just dreams.”
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It’s been freaking hot around the world this summer. Here in Oklahoma we’ve had more than a dozen days in July alone with temperatures over 100 degrees.
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May 31, 2022June is National Aphasia Awareness Month. Aphasia is more prevalent than Parkinson's disease or muscular dystrophy — yet most people have never heard of it. Aphasia Awareness Month aims to change that. May 31, 2022.
June is Aphasia Awareness month
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The Presbytery, Abbeydorney. (066 7135146; 0876807197)
abbeydorney@dioceseofkerry.ie
22nd May, 2022, 6th Sunday of Easter.
Dear Parishioner,
I was more than a bit surprised, when a priest friend sent
me an article with the heading ‘100 Buildings: St. Bernard’s church –
Kerry’s modernist miracle.’ The author of the article is Emma Gilleece,
architectural historian. When I checked the RTE website, I didn’t find the
list of the 100 buildings (That doesn’t mean it is not there!) but I did find
that Abbeydorney church was not the only one included. There is a church
in Donegal, designed by architect Liam McCormick, who was also the
architect for Fossa church that many people may have seen. The word
‘modernist’ is used with reference to many of the buildings included in the
100. When I checked to see could I get a simple description of modernist
architecture, I got the following: ‘Modernist architecture is a style of
building that emphasises function and a streamlined form over
ornamentation. It usually involves sharp clean lines.’ Parishioners, who
have a clear memory of Abbeydorney church, before the major renovation
was done 20 years ago, will remember a much different building to the one
we now have.
Celebrating her 90th in her parish of birth. Eileen, daughter of John and
Ellen Sheehan, Boheroe, Abbeydorney, 7th in the family of 8 brothers and
three sisters, was born on 25th April 1932. After working in Michael
Jeremiah O’Sullivan’s, General Merchants, in Tralee, she moved to Canada
in 1951, where she worked in accounting in the Medical Clinic in Trail,
British Columbia. Having returned to Ireland, for a holiday, in 1957, she
decided to move to England to train to be a nurse and after finishing her
training (RMN & SRN), she worked in a number of hospitals in the London
area. In September 1972, she married Reg Fenemore, and the couple
settled in Ford, Aylesbury, where Eileen nursed in St. John’s Hospital for 22
years. After her retirement, she was involved in a variety of activities, with
an interest in golf, horse-racing, politics, the Royal Family and more. Eileen
has contact with all of her extended family – in Ireland, U.K. and New
Zealand. She enjoys watching the Sunday morning Mass, livestreamed
from Abbeydorney. The Sheehan family are honoured to have Eileen
come home to Kerry to celebrate her 90th birthday, with her brother Donal,
niece Louise and the many nieces and nephews and their families in
Ireland. (Fr. D. O’Mahony
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University Chaplaincy (Intercom May 2022)
Intercom has profiled a number of chaplaincies in recent issues. On this
occasion we asked Fr. Brendan Ludlow, Chaplain, St. Stephen’s
Chaplaincy UCD to invite reflections from students themselves regarding
the impact that chaplaincy has on their experience of university. What
follows is in their own words.
Peter Grenham (3rd year Philosophy, Politics and International Relations)
I have been a student in UCD now for three years. It took me a while to get
acquainted with all the college staff and resources on offer in the university
for the first couple of months of first year. However, one place struck me
instantly with its hospitality, care, compassion and desire to know and help
me in any way they could. That place was the UCD Chaplaincy. I became
involved with the work of the Chaplaincy through the work of UCD
Newman Society who run many talks, fellowship and dinners from the
Chaplaincy facilities alongside the amazing chaplains and missionaries on
campus in UCD. From this involvement with the Newman Society, I got to
know the two chaplains, Fr. Éamonn and Fr. Brendan, on a much more
personal level. They really took an interest in my daily life from prayer,
to college work and my mental health and emotional state. It was really
refreshing and not something that I had been made aware of before I went
to UCD but it certainly is something that I urge all students to avail of. Visit
the chaplains when you can; they only want the best for you and will
genuinely help and take an interest in everything you do and also give solid
and sound advice for any query, challenge or anything in between.
Not only have the chaplains been a great help to my overall college
experience in terms of support, compassion and care but also the facilities
the Chaplaincy offers. The Chapel/Reflection Room allows a quiet time for
prayer, mediation or reflection away from all the bustling noise of everyday
college and is open from 9.00 a.m. to 9.00 p.m. which means there is no
reason to not be able to get a bit of time of peace and quiet throughout
the busy day and week of college trimesters. Additionally, the Chaplaincy
offers and array of books from theology to philosophy, sciences to social
sciences and pretty much everything in between. The library which is fully
stocked and inviting to the eye and mind is perfect for those who want
some light reading to break up the college textbook cycle – or even more
challenging reads may be desired to further stimulate the imagination and
foster learning and growth. Furthermore, one of the most astounding
parts of the Chaplaincy is the main room which is attached to a beautiful
well-maintained garden that is tempting to stroll on a sunny Spring day.
Attached to the main room which is open plan, vast and bright, is a fully
stocked kitchen with all the essentials to help you have a cooked lunch,
reheat last night’s dinner and even make yourself some tea and coffee to
keep you awake and stirring for a long day of college work and
assignments. The Chaplaincy not only has amazing events running out of it,
from interfaith discussions to college societies, but also allows for good
conversations with the Chaplains themselves. It’s a place of welcome, care
and joy. A place where friends can meet, have lunch and play board games
to break up the monotonous college day. A place to get away from all the
noise and focus on yourself with prayer. A place of support, a genuine
place to build friendships and grow in virtue.
Alanna Bradley (Alumnus and Focus Missionary at UCD)
Having grown up in a Catholic family and received my sacraments in
primary school, I was also blessed to have experienced a good faith
community among people my own age in my home parish because of a
youth group that was set up when I was in the latter part of secondary
school. When I was preparing to start my degree in UCD in 2017, I knew I
needed a good community to support me in my faith in college because I
saw how having that had benefitted me during secondary school. I found
that community in the chaplaincy in UCD through the Newman Catholic
Society and also the Focus missionaries who were working alongside the
chaplains and leading small Bible studies. From the moment I set foot
inside St. Stephen’s I felt so welcomed, and really included. I experienced
this throughout my time as a student in UCD, and when the opportunity
came for me to be a Focus missionary in UCD after I graduated, I felt so
blessed to be able to invite others into what I had received from the
chaplaincy: a true faith community, that was loving and welcoming, and
also provides me with opportunities to grow in my faith and my
relationship with God, and being able to share with others what God has
done for me in my life. More than that, now I am able to invite those who
I meet on campus, some of whom have little to no faith background, into
an experience of community and fellowship that is so necessary for the
nurturing of faith and a relationship with God, which is what we are made
for! In a place as big as UCD, it’s easy for feel lost and unknown, but in my
experience of the chaplaincy, everyone who comes to a Newman Society or
chaplaincy event experiences being known, loved and cared for in a way
they don’t experience anywhere else.
Seeing your Life through the Lens of the Gospel John Byrne OSA
1. Jesus seeks to reassure his followers in the face of his imminent
death. Although he will be leaving them he promises them the gift
of the Spirit. How have you been aware of
God in your life?
2. Remember times of separation from a loved one, through change of
residence or other circumstances. How has the love between you
been a support after the separation?
3. To his followers Jesus promises ‘we will come and make our home
with them’. Our God is not a distant God but one who lives in us.
What has helped you to be aware of the closeness of God to you?
4. ‘Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid’. When you have been
anxious, who have been the Jesus people for you who were able to
calm your anxiety. How did they do this? For whom have you been
one who calmed anxiety? (Intercom May 2022)
Points to Ponder Intercom May 2022)
God lives in our hearts. The Father, the son and the Holy Spirit are active
within us. It is an amazing thought to savour. The effect of God’s presence
is peace. The peace in our hearts spreads peace to our communities and is
the foundation of peace in the world. Jesus gently tries to prepare the
disciples for the day when he will no longer be present to them in bodily
form. Unlike us, who know the story, they did not know what was coming
next, so they are confused. God helps us to grow even in times of
confusion. Jesus is inviting his followers not to cling to his physical
presence, but to be open to a deeper way of being in relationship with
Him.
Often we find it hard to let go, and to embrace the new. But in clinging to
the past, we are in danger of letting the present become dead to us. These
words are part of Jesus’ great farewell discourse at the Last Supper. The
following day will see the immense outpouring of his love on the Cross, a
love which remains the same, yesterday, today and forever. This
unconditional love calls for an unconditional ‘Yes’. Lord, help me to
overcome my guilt, my shame, and my fear. Help me throw open wide the
doors to my inmost heart so that my transcendent God can make his home
there. www.sacredspace.ie Prayer with the Irish Jesuits.
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SLOW ME DOWN LORD
Slow me down Lord, slow me down! Ease the pounding of my heart by the quieting
of my mind.
Give me amid the confusion of my day, the calmness of everlasting hills.
Break the tension of my nerves and muscles with the soothing music of the singing
streams that live in my memory.
Help me to know the magical restoring power of sleep.
Teach me the art of taking minute vacations, of slowing down to look at a flower,
to chat with a friend, to pat a dog, to read few lines from a good book.
Remind me each day of the fable of the hare and the tortoise, that I may know
that the race is not always to the swift - that there is more to life than increasing
speed.
Let me look upward into the branches of the flowering oak and know that it is
great and strong because it grew slowly and well.
Slow me down, Lord, and inspire me to send my roots deep into the soil of life's
enduring values that I may grow towards the stars of my great destiny
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BREAKING: Fr. Frank responds to Kamala Harris’ remarks to abortionists this afternoon
Inbox
Priests for Life <FrFrankPavone@priestsforlife.org> Unsubscribe
May 19, 2022
I just saw a brief live address of Kamala Harris on the White House YouTube channel. She was speaking to abortionists and repeating a favorite argument of the other side these days: If Roe is reversed, they claim, all our “privacy rights” are in danger: birth control, whom we marry, and much more.
Below is my press statement responding to this, and included in it is a link to a video I invite you to watch, which explains the response in more detail:
“Vice President Kamala Harris has joined the chorus of voices insisting that the anticipated Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade will lead the way to outlawing other privacy rights like contraception and same-sex marriage,” Father Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, said today.
“The vice president is wrong,” he said after Ms. Harris broadcast live from the White House prior to meeting with abortionists.
“As I explained in this video the Supreme Court has acknowledged multiple times that abortion is a unique act. It is sui generis, because unlike any of the other privacy rights, it involves a second life.
“The Roe v. Wade decision states, “The pregnant woman cannot be isolated in her privacy. She carries an embryo and, later, a fetus… The situation therefore is inherently different from marital intimacy, or bedroom possession of obscene material, or marriage, or procreation, or education.”
In 1980, in a decision upholding the Hyde Amendment, the Supreme Court said “Abortion is inherently different from other medical procedures, because no other procedure involves the purposeful termination of a potential life”
And in Planned Parenthood vs Casey in 1992, the Court said, “Abortion is a unique act. It is an act fraught with consequences for others” including “the life or potential life that is aborted”
“VP Harris is merely catering to the abortion-hungry mob in stating that the Dobbs case will impact anything other than abortion.”
Here’s the Twitter video I just sent out on it as well.
Also, I sent you an email yesterday alerting you to my nightly Praying for America broadcasts this week on which I am providing analysis of the leaked Dobbs SCOTUS decision.
Please tune in tonight, May 19 at 8 pm ET for part four! Watch at EndAbortion.TV and all of the platforms listed from that page.
Here are links to parts 1-3:
Part one: https://youtu.be/7Y0mMN5Kx7g
Part two: https://youtu.be/C5yHFHSmUHQ
Part three: https://youtu.be/5olVTme84aU
Janet Morana and I were also on the Sebastian Gorka show today which you can watch at this link.
A few days ago I was also on Newsmax with Tom Basile on America Right Now. You can watch it on Newsmax.com at this link.
Please watch and share these programs to help educate others about this case.
You can also find these videos and more information, including updated talking points on this case at www.SupremeCourtVictory.com.
Sincerely,
Fr. Frank Pavone
Fr. Frank Pavone
National Director, Priests for Life
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We are a movement – the pro-life movement – and a movement by definition moves. That’s one of the things a march represents, A march also signifies that this is an effort by many people, all united by the same mission. The mission of the pro-life movement is to return protection to the children in the womb. We want to see abortion ended. We will keep doing this until the day comes when our unborn brothers and sisters enjoy the same protections that you and I have under the law.
I have marched with many of you in your own communities, and many of you in D.C. and San Francisco. By marching, we inspire others to do more to protect the unborn. It was at the third annual March for Life in 1976 when a spark was lit in me and I was inspired to spend my life fighting to end abortion.
I hope you will watch this video, and then share it with everyone you know who is getting ready to march for life. As you click through this action alert you’ll get the information on where the video is.
https://www.priestsforlife.org/alert/alert.aspx?id=237
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National
Christmas message from President Uhuru
NATIONAL
By President Uhuru Kenyatta | December 25th 2021
As the Year 2021 draws to a close, we give thanks to the Almighty for the Grace, Provision, and Protection extended to us as individuals, families, communities, as a Nation, and as humanity.
This Holy and Festive season reminds us of our shared humanity and the common values that unite us irrespective of colour, creed, or country. The New Year that the season ushers in is an opportunity for renewal, fresh opportunities, and building on the successes of the old year.
As we contend with the worst public health pandemic in a Century, the profound message heralded by Christmas over 2,000 years ago remains as relevant today as it was two millennia ago. Christ’s luminous teachings continue to inspire hope and possibilities, despite the uncertainties that continue to confront us. His timeless message of God's enduring and unconditional love for every person fortifies us in times of adversity, and challenges each one of us to be better as ourselves and to others.
Therefore, during this blessed season, let us all share the gift of God's love by giving of ourselves and sharing generously with all those in need.
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Let us use this Blessed and Sacred season to love our neighbours as we love ourselves, and to lay the foundation for a more fair, just, prosperous and cohesive society. Let us heed the call of the Great Unifier and leave any discord behind, so that we may march boldly into a better future together.
Love, peace, joy and hope are the golden thread woven into all our Christmas songs and prayers, and all our customs and traditions of this season. As we celebrate this Christmas, we are encouraged to adhere to the Covid-19 protocols as outlined by the Ministry of Health.
From my family to yours, here is to a Merry Christmas, full of joy and the fruits of family and friendship. As you safely and responsibly celebrate, Margaret and I wish you a Merry Christmas and bountiful returns, now and in the New Year 2022.
https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/national/article/2001432716/christmas-message-from-president-uhuru
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Abbeyfeale Church 16 May 2021
This weekend we are back celebrating together in our church and rightly so. We have arrived in a good place. The doors are open again to welcome you. It is such an uplifting moment for all of us. Let’s treasure it. Let’s protect it with a renewed determination, never again to ‘slip back’ In sporting terms, we have one hand on the Cup !. But bitter experience tells us, that while this is a great place to be, it also holds great risks. The match is not over yet. The final whistle hasn’t sounded. We’re always telling our players; ‘’Play till the whistle’’ That’s the challenge facing us now. We’re not there yet. But we are close and we’re definitely on the right road. But as we know to our cost, the only score that’s relevant , when the ‘long whistle’ sounds is the final one. Painful memories of the last five minutes of the ’94 All Ireland Final flow back. Winning by 5, lose by 6 !Defeat snapped from the jaws of victory with all its pain and heartbreak for Limerick. Or we might think of the price of a misdirected kick in injury time in the Six Nations this year or our horse pipped at the post !!As I said earlier; We have one hand on the Cup but this is NOT the time to ‘loosen’ our grip on it !! Thanks to all your heroic sacrifices, especially over the last four months. It would be unthinkable that those huge sacrifices could be put at risk now. We have to stay on ‘full alert’. If any of us is even tempted to take a risk now, please, please think again. The consequences of a ‘slip’ now could be lethal. Watching what’s happening in other parts of the world, makes your hair stand on edge. The Virus is not gone away. The guidelines are still in place. They are there to protect us all. Let’s keep our shoulder to the wheel and with the strength of our combined determination, please God, we’ll get there. This is a really challenging time for all of us. We’ve waited so long for it and sacrificed so much. There could be a temptation to ‘jump the gun’. That’s why we’re being asked for one final unified push together, to get us over the line. It is vitally important now we stick to the guidelines and don’t drop our guard Let’s not forget, that it’s only the other day our church doors were locked. Not so long ago, since less than a dozen could attend their family funeral. We can together ensure the unthinkable doesn’t happen. We can’t and won’t risk going back to those days again So please, let’s all together, stay with the guidelines. Our churches were closed, not because they were unsafe to be in. (They were among the safest places in the parish to be). But they were closed because, the congregating of people on church grounds before or after, posed a real danger of kicking off a ‘Super Spreader’. That danger has NOT gone away. Those guidelines re church grounds have not changed. You developed a very touching and effective way of conveying your sympathy and support to bereaved families by lining up ‘Socially Distanced’ on the town footpaths and along the funeral route. It would be really great if we could stay with this, even just for the moment, to ensure our new freedoms are not put at risk again or reversed. It is so difficult. It goes against everything within us, not to hold a hand, or share a hug at these times. We feel at a total loss to convey our own feelings, or to share someone’s deep personal pain of loss. I find it cruel myself. But we do, have one hand on the ‘Cup’ at this point. We are almost there!. Don’t let it slip from our grasp, now !. Thank God, a family can now have fifty at their loved one’s funeral Mass. Whatever we do, don’t let us be responsible for taking that away from them again. How each of us behaves can have consequences for others. Sometimes they can be ‘unintended consequences’. That’s why it is so important at this time, that we take a moment to weigh up every situation, before we do something, that we’d never have done, if we’d first thought it through. Finally, a heartfelt thank you to our wonderful team of stewards, and to all those who are giving so generously of their time, to help us keep our churches open, and be together in prayer again. I know how much you are appreciated and may the Good Lord shower His Blessings on you all. Thanks a million. Fr Dan
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16 May 2021 o World Communications Day Go out to the whole world Today marks the 55th World Communications Day, and the theme for this year is 'Come and See: Communicating by encountering people where and as they are'. In his message to mark the occasion, Pope Francis emphasises the importance of meeting people where they are, just as Jesus did with those he encountered: 'We need to go and see them for ourselves, to spend time with people, to listen to their stories and to confront reality, which always in some way surprises us.' All communication, he says, should strive to be clear and honest, whether in the media, on the internet, in the Church's preaching, or in social interaction. He has a particular message for all who use social media: 'Thanks to the internet we have the opportunity to report what we see, what is taking place before our eyes, and to share it with others. At the same time, the risk of misinformation being spread on social media has become evident to every-one... All of us are responsible for the communications we make, for the information we share, for the control that we can exert over fake news by exposing it. All of us are to be witnesses of the truth: to go, to see and to share.' It is fitting that this day coincides with the Feast of the Ascension. Before he is taken into heaven, Jesus issues his final instruction: 'Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News to all creation.' Our challenge is to communicate by encountering people, where they are and as they are. ‘Teach us to go out and see, teach us to listen, not to entertain prejudices or draw hasty conclusions. 'Pope Francis' message for the 55th World Communications Day Government guidance on numbers attending Mass and other Church Services Arising from the announcement by the Government regarding the easing of restrictions on religious services from May 10th the following clarification was issued from the Office of An Taoiseach on a number of issues as follows: Pods of 50Where the size of the premises/Place of Worship allows for a capacity of greater than 50 this may be permitted only where: social distancing guidelines are adhered to. the premises can be subdivided into distinct sections (cordoned or marked appropriately) of not more than 50 persons in each section there is a minimum of 4 metres between sections each section having its own entrance/exit route there are separate arrangements for elements of the service involving close contact, for example the distribution of Holy Communion strictly no movement of people between sections before, during or after the service the premises is well-ventilated Following these guidelines we can accommodate 132 people within the church in Abbeyfeale for weekday and Sunday Masses. Funerals There is an increased risk of transmission of the virus where families and communities come together following the death of a loved one. Therefore numbers at funeral services (and Weddings) is capped at 50 regardless of size of premises. Notwithstanding the increase in numbers permitted, funerals are still considered private family events and arrangements should not be advertised in newspapers or on-line. Funeral services should continue to be live streamed to help reduce numbers attending. Attendance at wakes in private homes and at Funeral Homes remains unchanged i.e. immediate family only and people should be discouraged from queuing to pay respects Singing As with previous reopening for religious service congregational singing and choir singing is not permitted. Solo singing with accompanist is permitted subject to compliance with detailed guidance contained in HSE Covid-19 Guidance for Religious Services. Outdoor Worship Outdoor Worship is not permitted in line with Government restrictions on organised outdoor gatherings. Drive-in Religious Services may take place outside places of worship (e.g. church carpark) where all attendees remain in their vehicles and no sharing of vehicle outside of family unit. Use of Religious premises for any other purposes/parochial activities/community meetings etc is not permitted in line with Government restrictions on organised gatherings of people. Fr Tony, Abbeyfeale.
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Killarney Parish Newsletter 16 May 2021
WELCOME BACK TO MASS & HOLY COMMUNION What great news, what a blessing for all of us to have Mass again with a congregation! Our usual schedule of Mass times has returned: Monday -Saturday10.30am & 6.15pm St Mary’s Cathedral 9.30am Church of the Resurrection Sunday8am, 10.30am & 12noon St Mary’s Cathedral 9.30am Muckross 11am Church of the Resurrection Please note the following: The Sunday Obligation to attend Mass has been waived for the moment, and so if you can, we ask you to join us for Mass during the week so as to leave the weekend Masses for those who are only available to come then. We will be adhering to distancing guidelines, and so this will reduce the capacity of the Churches significantly for each Mass. We ask people to come early as we will need to guide you to the designated places, and it will be first come, first served. It may mean that people may come but be unable to enter due to distancing guidelines, so we ask for your understanding on this. Personal responsibility: we ask the help of everyone in reopening:Face Masks MUST be worn regardless of having had the vaccination. These are the guidelines advised. hand sanitiser at the doors hand and cough hygiene etiquette keep the distancing on the way into Church, in the pews, at Communion time, and on leaving to follow the direction of ushers who are there to help. Communion Time: the Priest and Eucharistic Ministers will be using hand sanitiser before distributing Communion, they will be wearing a face mask, ushers will help guide people to keep distance when approaching, you will be asked to receive Holy Communion in your hands. Offertory Collection: The basket will not be passed around, instead there will be collection boxes at the doors for your contribution and support of the parish. Together we will make it work: Much of the above will take a little getting used to, but it is all possible—after all, our focus is the chance to return together for Mass, and we will all do whatever it takes to keep us around the Lord’s Altar to receive the Bread of Life. BAPTISMS: We are delighted that we can celebrate the Sacrament of Baptism now, so please contact Sheila in the Parish Office.
FEAST OF ST BRENDAN: This Sunday is the Feast of St Brendan, the Patron Saint of our Diocese. Brendan is the patron Saint of two Irish Dioceses, Kerry and Clonfert. This reflects the two main spheres of his land-based life. The waters around Ireland and Britain and, as tradition would also have it, the vast ocean to the West provide the focus for the sea-based material in the medieval tradition. Brendan occupies a special niche in the history and tradition of the medieval Irish church. He is one of the “Twelve Apostles of Ireland”, one of those said to have been tutored by the great teacher, Finnian of Clonard is also one of the great monastic founders of the early medieval church with foundations in Kerry, Galway, Clare, Mayo, Scotland and Wales attributed to him. Prayer to St Brendan: 'Help me to journey beyond the familiar and into the unknown. Give me the faith to leave old ways and break fresh ground with You. Christ of the mysteries, I trust You to be stronger than each storm within me. I will trust in the darkness and know that my times, even now, are in Your hand. Tune my spirit to the music of heaven, and somehow, make my obedience count for You.'
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Moyvane Knockanure Parish Newsletter 16 May 2021
THE ART OF LIFE
A young son and his mother gather at a rural Marian Grotto these May evenings. They pray the Rosary aloud. Both have been hit with sudden illness recently. They find something extra special, just by praying the Rosary these May evenings at their Holy Well (Grotto). Their current experience made me think – The art of life. Childhood must pass away and then youth, as surely as age approaches. The true wisdom is to be always seasonable and to change with good grace in changing circumstances. To love playthings well as a child, to lead an adventurous and honourable youth and to settle when the time arrives into a green and smiling age is to be a good artist in life and deserve well of yourself and your neighbour. We all need to live in the now. That’s the art of life.
COME BACK TO MASS……..AND MORE
The traditional obligation for Catholics to attend Mass every Sunday was lifted here in Ireland and virtually all over the world more than fourteen months ago. So the familiar distinction between practising and non-practising Catholics was suspended. Here in our part of God’s Kingdom, the Doorway of Hope and the Holy Hut in Knockanure kept the live line with Mass alive. Now that we are back one week and please God we will remain back with a congregation for Masses, it is difficult to gauge as to how we will move forward as a ‘NEW’ Church from here on. There are three groups of people that I must find new ways of reaching:
• Those who have simply lost the habit of Sunday Mass.
• Those who are not sure they see the point of Mass or Church anymore.
• And those who have encountered funerals and You Tube Masses and Assumption Radio during the pandemic (The Covid Curious).
Starting with the above (last group first) so many from this group were in touch from around the country and beyond giving such encouraging and uplifting comments and suggestions. They were attracted to what they had found. Will that group still stay linked to Church? As for the other two groups I honestly feel the whole idea of bringing back Sunday obligation will not wash with them. For most it would have the opposite effect. Participation in Holy Eucharist is the font and summit of a Catholic’s spiritual and moral life and Mass attendance on Sundays and Holy Days is the mark of Catholics identity. The beautiful gift of Holy Communion is the Bread of Life and such nourishing food for life’s journey. We need it now more than ever. The principal events in the life of the universal Church during C19 have included Pope Francis’ encyclical Fratelli Tutti and his call for dialogue between faiths during his powerful visit to Iraq. Across the water in England and Wales and Bishops under the banner of Caritas, collected and distributed huge sums of money for relief of hardship, especially for families and children in poverty and hunger providing breakfast and school meals for them.
Here in Ireland our Bishops were slow off the mark, we were told the four Archbishops from the four provinces were meeting the Government on a regular basis. However, there was no feedback from these meetings to the rest of us and these meetings seemed to have petered out. This resulted in every parish having to fend for themselves. Apart from streamed Masses, there seemed to be little else forthcoming. No effort was made to engage with college students or with the youth in general. We didn’t receive any clear moral direction as how to go through the C19 crisis from a Church perspective. The Government were calling all the shots.
I am in awe of our young folk in how they have adapted to the new way of education. I met a young parishioner during the week who told me in September (please God) she will be starting her second year in college and she has never met any students in her class and has never been inside the building. I have forgotten and failed to help this age group. Maybe our Church and myself need to do a lot more than simply inviting people of all ages back to Mass. Pray that we can support encourage and guide each other back to Catholic basics. But how?
NEVER IF…….
NEVER say I love you if you don’t really care.
NEVER talk of feelings if they aren’t really there.
NEVER hold my hand if you mean to break my heart.
NEVER say forever if you ever plan to part.
NEVER look into my eyes if you are telling me a lie.
NEVER say hello if you think you’ll say goodbye.
NEVER say that I’m the one if you dream of someone else.
NEVER say the words if they’re not true unto yourself.
WHEN FREEDOM’S SWORD WAS DRAWN –
THE ‘TROUBLED TIMES’ IN NORTH KERRY
The above is a new book published by Martin Moore, Tralee. The Gortaglanna ambush sparked a wider response throughout all of Kerry in the months following, May 1921. This book records those events in great detail which will be of immense interest to the people of Moyvane and Knockanure and indeed throughout Kerry. It is a very easy book to read and it is most informative.
THANK YOU: A huge thank you to you all for our first week back into our Churches. Your understanding and cooperation is deeply appreciated. I am really grateful to all our stewards for volunteering to do this work and they are doing it excellently. Míle Buíochas! May Jesus continue to bless and protect us in our new beginnings.
==========================
May 2021
The Bishop of Limerick is appealing to church-goers to adhere to public health guidelines following the re-opening of churches
While Masses and other religious ceremonies remain closed to the public, churches have been open for private prayer and reflection since the Covid-19 restrictions were eased at the weekend.
“If anything, recent weeks have reaffirmed just how important the Church is in so many people’s lives as it has been closed to them. While we won’t be able to gather for Mass for some time, having our churches open again is a really good thing as some people really missed their personal visits for a moment of prayer in the stillness of the church. Churches have been getting ready mindful of the guidelines,” said Brendan Leahy.
“It is important to stress that people will still to observe social distancing and hygiene guidelines at churches. Use the sanitizer as you enter, keep two metres from anyone who is not from your family, and, if you see fit, wear a mask,” he added.
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Notable Quotables: A Selection of the Register’s ‘Quote of the Week’ for 2020
From the Editors: Most print editions of the Register feature words of wisdom extracted from a story in that edition. Below we present the quotes as they appeared in print in 2020.
Looking back at the year that was via Register quotes.
Looking back at the year that was via Register quotes. (photo: Shutterstock)
The Editors Commentaries
January 1, 2021
“We need to pray for our country.”
— Bishop Thomas Tobin of the Diocese of Providence, Rhode Island, amid the presidential impeachment
The “personal love that God has for each human being ... is the inspiration for my own fight for life.”
— Lila Rose of Live Action
“You can’t have a richer life than a life active in the Church.”
— Francis Maier, longtime assistant to Archbishop Charles Chaput
“We’re here for a very simple reason: to defend the right of every child, born and unborn, to fulfill their God-given potential.”
— President Donald Trump to March for Life 2020 attendees
“The Church’s urgent concern is expressed continuously that even in remote areas the Catholic faithful have more frequent and deeper access to the Eucharist.”
— Cardinal Gerhard Müller, commentary on Querida Amazonia
“First and foremost, ‘keep calm and carry on’ is super important, because we all have work to do ... unless we have a respiratory infection, in which case we should stay home until that passes.”
— Dr. Timothy Flanigan on living life amid coronavirus fears, in March 2020
“The Immaculate Conception is the one who was protected by God, and Mary is the one who protects us.”
— Msgr. Olivier Ribadeau Dumas, rector of Lourdes Shrine
“We have an anchor: By his cross we have been saved. We have a rudder: By his cross we have been redeemed. We have a hope: By his cross we have been healed and embraced.”
— Pope Francis’ homily on March 27 during the blessing of the world
“Jesus gives us the strength to face every trial with faith, with hope and with love.”
— Pope Francis
“Accepting reasonable safety measures, and making proper distinctions, we must preach the Gospel.”
— Msgr. Charles Pope on living the faith amid the coronavirus pandemic
“If the liquor store is open, the church has to be allowed to open.”
— Robert George, the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University and former chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, on reopening churches amid pandemic
“We cannot tolerate or turn a blind eye to racism and exclusion in any form and yet claim to defend the sacredness of every human life.”
— Pope Francis
“We must not surrender our religious liberty to the voices that seek the destruction of our public presence.”
— Bishop Donald Hying of Madison, Wisconsin, guest editorial
“This is a moment to celebrate that the Supreme Court’s two decisions have drawn a very clear line in defense of religious freedom and the First Amendment.”
— Register Publisher Michael Warsaw on recent high-court cases
“We believe that Mass is essential and that it can be done safely.”
— Dr. Thomas McGovern, a former clinical research physician for the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases and one of the authors of the Thomistic Institute’s guidelines for safely celebrating Mass.
“Beirut is now in a miserable state.”
— Michel Constantin, regional director for the Beirut-based office of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association, following the chemical explosion in the Lebanese port
“For Catholics, faith and works are both important measures of one’s Catholicity.”
— Register Publisher Michael Warsaw on Catholic politicians
“We are called to take care of the most vulnerable, and you can’t get more vulnerable than the unborn.”
— Sister Deirdre “Dede” Byrne, a retired colonel in the U.S. Army Medical Corps and a missionary surgeon
“We should rightly look at abortion as the government-sanctioned atrocity of our time.”
— Register Publisher Michael Warsaw on the Election 2020 news cycle
“A judge must apply the law as written.”
— Then-Supreme Court nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett during her confirmation process
“It would be in a position to block legislation hostile to religious freedom or the pro-life cause.”
— Professor Robert George on how GOP control of the Senate would be a crucial check on harmful bills
==============================
Whoever could have warned us that cloth tote bags were unhygienic? Well, there was this New York Post columnist who wrote, six years ago, “Reusing that Earth-friendly tote gradually turns it into a chemical weapon” and noted that plastic-bag bans were associated in one study with a 46 percent increase in death from food-borne illnesses.
The other major evidence academics often cite is the course run by the 1918 swine flu, which swept the globe 102 years ago and was not a coronavirus. Philadelphia did not practice social distancing during the 1918 pandemic, but St. Louis did and had a death rate lower than Philadelphia’s. But how is that relevant to today’s crisis? Apart from the post hoc, ergo propter hoc nature of the argument, a key difference was that the GIs returning from World War I Europe who were carrying the swine-flu virus couldn’t fly nonstop from Paris to St. Louis. They had to land at East Coast ports such as Philadelphia. It’s therefore not surprising that the sick GIs rested and convalesced while spreading the virus on the East Coast, and they got better before continuing to St. Louis and other interior cities.
By
Amy Spiro
April 1, 2020
Share
She’s not a healthcare worker or a government official.
But Dr. Kira Radinsky, 33, is at the forefront of Israel’s battle against the novel coronavirus. And she’s hoping to share her new technology with the rest of the world as it fights the global pandemic.
Radinsky, the co-founder of digital health startup Diagnostic Robotics, has been working day and night to put the finishing touches on a digital platform that is a one-stop shop for managing the disease. Already this week, the company’s COVID360 platform is beginning to roll out in Israel, billed as an “end-to-end centralized solution for corona treatment.”
Diagnostic Robotics, co-founded in 2017 by Radinsky, Yonatan Amir and Moshe Shoham, has been working since its founding to produce a data-driven prediction platform to aid hospitals and medical clinics in their efforts to improve patient care.
But earlier this year, Amir realized the company needed to shift full time to helping tackle the growing global — and local — threat of coronavirus, Radinsky said.
“A month ago, we decided we want to convert our system to help Israel fight COVID,” Radinsky told Jewish Insider during a phone interview on Tuesday. Until recently, the company had been working on “triage systems driven by artificial intelligence to reduce healthcare loads,” targeted at always-overcrowded emergency rooms. They were just about to release the system, “and then COVID happened. And we decided that we’re going to convert the system to doing COVID triage.”
The Consequences of Drug-taking
By Domhnall de Barra
Last week, I wrote about the year starting out on a positive note and hoping it would continue. Well, since then my bubble has been well and truly burst. I don’t think we have ever had a week, outside of the troubles, when so many people were shot, some of them fatally. In some ways we have become used to it because it happens so frequently but the sheer savagery of the murder and dismemberment of a 17 year old from Drogheda plumbed new depths of depravity. Gangs of criminals seem to be able to act with impunity and terrorise many towns in this country. Young people are drawn to these gangs by the trappings of wealth and the lifestyle they aspire to. They get sucked in at an early age and are introduced to criminal behaviour as something normal. Those who do honest work for a living are seen as fools who will never have the kind of money some of these youths can amass before their twenties. There is a lot of money in supplying the demand for drugs in this country and therein lies the problem. When a rival gang tries to muscle in on a particular turf, war ensues and the cycle of tit-for-tat killings begins. An “eye for an eye” ends up with everyone becoming blind and so many families deprived of loved ones. The sad thing is that everyone knows who the people involved are and where they live but our justice system is such that concrete evidence has to be obtained before somebody can be brought to trial. Is it time for emergency legislation, like we had to deal with subversives in the past, to give the Gardaí more powers of arrest and conviction ? Some have suggested that the word of a Chief Superintendent should be taken as fact. In other words if the super says “I believe this defendant is a member of a drugs gang and has committed a crime” that would be enough to satisfy the court. It is one solution but it is fraught with danger. In the recent past some of our Chief Superintendents have shown themselves to be less than honest in their dealings with whistle blowers. Indeed it has cost a couple of them their jobs so, even though they are mostly upright, honest professionals, there is the opportunity for a miscarriage of justice. I think the “CAB” approach is working. If a person, with no visible sources of income, is buying designer clothes, flash cars and large houses then they should be brought in for questioning and their ill-gotten gains stripped from them. I certainly don’t know what should be done but the government should listen to the Gardaí on the ground and give them whatever resources they need. There is another question that has to be answered: why is there such a market for illegal drugs in this country? We have this image of drug users as members from the lower strata in society who rob and steal to get the money to feed their habit but that is not so. Most of the drugs today are bought by what we call “recreational users”. These are people in well paid jobs who can afford to have lines of coke at their parties and gatherings. It was rare enough a few years ago but now it has gained “normal” status. These are the people who are funding the drug lords and are as guilty of the murder of the 17 year old as those who pulled the trigger. Why do people need to shove poison up their noses to get a “buzz” ? For as long as we can remember people have been experimenting with various substances to give themselves a high. The Bible tells us that Jesus turned water into wine at a wedding feast. In our day it was drink and tobacco. We did not have the option of taking other types of drugs in those days but I am sure that if they were available we would have experimented with them. Being able to drink and smoke was a sign of maturity and we all wanted to be thought of as grown up. We never thought about the consequences or what harm we were doing to our bodies and before we knew it we were hooked. Anyone who has given up cigarettes will know what a hard job it is. I did it myself in 1974. I had been on a concert tour of America and spent the last couple of days in New York with members of Noreen’s family. I came straight from a party to the plane and fell asleep. We were almost in Shannon when I woke up and my first instinct was to light a cigarette (in those days smoking was allowed on aircrafts). It was an American cigarette and did not taste too good. After a good bout of coughing I looked at the cigarette and said to myself “what am I smoking you for”. I decided not to smoke for the rest of that day but I kept the packet in my pocket. Day followed day and, though I put a cigarette in my mouth hundreds of times, I never lit one. Every now and then I would get a craving and it took all my resolve not to light up. As time went on the periods between the cravings became longer and longer until, after about a year, they disappeared altogether. It was one of the toughest things I ever did in my life and I don’t envy anyone trying to do it today. Trying to give up hard drugs is ten times more difficult and can not be done without professional assistance. The best way is not to start in the first place. We need a big push in national schools to educate our children before they fall prey to the pushers. The glamour has to be taken out of it and the cost in human life has to be stressed. There are more ways of passing the time than shoving harmful substances into the body and the lows far outweigh the highs. I live in hope that the appalling death of the young man in Drogheda will be a watershed that spurs the powers that be into action before we are subjected to even more brutal savagery. And don’t think for one minute this does not apply to Athea. Drugs are readily available in this small village, just like every other town and village in the country.
This poem by a little known Scottish poet captures the 'shell shock" and post traumatic stress of survivors.
When you see millions of the mouthless dead
Across your dreams in pale battalions go,
Say not soft things as other men have said,
That you’ll remember. For you need not so.
Give them not praise. For, deaf, how should they know
It is not curses heaped on each gashed head?
Nor tears. Their blind eyes see not your tears flow.
Nor honour. It is easy to be dead.
Say only this, ‘They are dead.’ Then add thereto,
‘Yet many a better one has died before.’
Then, scanning all the o’ercrowded mass, should you
Perceive one face that you loved heretofore,
It is a spook. None wears the face you knew.
Great death has made all his for evermore.
Charles Hamilton Sorley
Friday 3rd May, was the UN-sponsored World Press Freedom Day, capping a year in which we’ve had dramatic reminders of the importance of a free press and the price journalists sometimes pay for doing their jobs, both in the wider world and in the Catholic Church. According to the International Federation of Journalists, at least 95 journalists were killed on the job in 2018...
National Nurses Week, ends on Florence Nightingale’s birthday, May 12. Even if you’re not a nurse yourself, consider marking the day by thanking a nurse in your life for her profession of care and service. They deserve our recognition because nursing is a profession built on selflessness
From Art of Manliness
When you’re a baby and a toddler, you’re helpless: you can’t articulate what you need and what’s bothering you. You can only cry or throw a tantrum or rely on your parents to accurately read and interpret your mood and body language.
You’ve probably never thought about it, but you first learned to get what you want by getting other people to give it to you. This was your foundation for navigating the world.
Unfortunately, many people don’t outgrow this phase of infantile dependence. They still primarily try to get what they want by manipulating others, by having a “tantrum,” by metaphorically quivering their lip or pooping in their pants and then waiting for someone to notice. They wait for a solution to their problems to arrive from the outside.
Maturing means growing in your capability to meet your own needs, as you become progressively more skilled, competent, and emotionally intelligent. And it means becoming less needy in general. As Ralph Waldo Emerson put it, “Can anything be so elegant as to have few wants and to serve them oneself?”
No one ever becomes completely independent of other people, and it would not be desirable to do so. But when you do need help, you ask for it directly. You don’t expect other people to read your mind, and then act put out when they fail to manifest these psychic powers. Many a relationship is sunk by such implicit assumptions: “You should know how I feel without my saying so.” “You should know what I need without my telling you.”
Growing up means growing out of an indirect, infantile, dependent way of meeting your needs, and into a direct, mature, independent approach to obtaining what you want.
The post Sunday Firesides: Dependence to Independence appeared first on The Art of Manliness.
https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/sunday-firesides-dependence-to-independence/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheArtOfManliness+%28The+Art+of+Manliness%29&mc_cid=0744c9bba7&mc_eid=83acb42668
Sean Sheehy
Wed, Dec 5, 12:30 PM (1 day ago)
to me
Advent: Prepare to Meet Jesus
The Church’s season of Advent is not only a period of preparation to celebrate Jesus’ birth, it’s also a reminder to prepare for His second coming whether it’s at the our death or at the end of the world, whichever comes first. We “know not the day nor the hour”. (Mt 25:13) Since God created the world through His Word that became flesh in Mary’s womb and was born in Bethlehem, Jesus is Lord of creation. As such, He’s the Lord of history. Every person’s earthly history begins with Jesus and ends face-to-face with Him. He will judge everyone according to his or her deeds. He will save only those who have come to know and embrace Him publicly. He will also save those who weren’t introduced to Him but lived His values of freedom, love, justice, and peace. Jesus wants everyone to know Him which is why He commissioned His Apostles, and through them His Church, to “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations. Baptize them … Teach them to carry out everything I have commanded you.” (Mt 28:19-20) Every member of Jesus’ Church has an obligation to bring His Gospel to others and introduce them to Him as their Lord and Saviour. He expects us, as His disciples, to respond daily in the words of the hymn, “Here I am, Lord. Is it I Lord? /I have heard you calling in the night.’ I will go Lord, if You lead me. /I will hold Your people in my heart.”
A disciple is a person who freely follows a particular discipline in order to achieve a specific goal. An athlete follows a particular discipline in order to win an Olympic medal. A Christian is a person who freely follows the teaching of Jesus as His disciple in order to win eternal life. Christian discipline enables us to save our soul by doing our best to be God’s image and likeness in the world. That means striving to be like Jesus who is God’s perfect image and likeness in human form. Since Jesus came to call people to experience His Father’s love, every Christian has the same mission. Our mission as His disciples is to bring the good news of how He saves the world through embracing His discipline. Sadly, the reason that so many don’t know Jesus is because many Christians don’t practise His teaching and aren’t true disciples.
During each liturgical season God sends special graces to each believer. His plea during Advent is expressed in the words of the hymn whose chorus I quoted above: “I, the Lord of sea and sky,/ I have heard my people cry./ All who dwell in dark and sin,/ My hand will save./ I who made the stars of night,/ I will make their darkness bright./ Who will bear my light to them?/ Whom shall I send?” God has made the darkness bright by sending Jesus to bring His light to the world. Jesus displayed that light in His teaching, miracles, prayer, suffering, death, and Resurrection. He authorized Peter, aided and abetted by the other Apostles, to bring the light of His teaching and example to the world until the end of time. He founded His Church on Peter to be the visible bearer of the light of His real presence listening to His people’s cry, calling them out of darkness and sin to save them by His hand. So the successors of Peter and the other Apostles are responsible to see that this mission of Jesus continues. But the responsibility is not only theirs; each Christian has a responsibility to be like Jesus bearing His light to those in darkness and sin. By doing this we prepare our self to meet Jesus when He comes
Just as God lead “Israel in joy by the light of His glory, with His mercy and justice for company” (Bar 5:1-9), so Jesus, through His Church, leads us in joy by the light of His glory accompanied by His justice and mercy. This is the Good News we’re privileged to bring to the world. As Jesus’ disciples in His Church we’re sharing what He done for us. He has adopted us as His children and made us heirs to His Kingdom, a kingdom of freedom, love, justice, and peace. With St. Paul we can say from the heart, “I am confident of this, that the One who began the good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Phil 1:6)
This week our efforts should go into eliminating all obstacles that prevent God from completing His work in us. Following John’s urgent cry, we need to “prepare the way of the Lord, make straight His paths” (Lk 3:1-6) so He can fill our heart with His Holy Spirit. When we invite the Holy Spirit to join our spirit to cleanse it and lead it we’re able to let Jesus’ light shine and dispel the darkness that sin causes. The best way to prepare to meet Jesus is to help others meet Him and experience His love in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. In the process you and I will, in St. Paul’s words, “increase our love in knowledge and every kind of perception, to discern what is of value, so that (we) may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ.” (Phil 1:4-6, 8-11) (frsos)
God Fulfils His Promise
The nature of a promise is that it’ll be fulfilled. Someone remarked that “a promise is like a crying child in church, both should be carried out quickly”. We should never make a promise that we can’t or don’t intend to fulfil. To do so is to be deceitful and lack integrity. God always fulfils His promises. However, He doesn’t always fulfil them quickly because time is unimportant to Him and people aren’t always ready to believe that He will actually carry them out. Why? They either don’t know Him well enough to see He is totally trustworthy or they don’t think His promises have anything to do with them. But God’s promises have everything to do with human beings because they are always for our benefit. A true believer in God is a person who believes that He always fulfils His promises. The Virgin Mary is a perfect example of this. Elizabeth, inspired the Holy Spirit affirmed Mary’s trust in God’s promises when she proclaimed, “Blessed is she who trusted that the Lord’s words to her would be fulfilled.” (Lk 1:45) The Lord’s words to her, spoken through the Angel Gabriel, announced that she would become the mother of His Son, the Saviour of the world.
Jesus’ Church calls all her members and the whole world to meditate on the fact that God honours His promises. He assured His people through Jeremiah: “The days are coming when I will fulfil the promise I have made to the House of Israel ...” (Jer 33:14-16) The Church’s season of Advent is a four-week period during which she prepares to celebrate the fulfilment of God’s promise of a Saviour – Jesus Christ – whom He sent to save men and women from their sinfulness so that they could enjoy life in an eternal state of happiness. It marks the beginning of a new liturgical year during which Jesus, present in His Church, continues to offer salvation to those who’re receptive. Christmas is the celebration that God’s Son, Jesus Christ, born of a Virgin, has come among us, is here now, and will come again to judge the living and the dead.
Advent is a time of prayer, repentance, and worship in which the Holy Spirit purifies our mind and heart to more fully recognize Jesus as the fulfilment of God’s promise to love us and give us life that will last forever. It’s a time when we pray with the Psalmist, “Your ways, O Lord, make known to me; teach me Your paths, guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are God my saviour, and for You I wait all the day. Good and upright is the Lord; thus He shows sinners the way. He guides the humble to justice, and teaches the humble His way.” (Ps 25:4-5, 8-9) Since Jesus is “the way”, and since no one comes to the Father except through Him, (Jn 14:6), He is the only one who can make God’s ways known, teach us His paths, and guide us in His truth. He alone shows sinners the way and guides the humble to justice.
Jesus’ Church uses the Advent Wreath to symbolize what we should be meditating on during these four weeks. The wreath is a circle of green palms symbolizing continuous life, reminding us of eternity. Four candles are placed on the wreath to be lit, one for each Sunday. On the 4th Sunday all four are lit. Three candles are purple while one is pink. Purple symbolizes royalty recognizing the sovereignty of Jesus. Purple also symbolizes repentance. Pink symbolizes joy at Jesus’ coming to save us. In the centre a white candle is lit on Christmas Eve symbolizing Jesus’ birth to be the Light of the World. The candle lit on the first Sunday is called the “Prophet’s candle” symbolizing Hope that God’s promises will be fulfilled. The second candle is called the “Bethlehem candle” symbolizing Faith in the fulfilment of God’s promises. The pink candle is called the “Shepherd’s candle” symbolizing Joy at Jesus’ birth. The fourth candle is called the “Angel’s candle” symbolizing the Peace that only Jesus can give and the world can’t.
During Advent the Church calls us to reflect on the fact that Jesus is the fulfilment of God’s promise of a Messiah who brings us hope, faith, joy, and peace. It’s an opportunity with the universal Church to reflect on Jesus’ first coming to save us, His presence now in His Church saving us, and His promise to come again at the end of time as our just Judge. At the same time we must face the fact that the world tries to scam us into thinking we can find hope, faith, joy, and peace independently of Jesus Christ and His Church. This is why Jesus urges us, as we begin Advent, to: “Be on your guard lest your spirits become bloated with indulgence and worldly cares. The great day will close in you like a trap.” (Lk 21:34) The “great day” for each of us is when we face God’s judgment. Jesus continues, “Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and stand before the Son of Man” (Lk 21:36) This Sunday light the first candle on your Advent wreath and ask the Prophets to intercede for you. Pray to be a hopeful person. (frsos)
June 2018;
TEN TIPS FOR SUMMER SECURITY FROM IFA
Don’t forget about home and farm security during the good weather, Limerick man and IFA Deputy President Richard Kennedy has advised.
“It is important to be vigilant about your home and farm security during the summer when homes are more likely to be unoccupied or accessible. Never assume that because you are at home or nearby, your farm or property is safe,” Richard advises.
Ten tips to keep your home and farm secure this summer
Lock windows on the ground floor level.
Ensure that, if you are opening windows on the first floor, they cannot be entered from a porch, drain pipe or a ladder left out.
Be clever about how you lock up and when going to bed at night; make sure that if you are leaving a window open, it is not accessible.
If you are working in the farmyard or garden, make sure you have locked all the doors and windows to your home as you may be easily distracted in your work
If you are working with power tools or gardening equipment be extra vigilant as you may not hear a person entering your property.
Carry a key with you; don’t be tempted to leave the key under a pot or stone near the door
If you are to the rear of the property your home may appear to be unoccupied which might draw a criminal’s attention
Consider setting the alarm if you feel that you may get distracted in your work or nod off while relaxing.
When you are finished working outside, make sure to put away the power tools and machinery. Take a few minutes to ensure the safety of your property.
Mark your property – overt and covert markings will deter criminals and can help to reunite you with stolen property if it is stolen and subsequently recovered.
Announcing the Mayflower 2020 Website from American Ancestors!
We are pleased to announce that we recently launched a new interactive website to commemorate the upcoming 400th anniversary of the Mayflower landing. The site presents the most authoritative biographies to date of the Pilgrims who set sail for a new world 397 years ago—available for free for the first time. The biographies are drawn from Robert Charles Anderson’s Pilgrim Migration, the biographical details include information on births, marriage, children, and roles in Plymouth Colony. As we approach 2020, more in-depth features and scholarly material will be added to the site to commemorate the historic Mayflower voyage.
http://mayflower.americanancestors.org/
FIGHT
My wife and I were watching "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire”
while we were in bed. I turned to her and said, 'Do you want to have sex?''No,' she answered.I then said, 'Is that your final answer?' She didn't even look at me this time, simply saying, 'Yes..'So I said, "Then I'd like to phone a friend." And that's when the fight started...
I took my wife to a restaurant. The waiter, for some reason, took my order first. "I'll have the rump steak, rare, please."
He said, "Aren't you worried about the mad cow?" "Nah, she can order for herself" And that's when the fight started....
My wife and I were sitting at a table at her high school
reunion, and she kept staring at a drunken man swigging
his drink as he sat alone at a nearby table. I asked her, "Do you know him?” "Yes", she sighed, "He's my old boyfriend. I understand he took to drinking right after we split up those many years ago, and I hear he hasn’t been sober since."
"My God!" I said, "Who would think a person could go on
celebrating that long?” And then the fight started...
My wife sat down next to me as I was flipping channels.
She asked, "What's on TV?” I said, "Dust.” And then the fight started...
My wife was hinting about what she wanted for our forthcoming anniversary. She said, "I want something shiny that goes from 0 to 225 in about 2 seconds.” I bought her bathroom scales. And then the fight started......
After retiring, I went to the Social Security office to apply for
Social Security. The woman behind the counter asked me for my driver's license to verify my age. I looked in my pockets and realized I had left my wallet at home. I told the woman that I was very sorry, but I would have to go home and come back later.The woman said, "Unbutton your shirt." So I opened my shirt revealing my curly silver hair. She said, "That silver hair on your chest is proof enough for me", and she processed my Social Security application. When I got home, I excitedly told my wife about my experience at the Social Security office. She said, "You should have dropped your pants. You might have got disability too." And then the fight started...
My wife was standing nude, looking in the bedroom mirror.
She was not happy with what she saw and said to me,
"I feel horrible; I look old, fat and ugly. I really need you to pay me a compliment." I replied, "Your eyesight's perfect."
And then the fight started........
I rear-ended a car this morning ... the start of a REALLY bad day! The driver got out of the other car, and he was a DWARF!! He looked up at me and said "I am NOT happy!"
So I said, "Well, which one ARE you then?"That's how the fight started.
By Peg Prendeville
The Wild Atlantic Way is one of our major tourist boasts in recent years so last week Jim and I took time out to explore south west Cork coast. Basing ourselves in Clonakilty we drove to Mizen Head one day and to Kinsale the next day. We were lucky with the weather as it would have been a disaster if it was raining. But we had clear enough skies which afforded lovely views of the Atlantic as we passed through coastal towns along the way. We visited Drombeg Stone circle en route and stopped in the gorgeous villages of Glandore, Union Hall, Baltimore, Ballydehob, Schull, Barleycove before reaching Mizen Head. There is no doubt that if the sun shone all the time we would have the nicest country in the world.
Likewise on our journey east of Clonakilty through Timoleague, Kinsale and the Old Head of Kinsale, Belgooly, Crosshaven, Carrigaline and back to Clonakilty by Inishannon and Bandon was just as pleasant. The town of Clonakilty has its own attractions and is home to many traditional music pubs which were packed each night. The Wild Atlantic Way is 2500 km long and so this was just a taster but a pleasant one. Hopefully we will get a chance to explore some more of it in time to come.
The Gift of Music
Last Saturday night I accepted the kind invitation from Athea Wrenboys to attend their wren night at Mike Hayes’ rambling house in Fairy Street. Strange as it may seem, it is the first time I have been able to do so as I always seemed to be playing somewhere or was otherwise engaged. My grandson, Daniel, accompanied me (in every sense of the word) and I told him we would stay for a half hour or so. Well, the night was so good that it only seemed like half an hour but instead was over three! There were two sessions of music going on in two separate rooms, one as good as the other. There were fiddles, flutes, accordions, banjos, guitars and of course, the mainstay of any wren night, bodhráns. There was no shortage of good singers either and , for the first time in years, a polka set took to the floor. As I joined in the music I thought of how lucky I was to have the privilege of playing with such great musicians and how magical a good session of Irish traditional music can be. It gets inside your very soul and lifts you to a higher plain, better than any drink or drugs. How fortunate we are in this neck of the woods to have such great artists, especially the young ones who have distinguished themselves at county, provincial and All-Ireland levels. Everyone was enjoying themselves so well done to the wrenboys and long may they continue keeping up the old traditions. I got to thinking about music and what a great gift it is. It is a talent that is only granted to a few and should never be wasted or taken for granted. Like all innate talents, it has to be nurtured and developed and this takes many hours of practice over the years. When I was teaching music there were two types of pupils that upset me for different reasons. One was the person with little talent who wanted so badly to play and would put in loads of practice. The other was the talented individual who wouldn’t put in the hard work. The first I felt very sorry for because, without the God given gift, he/she could only progress so far and no amount of practice would help to achieve the heights they yearned for. The second one made me frustrated to see such a waste. If we are chosen as recipients of such a gift we have an obligation to make the most of it, not only for ourselves but for the pleasure we can bring to others. Of course not everyone can be an All-Ireland champion but like in Gaelic games, not every player gets to play for the county but there are thousands of players who get great pleasure playing for their local clubs every weekend. I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t interested in music. Sometimes I can’t remember what happened yesterday but I have a vivid memory of when I was in the cot listening to the gramophone. This was pre radio and TV was as yet unheard of. The old gramophone, “his master’s voice”, had to be wound up with a handle and the needle, on the end of an arm, was lowered on to the record that turned at an ever decreasing speed until it was wound up again. The records came from America and featured such greats as Coleman, Killoran, Morrison, Patsy Tuohy, the Flanagan brothers and many more. The quality wasn’t great but I couldn’t get enough of it. I was about four when I got a mouth organ for my birthday. Like most young children I just kept blowing aimlessly into it at first until one day, while running along the top of the ditch between ourselves and Cusack’s, I suddenly realised that, inadvertently, I had played the first few notes of a tune that was popular on the radio at the time called “there’s a pawnshop round the corner in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania”. I tried again and found a few more notes. I ran in home all excited to show my mother what I had discovered. That was the start and from that moment on I spent most of my spare time learning tunes. I graduated to the tin whistle shortly afterwards and learned the notes from Dave Connors in Knocknaboul. Dave’s son Mick, who was my own age and my best friend, learned with me. We would sit in front of Dave and he would show us where to put our fingers. At home, our cottage had a very small room off the back which we called the scullery. It wasn’t big enough to swing a cat in but I spent many an hour in there, sitting on a bag of turf, in the dark, behind the door, playing the whistle. I was about ten when I got my first accordion, a brand new “Black Dot” Hohner, which cost 12 pounds and 12 shillings at Patie Roches’ in Abbeyfeale. The first thing I did the following morning was to try and work out a tune on the new instrument. This was way more difficult and, at first, I was frustrated that I couldn’t play the box as good as the whistle but I persevered and got a few tunes together. I didn’t realise at the time that I was on the wrong path and playing in the wrong keys but I knew something wasn’t right and I needed some professional help. My idols at the time were Pat Joe Gleeson, Colm Danagher and Timmy Woulfe who played at all the local wren nights so I plucked up courage and asked Colm if he would teach me the accordion. To my amazement he said “no”. I was taken aback until he explained that he was playing the same method as I was and he didn’t know how to play the chromatic two row. He suggested I go to somebody else, which I did.
To be continued next week. Domhnall de Barra
St Olivers Community Center Ltd
St Olivers Community Centre Ltd (SOCCL) operates a multi-purpose modern community centre in Ratoath, including a 234 seat theatre, a community crèche, a restaurant and 5 large multi-purpose rooms together with a 7 acre community sports campus hosting tennis, rugby, athletics and other sports.
SOCCL is a company limited by guarantee with charitable status and whose principal activity is the provision of community facilities for the Ratoath area on a not for profit basis. It is governed by a Board of Directors who are all unpaid volunteers.
SOCCL succeeded the previous Ratoath Parish Hall Committee which had been formed in 1981 to erect a new community hall which in turn had replaced the previous committee who had overseen the original Parochial Hall which had served the Ratoath community since the 1930’s
SOCCL opened the current community centre in 2006 at which time the population of Ratoath was almost 7,000. By 2014 the population has grown to over 11,000 and as a community Ratoath has the highest proportion of young persons aged under 14 in the entire country.
SOCCL employs a total of 19 people. Almost half are funded by State grants ( Pobal CSP, CE, TUS) and the remainder are self funded from SOCCL activities. To better co-ordinate its community activities and to best identify and meet future community needs, SOCCL have now formed a new Ratoath Community Board (RCB) made up of unpaid volunteers from a cross section of the Ratoath community covering interests such as arts, sport, disability, business, tidy towns, youth, urban development, communications.
The commercialization of Christmas is the fault of us Christians. We buy the secular cards, wrapping paper and other trappings. If we only purchased the items that are Christ-centered, then that would be what the companies would produce. For them it is all about profit.
“Without faith there can be no prayer, no matter how great our helplessness may be. Helplessness united with faith produces prayer. Without faith our helplessness would only be a vain cry of distress in the night” Ole Kristian O. Hallesby.
Profile of Nano Nagle
In the face of fear, she chose to be daring,
In the face of anxiety, she chose to trust,
In the face of impossibility, she chose to begin.
To universal misery she opposed ministry to persons,
To ignorance, knowledge,
To disillusionment tenacity of purpose,
And to multiple vexations, singleness of heart.
Faced with failure, she held fast to hope,
Faced with death, she believed in a living future,
And programme for that future she gave in one word, LOVE.
Raphael Consedine P.B.V.M.
Deirdre Sullivan
I believe in always going to the funeral. My father taught me that.
The first time he said it directly to me, I was 16 and trying to get out of going to calling hours for Miss Emerson, my old fifth grade math teacher. I did not want to go. My father was unequivocal. “Dee,” he said, “you’re going. Always go to the funeral. Do it for the family.”
So my dad waited outside while I went in. It was worse than I thought it would be: I was the only kid there. When the condolence line deposited me in front of Miss Emerson’s shell-shocked parents, I stammered out, “Sorry about all this,” and stalked away. But, for that deeply weird expression of sympathy delivered 20 years ago, Miss Emerson’s mother still remembers my name and always says hello with tearing eyes.
That was the first time I went un-chaperoned, but my parents had been taking us kids to funerals and calling hours as a matter of course for years. By the time I was 16, I had been to five or six funerals. I remember two things from the funeral circuit: bottomless dishes of free mints and my father saying on the ride home, “You can’t come in without going out, kids. Always go to the funeral.”
Sounds simple — when someone dies, get in your car and go to calling hours or the funeral. That, I can do. But I think a personal philosophy of going to funerals means more than that.
“Always go to the funeral” means that I have to do the right thing when I really, really don’t feel like it. I have to remind myself of it when I could make some small gesture, but I don’t really have to and I definitely don’t want to. I’m talking about those things that represent only inconvenience to me, but the world to the other guy. You know, the painfully under-attended birthday party. The hospital visit during happy hour. The Shiva call for one of my ex’s uncles. In my humdrum life, the daily battle hasn’t been good versus evil. It’s hardly so epic. Most days, my real battle is doing good versus doing nothing.
In going to funerals, I’ve come to believe that while I wait to make a grand heroic gesture, I should just stick to the small inconveniences that let me share in life’s inevitable, occasional calamity.
On a cold April night three years ago, my father died a quiet death from cancer. His funeral was on a Wednesday, middle of the workweek. I had been numb for days when, for some reason, during the funeral, I turned and looked back at the folks in the church. The memory of it still takes my breath away. The most human, powerful and humbling thing I’ve ever seen was a church at 3:00 on a Wednesday full of inconvenienced people who believe in going to the funeral.
Deirdre Sullivan grew up in Syracuse, and traveled the world working odd jobs before attending law school at Northwestern University. She’s now a freelance attorney living in Brooklyn. Sullivan says her father’s greatest gift to her and her family was how he ushered them through the process of his death.
Independently produced for NPR by Jay Allison and Dan Gediman with John Gregory and Viki Merrick. Edited by Ellen Silva.
A Hurler's Prayer
Grant me, O Lord, a hurler's skill
With strength of arm and speed of limb,
Unerring eye for the flying ball
And courage to match them what 'er befall
May my aim be steady, my stroke be true,
My actions manly, my misses few;
And no matter what way the game may go
May I part in friendship with every foe,
When the final whistle for me is blown
And I stand at last at God's judgement throne,
May the great Referee when he calls my name,
Say 'You hurled like a man; you played the game.'
Monday, September 12, 2011
Three Arguments for Your Atheist Friends
Posted by Taylor Marshall
You don't have to be a philosophy major to talk to atheists about God. Here are three simple arguments to help you in your task. Practice them on a friend before you try to use them in real life.
Warning: These are "negative arguments," in that they do not prove the existence of God directly, but they do reveal that only the existence of God can account for the objections each raises.
1) Moral Argument: How can there be good and evil or right and wrong? Another way to put it, if we're playing a game then someone has to create the rules. If there are no objective rules then there are no rules. All human acts would be morally arbitrary and neutral.
Was Hitler evil? By whose standards? Does the atheist have a good answer to this?
So then, there must be an objective lawgiver - and this we know as "God."
2) Cause and Effect Argument: This is also referred to as the cosmological argument. We observe cause and effect in the world. Yet it is absurd that the chain of cause and effect would go back in an infinite directly. There must have been a first cause. This first cause we know as "God."
Think of one million people leaning on one another at an equal angle. At the end of the leaning line of people, there must be a wall to hold up the first person. If there weren't something supporting the leaning line, everyone would just fall over.
3) Design Argument: This is commonly called the teleological argument or "watchmaker" argument. There is order and design in the universe (e.g. mathematical ratios observed in sea shells and bee hives). Since there is a rational order in the universe, then there must be a rational mind behind. To put it another way, if there is design, then there must be a designer.
The common version of this argument is that if you were walking in the desert and you came across a gold watch, you would not assume that the gold, steel, springs, leather strap, crystal, etc. randomly came together to form a sophisticated machine. Rather, you would assume that the watch was made by a watchmaker. So then, the world is ordered and more sophisticated than a watch, therefore there is a supernal "watchmaker," and this we call "God."
Taken From Listowel Boards
For those who would be unfamiliar with the name Tom Doodle let me explain.
An idea conceived in the back room of Curly O Connors bar in Church Street by a group of idealistic young men (John B. Keane,Tommy Murphy, Sean Grogan, Danny Kelliher, George Finucane and Willy O Connor) back in the early spring of 1951 has by now entered the realms of local folklore, history and legend. The idea that I refer to was the creation of Tom Doodle and the Independent Coulogeous Party.
Having invented the Politician the executive of the Doodle Party as they had become to be known, decided that they would advertise him as a candidate in the forthcoming General Election of that year, however a suitable candidate would have to be found in order to personify Doodle.
In explaining it at one stage John B. said
‘To find the right man, not an easy task- but where there is a will there is a way. The will was ever present, the way followed suit. We found our man. Call it destiny, call it what you will, he was born to fill the role. Never was a part played with such subtle distinction. He literally was to live the short few hours of his only appearance’
John B. later recalled the Doodles preparation and journey to town.]
'With George Finucane and William A. O Connor, both members of the Executive , we drove in O'Connors car to a secluded area in North Kerry. Here we dressed the actor for his part. A flowing beard as befitted such a patriarch, was the first item of his apparel. A clawhammer coat of uncertain vintage, a smart bowler hat and an outside pair of horn-rimmed glasses constituted the remainder. We checked our watches,exchanges meaning glances and hotfotted it to Kilmorna Station which is the last stop before Listowel. As the train drew in the strange figure of Doodle was the subject of curious and doubtful glances from the passengers. William O Connor sped swiftly away while George Finucane went to the ticket office and purchased three first class tickets for Listowel. After a short bdelay the train puffed laboriously on its way. George looked nervous. I considered diving through the open window before we reached our destination. Doodle was the epitome of composurer'
In Carmodys ‘North Kerry Camera’ Fr. Kieran O Shea recalled,[/FONT][/SIZE]
‘One sunny summers morning in 1951 the people of Listowel awoke to find placards attached to telephone poles (things are still the same after 60 years), urging them to vote for Tom Doodle;
Vote Number One: Tom Doodle
Use your Noodle,
Vote for Doodle,
Doodle on the Ball,
Next stop the Dail.
We all wondered what was up. People were asking themselves who was this Doodle. Was he really going to stand in the General Election….? A few days later, word was spread that Doodle would address a public meeting the following Thursday night’.
Over the years I have heard very many describing their memories of that night, however I would compare many of these akin to those who claim to have witnessed Munster’s famous victory over the All Blacks. Some of whom I have heard claim that they were at the rally that night were years younger than myself and I was a mere seven.
Fr. Kieran O Shea explained in ‘North Kerry Camera’
‘As I made my way to the railway station- we heard that Doodle would arrive by train-I joined a long stream of people. At the station close on a thousand curious people had already gathered. Eventually the train arrived. All heads turned expectantly wondering what would happen next. A door opened and out stepped this man dressed in a black swallow tailed coat, top hat, side whiskers and beard. Doodle was here .We did not know what to make out of it all. We didn’t care, because we were too excited, Doodle got into a lorry, climbing the front railing….’
And so began Doodle’s triumphal journey through the streets and on to his Field of Dreams in the town’s Small Square.
And so it came to pass, Doodle had arrived and the awaiting crowd were ready to escort him through the town.
I am indebted to William O Neill of Listowel and Dublin who some years ago send me this unpublished account of his recollections of the evening.
‘We were in the middle of our Leaving Cert. examination at St. Michaels when news of Doodles imminent arrival in town was announced, come hell or high water we would not be denied the opportunity to act as the Praetorian Guard to Doodle, this invitation coming at the behest of the evenings master or ceremonies, the late and great Johneen Keane, however to take part we had to dress as in Mardi Gras, wearing football ganseys, rarely used pyjamas, various facemasks and cork blackened faces. This added to the frivolity of the evening and also acted as a disguise so the Collage President would not recognise any of the examination candidates.
I remember Bunny Dalton was in the lead lorry with the other musicians, Eddie Flaherty, Spud Murphy, Athie Chute are some I remember. Before the start I heard Bunny asking what music would be appropriate and John B. saying, ‘sambas, marches and anything else that ye can think of’
The parade started and a grand tour of the town took place, Pound Lane, Charles St, Courthouse Rd and Church St. To this day I cannot forget the faces of the crowd lined streets, most were of joy and happiness, some were in awe, an old lady with rosary beads in hand, went on her knees thinking it was some senior Church dignitary while another brought outside having been Attic domiciled for years thought Doodle was the reincarnation of Parnell who had travelled the same route fifty years before.
What followed was the funniest night I ever spend at home in Listowel’.
The above account gives us a great flavour of the occasion and I will conclude this section with a piece which John B. once wrote on his memory of the tour of the streets.
‘Everywhere we went, enthusiastic crowds lined the footpaths. Dogs howled unceremoniously, children bawled and old men held up their sticks in salute. Matrons held their children aloft to witness the advent of the great man. Even the Guards holding back their smiles, saluted stiff- backed as the cavalcade passed by. It was one of those scenes that never comes about by forethought. It was just the right blend of personality and atmosphere and time’
And so the scene has now been set for Doodles triumphal entry into the Small Square and into the hearts and minds of Listowel people for posterity.
For Doodle followers more to follow.
As the Doodle cavalcade passed Cotters corner (nowadays Scullys) and into the Small Square, not even the most pessimistic of that small group, who sat in Curly Connors bar, dreaming up and planning this event many months previous could had envisaged such a large turnout which was now before their very eyes. Readers can see some of this crowd from the only photograph which is in existence of that event. (This photograph can be seen on www.irishoriginals.ie if one looks under unique collections, don’t take my word, look at it yourself!!)
A small timber stage (the gig rig of the day) had been erected outside the premises of Listowel’s only jeweller at that time, Fred W Mann, who also kindly obliged the Doodle Executive with the stage amplification and electrical connection for the evening.
As I have said at the outset this night is now part of Listowel folklore, at any gathering of townspeople mere mention of Doodle will draw a response of one or a number of his and his party’s promises, already we have tweaked ‘up the ashes’ into action. The following is John B Keanes eye witness account from the stage of the evening.
‘ In the Small Square a makeshift platform had been erected outside Fred W Mann’s, the jewellers’. Fred had obligingly installed a microphone free of charge. Here the crowd was enormous. A great sea of faces was upturned expectantly towards the platform where we now found ourselves. Here too was our President, Michael Gulliver Stack, in full regalia, replete with side whiskers and spats.
I started forward nervously to say a few words, but no sound came from my throat. The hush that followed was adamantine, undeniable. I shall never know what I said. All I remember now is that Michael Gulliver Stack was giving his immortal introductory speech to Doodle. Stack’s final sentence was drowned in a mountainous wave of laughter and shouting. And then Doodle was before the people.
His speech is too well known to bother outlining it here. What is important is that he held three thousand suspicious North Kerrymen in the throes of laughter for nearly an hour. He began by stressing the importance of his five point plan. Here are the points.
*To plough the rocks of Bawn:
*To build a factory for shaving the hairs from gooseberries:
*To develop the periwinkle industry:
*To give free treatment for sickheads:
*To salvage the skins of black puddings after the contents had been eaten
He then went on to speak of the necessity for humour in everyday life, laughing in the face of odds and last of all, of the guiding policy of the Independent Coulogeous Party, i.e. to put the community before oneself.’
And then suddenly before people realised it, he had vanished- spirited away to parts unknown in Willy O Connor’s motor car, and has not been seen nor has identity been disclosed to this day.
All members of that Doodle Executive have now passed to their eternal reward and with their demise the true identity of Doodle. Idle speculation arises from time as to who he was and whence he came, many names are mentioned but unless we hear it from beyond the grave, that is what it will always remain, idle speculation.
Next, life after Doodle, and Doodles legacy.
Life after Doodle.
As I have said, Doodle made just the one public appearance, however in a later recollection by John B. Keane in which appraised the contribution of Doodle, he said,
‘ Now, the question may be asked- what was the precise function of Doodle ?That can be answered by asking if any one of us has a precise function, but that would not be enough. His function on that particular occasion was to chase ‘the bitterness out of local politics’. A General Election was held a few days after his appearance and never was there a better conducted one in the history of the locality. The bitterness was gone. Doodle, therefore, for that alone was well worthwhile.
He was, too, it cannot be denied, an outlet for the high-spirited youth of the town. He was a preoccupation that kept us out of mischief and away from the corners. His creation was also an unforgettable phase inasmuch as we were never happier than during this time’
The Doodle Executive remained in place for some years after; the members were Tommy Murphy, John B. Keane, Sean Grogan, Danny Kelliher and Willy O Connor.
On the last Monday of January in subsequence years they held a banquet ( these were called Doodle Frolics) in memory of Doodle, attendance was by invitation only and strict rules applied. The following is a menu from the 5th Frolic.
Menu & Programme
Guest of Honour- Jacko Lenihan
Patrons: Frank the Barber.
His Lordship Rev Cornelius O Sullivan,
Bishop of Gurtenard and the Quarry.
The Buganda of the Doodle Whachs.
Townarki piddle fondoo malanki filliongkong.
(joy to him of the porter tooth)
Under the Tutelage of Tom Doodle D.F.L.
The erection of two firkins of Guinness Stout followed by tapping of same, whereat silence will prevail.
Ante- dinner toast to the late George Finucane, S.O.D., honoured member of the executive.
Toast to Guest of Honour.
Grace and brief oration by his Excellency The Gulliver Stack M.I.D.
Dinner.
“Joy to him of the Porter Tooth” sermon by Very Rev. Dr. Cornelius O Sullivan on the beneficialness of drink. (St. Paul’s Epistle to the Joeys)
Lecture by Tim Shanahan entitled “Raimeish”
Vocal contributions by various Party Members.
Porter.
Soup.
Doodle Anthem.
Our song is sung for Doodle Tom, he set us free
He is no gom, our Doodle Tom, the champion of love and liberty
Three cheers for Tom, Three beers for Tom
Three cheers and beers for Tom and victory
In conclusion I will leave the final words to the late John B Keane who inspired the Doodle story and what was to become a legend, who quoted the immortal words of his great friend Michael Gulliver Stack when he was asked?
‘What of Doodle, friend’ and Gulliver’s reply through pursed lips was:
‘Doodle will appear again when his country needs him’
Viva La Doodle
"
• In June 2008, a gold cup, thought to have originated in ancient Persia, sold at auction in Dorchester for £50,000. The seller - who had taken pot shots at it with an airgun as a boy - had been given it by his grandfather, a scrap-metal dealer.
• In the 1960s an Oxford librarian bought a pair of old paintings as part of a job lot in a cardboard box, and hung them in her spare room. In 2006, they were discovered to be lost panels from a
Fra Angelico altarpiece from the monastery of San Marco, in Florence. They fetched £1.7m at auction.
• A painting described as "18th-century continental school, half-length portrait of an aesthete" was sold at auction in Leicestershire in 2007, with an estimated value of £150-200. It in fact
sold for £205,000, although it is thought by experts to be a Titian and its true market value several million pounds.
• In July, the metal detectorist Terry Herbert unearthed the "Staffordshire Hoard" - which at 1,500 pieces, is the biggest cache of Anglo Saxon metalwork ever discovered. The Treasure Valuation
Committee convenes this month to assess its value.
SECTION 4: PERSPECTIVES
Literary Perspectives on the Nature of the Ageing Experience
Professor Brendan Kennelly
Using poetry2 as a starting point for his reflections on ageing Professor Kennelly began with the following
quotation: 'We are born with old souls and as we live our souls get younger and that constitutes the comedy
of life. We are born with young bodies and our bodies get older and that constitutes the tragedy of life'. He
said that in a sense one has to live one's life in a state of felt ambiguity about one's body and one's spirit
While some people get older in both the flesh and spirit, others get older in years while their spirit remains
young. Professor Kennelly gave Eamon De Valera as an example of a person who had a youthfulness of
spirit in his later years. He felt he had a commanding presence. Following a meeting with Eamon De Valera
he wrote a poem, the beginning of which stresses the importance of solitude, something which Professor
Kennelly felt was lacking in modern society -
To sit here, past my ninetieth year,
Is a joy you might find hard to understand.
My wife is dead. For sixty years
She stood by me, although I know
She always kept a secret place in her heart
For herself. This I understood. There must always be
A secret place where one can go
And brood on what cannot be thought about
Where there is noise and men and women ...
(De Valera at Ninety-Two
Professor Kennelly felt that although we grow older, a part of us remembers the visions, sounds and smells
of earlier life. He argued that we have moved away from using our sensory perceptions, particularly of
touching and smelling others and that this distancing is regrettable. (In the discussions the point was made
that older people in institutional care are particularly deprived of touch. The Sonas project was mentioned
as an effective means of providing sensory stimulation and social interaction for older people in
institutional and day care). Furthermore, he thought that these perceptions have been ignored by our
education system. He used the following poem, about the smell of an old woman, his grandmother, as he
knelt beside her in church as a young lad, to elaborate his point -
... I knelt at her side, my shoulder brushing her black,
Her lips surrendered visions of her private heaven and hell.
Drugged by her whispers, my head sank into her side,
My body and soul, in that instant, entered her smell,
Not merely the smell of her skin, but the smell
Of her prayers and pain, the smell of her long loss,
The smell of the years that had whitened her head,
That made her whisper to the pallid Christ on his cross ...
... Her smell opened her locked world ... (The Smell)
Following this poem, Professor Kennelly referred to an old custom he remembered from his
2 Professor Kennelly read from A Time for Voices: Selected Poems 1960-1990, Bloodaxe Books,
Newcastle upon Tyne, 1990.
13
childhood where the youngest child would kiss someone who was dying in the house. The custom was
based on the idea that a taste of the spittle of death would make a child appreciate the sweat of life. It
viewed death as an essential part of life which raised the senses and could not be avoided. He wrote a poem
about his own experience of kissing a dying man of over eighty years when he was nine years old. The
experience has stayed with him and reminds him of the ambiguity of life.
... I walked across the bedroom floor
And felt the ice in his hands enter mine.
His eyes were screwed up with sickness, his hair was wet,
His tongue hung, slapped back. Every bone
In my body chilled as I bent my head
To the smell and feel of the sickspittle on his lips.
I kissed him, I find it hard to say what I kissed
But I drank him into me when I kissed him.
I recognised something of what in him was ending,
Of what in me had scarcely begun.
He seems without fear, I think I gave him nothing,
He told me something of what it is to be alone
(The Kiss)
Professor Kennelly said that he was of a generation that was told that everything to do with the body was
wrong. He felt that this fear of the body and of touching is returning.
He argued that grandparents have much to offer their grandchildren which parents cannot offer. He felt that
older people should not be marginalised in society but that they should be part of the family unit. He recited
a poem about his grandmother making bread which reminds him of the great pool of experience and
knowledge which older people have to pass on to the younger generations. Later this concept was
developed in a proposal for a modern day Senate in every town or parish in Ireland like those in Roman
times. The Senate would provide an opportunity for older people to air their opinions and give younger
people the benefit of their wisdom while establishing their rightful place in society. Unfortunately 'The
Expert' has now supplanted the important position which older people once held.
Professor Brendan Kennelly brought the day's discussion to a close with a poem about the questions asked
by his daughter one night when she was three years old and could not sleep. The questions arose from
looking at a vase of flowers whose petals had begun to fall. The poem began -
And will the flowers die?
And will the people die?
And every day do you grow old, do I
grow old, no I'm not old,
do flowers grow old?
Old things - do you throw them out?
Do you throw old people out? ...
13 Things a Man Should Keep in His Car
From the Art of Manliness
1. Fully charged cell phone. Cell phones have significantly cut down on your chances of being stranded on the side of the road, but don't count on it as your only line of defense. I've been in
plenty of rural areas where my cell phone was only worthwhile for playing pong. In addition to you main phone, have a backup one that you can use to call 911. Any old cell phone will do, even if
it's not activated. Cellular carriers are required by law to complete 911 calls from any cell phone. Just throw that old Nokia cell phone from 1999 into your glove compartment and keep it there.
2. Jumper cables. You walk out to your car after a long day of work, stick the key into the ignition, give it a turn, and.... click, click. Crap! You're going to be late to your kid's football game! You then look up and notice you left the dome light on all day. It happens to the best of us. Car batteries die, so be ready with a set of jumper cables. And even if you never suffer a dead battery, it's always good to have a set of jumper cables so you can help a damsel (or dude) in distress who needs their car jumped.
3. Flashlight. Good for providing light at nighttime when 1) putting on a spare tire, 2) jump starting another car, or 3) exchanging insurance information with the clueless driver that rear ended you at a stop light. Get a Maglite and you can also thump would-be car jackers in the head with it.
4. Roadside flares/reflective triangle. When pulled over on the side of the road, you're basically a sitting duck, hoping that other drivers don't turn the situation into a clip for one of those extreme video shows. It's especially dangerous to be hanging out on the side of the road at night. Ensure that you and those around you are visible when you pull over to the side of the road by using road flares or at least a reflective triangle. The old school flaming flares seem to be harder to find these days as people switch to LED "flares."
5. MREs. You never know when you'll be stranded for long periods of times in your car. If you've ever driven out West, you'll know that it can be hundreds of miles until the closest source of help. Unless you've built up a tolerance for extended periods of fasting, keep some MREs or granola/power bars in the back of your car to munch on while you wait for the tow truck to come.
6. Warm blankets. Tom can tell you firsthand why warm blankets are a must. It got pretty dang cold in his Caprice that night. But blankets have uses that go beyond emergency situations. It's always good to have a blanket in the car for snuggling with your gal while you cheer for your team on a cold fall night or for laying it on the ground for a picnic.
7. Ice scraper. Don't be the chump that's out there scrapping their windshield with a credit card at 5AM in the morning. A good ice scraper will set you back just a few bucks, and it will make clearing your windshield much easier and much faster.
8. First aid kit. Whether you're cleaning up a head wound filled with glass shards or fixing a boo boo on your two year old, it's good to have a first aid kit. You can always buy one, but putting together your own in an Altoids tin is more fun.
9. Water bottles. For when you're stranded in Death Valley in the middle of the hottest heat wave on record... or for any other time your car decides to break down on you. Or, for after you've left a concert and you're so dang parched!
10. Tow strap. I don't know how many times my dad saved my butt with this thing back in high school. Towards the end of my blue ‘92 Chevy Cavalier's (aka, "The Smurf") life, it would just stop running and no amount of cable jumping would help get it started. For moments like these, my dad busted out the tow strap. You just attach one end of the tow strap to the front of the car that you want to pull and the other to the hitch on the back of your car. The stranded driver stays in the dead car, puts it in neutral, and steers and brakes while it gets towed to its destination.
11. Folding shovel. There are a couple of instances where a folding shovel might come in handy. The first is when you get stuck in the snow or ice. You can use the shovel to dig some snow out and place some dirt under the tire to get more traction. The second situation is when a car tire gets stuck in a hole or something. You can use the shovel to dig about and create some ramps to help get your car unstuck. Also, it can be used as an improvised weapon, Green Beret-style.
12. LifeHammer. When you're trying to escape from a sinking car, this little piece of plastic and metal can be the difference between life and death. Use it to break your window, cut your seatbelt and make your escape.
13. Portable air compressor. My dad feels like this was the best purchase he made for the car. When your tire is leaking but hasn't totally blown out, instead of putting on a spare, you can use a portable air compressor to get back on the road. The compressor fills your tire up enough to allow you to drive to a repair shop to get it fixed. It plugs right into your cigarette lighter. Bonus use: no more paying 75 cents to fill up your tires at stingy gas stations.
First World War pictures
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/exclusive-the-unseen-photographs-that-throw-new-light-on-the-first-world-war-1688443.html?action=Popup&ino=14
http://www.wcr.ab.ca/index.shtml
Editor WCR
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