Newsletter - January 2017

At the beginning of this New Year, may I wish you and yours a Very Happy & Peaceful New Year.

I hope that you will share with us in worship and in your prayers.

All are welcome to share in all aspects of Parish life.

                                                              Barbara

Safeguarding Trust – Garda Vetting is now done electronically. We are about to form a new panel and we are also encouraged to Garda Vet a portion of our Select Vestry. For those who do not have a computer, there is a way of submitting the form through the parish liaison officer. In order to progress this new way of applying for vetting, we now have a service contract with Church House. There has been some confusion about transference of roles between parishes and other organisations. This is not yet available to us. So, unfortunately, if you are vetted for a particular role in one place, you need to be vetted again for working with other organisations!

Singing Group – Will meeting in Old St Mary's on:

                              Friday, 20^th January   2017

                              Friday,  3^rd  February 2017

                              Friday, 17^th February 2017

 @ 8.00pm

All welcome – this is an opportunity to learn new hymns and sing old ones in a relaxed atmosphere.

Place 4U -  Charity Coffee Mornings on  Friday mornings from 10am – 12 noon.

Greeting Cards – Greeting cards with pictures of all our 5 churches are available in each church at €2 each. The inside is blank to facilitate personal greeting

Confirmation – At the moment, we have no candidates for Confirmation this year. If there is anybody who wishes to be confirmed in 2017, you need to speak to me asap.

Course in Christian Studies – We have one “student” doing the latest course. There is still a little time for others to join in. The Course in Chritian Studies is challenging, requires time, but for those who have done it over the last five years it has brought a great sense of achievement and has led some towards lay ministry and, for a few, has been a way of decerning a vocation to the ordained ministry. Students include people from Cork & Limerich dioceses as well as our diocese. For some it involves much travelling. The course is accredited to Maynooth Pontifical College and we are so privileged that the Very Rev Tom Gordon, Dean of Leighlin has the credentials and skills to lead this diocesan inititive.

Parking Permits for 2017 are now available for Old St Mary's Churchyard @ €25 from Bernard  –  they are for use with the registered vehicle only – wrong car, wrong year may result in clamping – space not guarenteed.

  

Weekday Service –  Wednesday at  10.30am in Old St Marys  – Refreshments afterwards

Bishop Michael - will be the celebrant in Tullaghmeelan on 12^th February. Our Bishop visits each church in our diocese on a regular basis. We should always remember that the celebration of Holy Communion is principally the function of the diocesan bishop and that the clergy celebrate when he cannot be present!

Board of Management Training – Ms Wallace and I attended a training evening for Treasurers of Primary Schools one evening about a fortnight ago. It was very good and applied really to anybody working in similar environments. There was lots of revision, enlightenment and sound advice!

Our next training evening is on the 8^th February 2017 – venue to be decided – the module addressed will be that which addresses the issue of bullying in schools.

Sunday Life -This is an hour-long programme on TippFm which is broadcast from 7- 8am on Sunday mornings. It usually comprises music, reading and interviews. We keep it light as most of our listeners have just woken up!

Your Prayers – Please remember those who are unwell, at home & in hospital. At this time we need to pray, especially, for peace.

Whist Drives  - A whist drive is quite relaxing, sociable evening with a nice supper and all for €5. Contributions to the supper, prizes and raffle, please; even if you do not play!

                           Friday  -  14^th January   2017

                           Friday  -  10^th February 2017

                           Friday -   10^th March      2017

Marshall Beresford Grant – We have been allocated a grant of €250 from the Beresford/Church Fabric Fund. The replacement of the coving cost €2,213. €1,500 of that total came from a bequest given by the late Una Browne for maintenance of Old St Mary's. The balance was paid from parish funds. We can expect payment of the grant in late Spring/early Summer 2017. This was emergency work and with our old buildings this sort of situation is likely rather than “perhaps”.

Concert – Clonmel Rugby Club  - Old St Mary's was full for this wonderful evening of music. Thank-you to the Rugby Club for choosing Old St Mary's for their 1^st performance; hopefuly the 1^st of many!

Thank-you – To those who expressed their sympathy on the death of my brother-in-law in November. We were astounded and comforted at the numbers who attended his funeral Service, telephoned, sent cards, visited and provided so much support!

Envelopes -  The scheme has been in operation in our parish for some years now. It need not be about church attendance only. Our parish depends on the giving of those who would expect the use of our churches at those important, sad, joyous and ordianary times in their lives. The church is an anomly in our lives; in that it depends  on the generosity of their “service users” (to put it in worldly terms) to maintain “services”. The day of dependence on investments disappeared with the financial crisis in our country. We now also depend on the generous who pay tax to avail of the “tax relief” scheme in which the government gives charities (and we are a registered charity) €40 per €100 donated. Receipts & forms will be available in the coming weeks.

Carol Services – Incredibly, parishioners were not to the forefront at our Carol Services this year! However each Service was well attended! Collections were up and cheques are about to be sent to SVP in Clonmel & Cahir & the Day Care Centre in Fethard. Thank-you to Cahir Choral Society & Suirvale School in Cahir, The Fethard Choral Society and Banna Cluain Meals who contributed to the joyous atmosphere at each Service. Thank-you to Dr Butler & Pierce Purcell who excelled on the organFriday, 3^rd February and to all who provided and created the amazing decorations and teas.

Lent -  Ash Wednesday is on the 1^st March 2017 this year. We have not had any Bible study or other Lenten evenings for a couple of years. So, beginning on Ash Wednesday wherever the evening worship is, there will be an introduction to our Lenten study. Rather than Bible study, I intend doing a short series on our Prayer Book – why we have one, what is in it and how we use it. So, one Ash Wednesday evening we will be in holy Trinity, Fethard @ 7.30pm and on the following Wednesdays at the Rectory @ 8.00pm. I hope to have a print-out each night so that you can follow up on what is discussed.

Organ Tuning – Mr Padraig O'Driscoll visited in December to tune the organs in Clonmel & Fethard. A note that had collapsed in Clonmel was repaired and the organ was tuned. This is a rather lengthy operation and takes some hours. The cover over the motor has woodworm and this will be replaced.

The organ in Fethard is in rather a poor state and was not tuned.

Kilbehenny – This is part of our parish although it is only a few kilometres from Mitchelstown. The church was closed and demolished some years ago. I visit the burial ground once per year so that I can report to the RCB that the local community continues to maintain the burial ground.

Their Community Hall is 40 years old and has, recently, been renovated. So, on the evening of 28^th December 2016, John & I joined the community in a celebration. Fr Kelly, Parish Priest and I were joined by Canon Sherlock, and Fr Bourke (Galmoy) in blessing the building and share in the festive refreshments afterwards.We were entertained later by Sean O'Sé, with local accompaniament (tin whistle & accordion). It was good to join in singing familiar ballads and songs. It was also good to spend an evening with the residents of the only remaining part of the Diocese of Emly within our large diocese!

Select Vestry – Will meet in Old St Mary's on Friday 27^th January 2017 @ 8.00pm

Diocesan Magazine – For those of you who have been receiving this monthly magazine, the price for 2017 is €40 for 10 copies – If anybody else would like to read about all that goes on in the parishes of our diocese, contact me. As has been usual, 10 have been pre – booked for 2017 – there are a few extra in this. The 1^st copies should arrive for next Sunday.

Cleaning & Flowers in our Churches – Where there are Tus/Fas participants, cleaning of churches for ordinary Sundays, is usually done by them – this is not the case in Old St Mary's.  Remember, your church needs to be clean and tidy; particularly for Sunday worship. The present rotas require some parishioners to clean in one month and do flowers in another – so, from now on, it is proposed that those who help-uot in this way should do both cleaning & flowers in the month allocated to them – the flower part only requires that there are altar flowers/greenery every Sunday – one or two efforts per month is usually sufficient. And please remember that flowers need to be watered!

Heating – Churches are old and lack insulation – turning the heating on for hours on end does not make the building warmer than it does for running it for a maximum of one hour before worship/events! If you close the doors on entry and leaving, the heat will be most effective!!!!

East End of Old St Mary's – The new coving over the east window is completed. But, owing to condensation on the upper part of the surrounding wall, the re-decoration of that part of the church will not be done until we get warmer drier weather.

Assessment – Is due with the Diocesan Treasurer on 31^st December 2016. We all expect our churches and clergy to be there for us when we need them. In order for this to happen, we need your support!

Envelopes & Assessment – Just a reminder that in taking part in the envelope scheme, you need to fill all envelopes and to indicate whether you wish the contents of your envelopes to be divided between Sunday collections only or shared between Sunday collections & Assessment.  Receipts will be issued as soon as possible early in 2017.  In 2015 those of you who filled out the tax relief forms reduced our liability for Assessment by €3,500 – if more of you did that, we would get much nearer to achieving our full Assessment in the correct financial year.