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, 20th
January 2017
Friday, 3rd February 2017
Friday, 17th
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 12th 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 8th 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 - 14th
January 2017
Friday - 10th
February 2017
Friday - 10th 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 1st performance;
hopefuly the 1st 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, 3rd
February and to all who provided and created the amazing decorations and teas.
Lent - Ash Wednesday is on the 1st 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 28th
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 27th 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 1st
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 31st 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.
