May has been a very busy month. The General Easter vestry took place on Friday, 3^rd May 2019.  Attendance was poor – a situation mirrored in other places in our diocese. Easter was very late this year and, it seems, that for some events of a more summery climate had kicked in.

The special Pentecost Eve service details are in this newsletter. This will be “broadcast” electronically. It may very well give us a sense of times how worship may be presented in the future!

The General Synod of the Church of Ireland took place in Derry this year. It was a long drive; but pleasant as both journeys took place in sunny weather.

A special Synod will take place in the coming weeks to consider the future of our diocese. We will look at how we do things t the moment and consider changes. There is a new spirit at the moment and I hope many of you will embrace our efforts to bring what we do into a new and exciting place.

                                     Barbara

St Patrick's Church, Inishlounaght (Marlfield) – We have shared this 

church with the parishioners of St Mary's, Irishtown for some years. It began at a time when they needed more space for worship. Times have changed and numbers at worship have decreased. As of the beginning of May, this church has fully reverted to us. The practical aspect of this was the transference of the electricity bill to our account.

Safeguarding Trust – A diocesan panel has been formed and those of us 

been undergoing intensive training with the help of professional in that field. . This will enable the diocese to present the training of parish panels, parishioners and other training events. It will have oversight of the programme.

Bereavement - Francis (Frank) Sparrow died in Sacre Coeur, Tipperary

town on 12^th May after a long period in care. His funeral Service took place in Holy Trinity Church, Fethard on 19^th May. Burial took place in Cooleagh; A medieval church site north of Fethard and next door to his home at St Johnstown. Our sympathy goes to his sisters and their families in the UK and the Thompson family of Golden, Co Tipperary. May he rest in peace.

Holy Matrimony – Richard Thomson-Moore and Anna Coakes were 

united in Holy Matrimony in Holy Trinity Chaurch, Fethard on Saturday, 25^th May 2019 in the presence of a full church. Anna's family travelled from Australia for this happy occasion. We wish them a long and happy marriage at Barne.

Sunday Life – On TippFm on Sunday mornings @ 7.00am.

Select Vestry Meeting – Friday, 14^th June 2019 @ 8.00pm

                                         in Old St Marys.

Schools Festival Service – This Service takes place in three venues in the 

Diocese each year on the 2^nd Friday in June. So this year, our school will attend at Waterford Cathedral on Friday, 14^th June 2019 @ 11.00am.

EIO Surveys – Holy Trinity, Fethard and Old St Mary's have now been 

surveyed by our insurance company. The other churches in the parish will be surveyed in the coming months.

Chapter Duty in St Canice's, Kilkenny – It is the custom from medieval 

times that members of the Cathedral Chapter preaches once per year. I will preach in St Canice's Cathedral at the 11.30 Eucharist on Sunday, 23^rd June 2019.

Other General Synod News – The Pastoral Services relating to sensitive 

family care a in relation to stillbirths and infant mortality were passed and becam part of our prayerbook at Synod. There are pastorally sensitive services, prayers etc outlined to help clergy with those times when families are in the depths of sorrow and loss.

Koln Philharmonia – Will perform in Old St Marys on Wednesday, 7^th August @8.00pm.

Harvest Thanksgivings -

Sunday, 1^st September 2019 in Cahir @ 7.30pm

Sunday, 8^th September 2019 – Tullaghmeelan @3.30pm

Sunday, 15^th September 2019 – Fethard @ 7.30pm

Friday, 20^th September 2019 – Clonmel @ 7.30pm

Sunday Afternoon Musictime – Members of rhe Concert Band of Banna 

Cluain Meala entertained a full church at Old St Mary's on Sunday, 26^th May 2019. Their hall was full of voting boxes, they needed to practice and so this event took place. There was a retiring collection as people left the church in aid of our efforts to raise enough to renovate our hall. The box, filled with notes and coins in it, amounted to €1405 when counted!!.

Lay Readers/Clergy – I attended a meeting of the Diocesan Wardens of Readers this week. A number of other dioceses are now following the course our diocese has used for some time. There is concern that the new Ordained Local Ministry will impact on our teams of Diocesan Readers. The OLM will consist of parishioners who will persue the new course for this ministry and serve in their own localities/parishes.  There is a concern that many of our present Diocesan Readers will seek ordination to this ministry and so reduce the availability of lay readers for conducting worship around our diocese. There are signs that this is already happening. We will always rely on both ministries Sunday by Sunday.

We find ourselves, also, in a position where more and more parishes are unable to fund ordained Rectors/Curates etc. in their parishes.

It is important that we have sufficient clergy/ readers in order to provide. worship Sunday by Sunday. The age profile of clergy in most dioceses is rising. The Church of Ireland is in a somewhat better place in this matter than some other Churches. A chat with the Rector is the 1^st port of call!

The Readers course in our Diocese is delivered locally within the Diocese. Once again, the Rector is there to receive those who would like more information!

Wednesdays – Holy Communion @ 10.30am – this will not take palce 

                         on Wednesday, 5^th June 2019

Saturday, 8^th June 2019 – In every parish in our diocese a special 

Pentecost Service will take place on the evening before on the Eve of Pentecost. The Service will be conducted by the Bishop; transmitted on a screen. Lay Reader, Mike O'Meara will lead in Old St Mary's @ 8.00pm.  Please do attend this special event which is the beginning of a new era in our Diocese.

 Parish BBQ - June 30th @ 1.30pm at the Rectory - cost €15 per adult; children 14yrs and younger free.
More details and to give idea on numbers, contact the rector.
Some help with setting up would be appreciated. Please contact the rector if you can help. This is a parish fundraising event which benefits our whole parish. Looking forward to a good attendance.

Celtic Choristers – This group of singers entertained a sizeable audience in Old St Mary's on 4^th May 2019. It was organised by Maureen Purcell.

May – June 2018

Clonmel Union of Parishes Newsletter

May – June 2018

St Paul's – During the 1^st weekend of June 2018 St Paul's, Cahir will play host to a special exhibition. With the kind permission of Mr Felix O'Neill a Tyndale Bible will be on display together with other interesting. Books. There will be a concert by “Cahir to Sing” in St Paul's on the Friday evening and an introduction to the Bible.

 Miles Tyndale (1494 – 1536) took advantage of the advances in printing to produced the 1^st mass - produced copies of the Bible; for the 1^st time ever; in English. These were the early days of the Reformation and the Church in England saw the translation of Holy Scripture into the language of the common people as being totally opposed to Church teaching. (this departure from Church teaching was in accordance with the belief of the Reformers on the Continent who believed that everybody should be able to read the Word of God in their own

language or dialect.

The Church in England believed that there were two distinct orders of members of the Church; the clergy and the people. Those in charge believed the Church to be an institution with different degrees among it's members. It was a place where everybody knew his/her place in the order of things; as they were expected to do in the their civilian lives.

For the Reformers there was only one authority and that was Holy Scripture; “The Word of God”. They referred to the membership of the Church as “the congregation.” All members, both clerical and lay together having a role in all aspects of Church life. The Bible is not a complete translation of  Holy Scripture.  He paid the ultimate price for daring to seek equal access to the Bible for all who could read; both lay and clergy without any differentiation.

He was unfrocked by the Church and handed over to the Civil Authority who strangled him and then burned him at the stake. His final words were; “Lord! Open the King of England's eyes”. That King was HenryVIII who before he died was to bring the Reformed Faith to England and to instigate, with Abp Cranmer, the 1^st Prayer Book in English - The Book of Common Prayer.

Whist Drives –  Thank-you to those who helped in many ways to ensure that these social evenings happen – Jimmy Kingston who sells tickets and helps in whatever way he can. Thank-you also to Bernard, Bob, Heather, Shirley, the ladies who do supper and those who come to enjoy a relaxed evening of card playing.

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.

Bio-Diversity Project – This project at Old St Marys & St Pauls have developed very well in the last year; both due to dedication of parishioners and the CoCo.  At Old St Marys; we welcome contributions of plants for the new areas. Please consult with Bernard regarding which plants are best for such projects. Offers of helping with maintenance is also most welcome.

Lay Reader Training – A new course will probably begin in Autumn  2018. Anybody can do this course for their own interest if they wish. It is presented at Level 7 and can be quite challenging. We rely on our Lay Readers to keep our churches open and it is always necessary that new people offer themselves for this Church ministry. Cork Diocese has now begun its own course due to demand.

Data Protection:

a. This protects information about you. The forms each of you needs to fill in are in our churches. They ask for your permission to contact you. If you wish to see what information I keep for each of you; ask me.

At this point most of us are getting tired of the notices falling through our letterboxes from banks and other institutions informing us of their participation in Data Protection.

This is all necessary.

The next item is “Safequarding for Adults”! The clergy have been summoned to a training day!

CHURCH SERVICES

2018April/May 2018	St Pauls, Cahir     9.30am	Holy Trinity Fethard 9.30am	Old St Marys Clonmel 8.30am 11.00am	Tullaghmeelan 11.00am
May 6th Rogation	M.P	H.C.	H.C        H.C.	Worship in other church
May 13th Easter 7	H.C	M.P.	H.C. M.P	H.C.
May 20th Pentecost	M.P.	H.C.	H.C. H.C.	Worship in other church
May 27th Trinity	H.C.	M.P.	H.C. Service of the Word	Worship in other church
June 3rd Trinity 1	M.P.	M.P	M.P	Worship in other church
June 10th Trinity 2	M.P	M.P	M.P.	M.P.

Wednesday weekday service – Service at  10.30am in Old St Marys  – Refreshments 

                                

Ordained Local Ministry (OLM) ; this is the new ministry in the Church of Ireland where people will be ordained to serve in their own parishes. If you would like to explore whether this is something you may be called to; your 1^st port of call is your Rector. The course for those selected will be challenging and it will be a few years before the 1^st candidates are ordained.

We are relying more and more on our Diocesan Readers. It is likely that some of them will offer themselves for ordination for their own parishes. The 1^st Selection Conference has taken place and we will have the results from that soon.

Confirmation – Our four candidates were confirmed by Bishop Michael on  Sunday, 22^nd April. The group, as part of their preparation, spent Holy Thursday evening with the Bishop at Cashel Cathedral. They really enjoyed the chat, Holy Thursday Service and were treated to “tea”/”supper” by the Bishop. Thank you to parishioners and the candidate’s families, who turned out in style to support the quartet. Bishop Michael rose to the challenge of preaching about the topic chosen by the candidates - “Satan” - “WELL DONE BISHOP!

Your Prayers – Please remember those who are unwell, at home & in hospital. At this time we need to pray, especially, for peace. Some of our older members have been quite unwell and in hospital of late; as have quite a number of others. It has been a very hard beginningto 2018 weatherise.

General Synod will be in Armagh from 10^th - 13^th May. Union of Parishes representatives will be in attendance.

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!

Cleaning & Flowers in our Churches – Please remember to do what you have volunteered to do, and please remember to take your rubbish away with you. New volunteers are always welcome.

General Easter Meeting – The attendance was not very large, but we had the usual elections and much reference to new compliance requirements. Please remember ALL registered vestry members are eligible to participate in the General Easter Meeting.

Concerts - 

Friday, 1^st June – Concert by “Cahir to Sing”  in St Paul’s Cahir, which will begin a weekend of the exhibition of Tyndale's Bible. The proceeds of the weekend will go towards the essential repairs required on St Paul's, Cahir Church.

Wednesday 8^th August  - The Koln Philharmonia will perform in Old St Marys, Clonmel  @ 8pm

March 2018

  As I type it's snowing really hard outside and I do hope and pray that you are all staying safe.

Lay Reader Training – A new course will probably begin in Autumn  2018. Anybody can do this course for their own interest . It is presented at Level 7 and can be quite challenging. We rely on our Lay Readers to keep our chur ches open and it is always necessary that new people offer themselves for this Church ministry. Cork Diocese has now begun its own course due to demand.

New Faces – We will welcome the Rev Robert  Jones to our diocese as Rector of Kiltegan, Co Wicklow on Friday next.

                                                                                 Barbara

Cleaning & Flowers in our Churches – Please remember to do what you have volunteered for. And please take your rubbish away with you. New volunteers are always welcome.

St Paul's, Cahir – The Haha development is almost completed. The retaining wall looks so much better with the new stone work. It was planned that there would be a fence on the church side for health & safety reasons. As far as I know, nobody has ever fallen into the gully but I think we have become almost too “careful” in some matters!

General Easter Meeting – Will take place in Old St Mary's Church, Clonmel on @ 8.00pm on Thursday, 5^th April @ 8.00pm – all registered Vestrymen (sorry, the title has not been changed since Disestablishment in 1870) are welcome to attend. Everybody is welcome to come along and, at least experience how we “govern” our parish in the matters of Finance, Fabric (buildings) and Furnishings (the contents in our buildings) This important meeting elects the Select Vestry for the coming year who have charge of the 3Fs above.

Concerts - 

From Thursday to Saturday in the coming week (8^th - 10^th) there will be a series of concerts at lunchtime and in the evening in  various venues in Clonmel  - there are posters up in various places in town for The Finding a Voice Concert Series. This is an experiment on the part of Cliona in the Arts Centre to bring a little more cultural events to our town. Old St Mary’s is one of the venues in use.

The Koln Philharmonia will perform in Old St Marys on Wednesday, 8^th August @ 8pm.

Whist Drives –  Numbers have been small so far this season. Our next one takes place in the Sisters of Charity Hall (opposite Old St Mary's) on Friday, 9^th March  @ 8.00pm

Confirmation – There are four candidates this year and our classes/discussions continue on Wednesday afternoons at 4.00pm at the Rectory. Confirmation takes place in Old St Marys on 22^nd April 2018 in Old St Marys @ 11.00am . The candidates have asked Bishop Michael to speak about a very interesting “person”. You need to be there to find out who it is!!

Bereavement – We sympathise with Yvonne McClintock on the death of Michael. His funeral Service took place in Holy Trinity, Fethard in a church full to overflowing. 

Chaplaincy – During January, my visiting in STGH was minimal due to efforts to reduce level of infection often brought in by visitors. This was my choice and all calls from the wards were responded to. Sometimes people complain that the chaplain does not visit; the hospital only calls us in the case of emergencies or a patient being very seriously ill. One of the roles of family is to inform me if a loved one is in hospital. Sometimes people get missed on list or have only just been admitted and have not been put on the chaplains lists yet. Some people never appear on lists and that is their choice.

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

Bereavement – Our sympathy goes to the relatives and friends of Roberta Malcolmson  who died at an advanced age in the care of the staff of Rathkeevan NH. Due to poor climatic conditions her funeral had to be postponed.

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!

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.

Bio-Diversity Project – This project at Old St Marys Clonmel & St Pauls Cahir have developed very well in the last year; both due to dedication of parishioners and  the CoCo. At Old St Marys; we welcome contributions of plants for the new areas. Please consult with Bernard regarding which plants are best for such projects.

CHURCH SERVICES

2018 Feb/March	St Pauls, Cahir     9.30am	Holy Trinity Fethard 9.30am	Old St Marys Clonmel 8.30am 11.00am	Tullaghmeelan 11.00am
March 11th	H.C.	M.P.	H.C. M.P.	H.C.
Sat Mar 17th St Patrick	H.C. @ 9.00am	H.C. @ 7.30pm	HC @ 10.30am	Worship in other church
Mar 18th	9.30AM	H.C. 9.30 AM	H.C. H.C.	Worship in other church
Mar 25th	M.P. 9.30AM	H.C. 9.30AM	H.C. M.P.	Worship in other church
Mar 27th Tuesday	Evening Prayer in St Paul's, Cahir @ 7.30pm
Mar 28th	Compline in Holy Trinity, Fethard @ 7.30pm
Mar 29th Holy Thursday	Holy Thursday Liturgy in Old St Mary's, Clonmel @ 7.30pmConfirmation Candidates will meet with Bp Michael @ 5.00pm
Mar 30th Good Friday	9.30am  - Cahir Vigil at the Cross, Old St Marys 12noon – 3.pm 7.30pm – Evening Office in Holy Trinity, Fethard
Mar 31st	7.30pm Lighting of Psachal Candles @ Old St Marys 9.00pm Ist Eucharist of Easter in St Paul's, Cahir
April 1st	Old St Marys @ 8.30am	Holy Trinity @ 9.30am	Old St Marys @ 11.00am

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