JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2019
FROM THE RECTOR
We had our
Annual Christmas Sing Along on Friday 30th November in the Parish
Hall. We were grateful to the local ICA choir, DAMS (Domincan Active Men’s
Social) choir, the Now and Then (who debuted some of the numbers from their
forth coming show Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, which they
will perform the week before Holy Week) and last but not least our own Music
Group. It was a lovely evening and we are very thankful to Ronnie Scott and his
helpers for organising the event. We raised just over €2000 at the event.
Tallaght
Community Forum/Tallafest had their ‘Unwrapped’ event with the lighting of the
Christmas tree in Tallaght Village before parading 300 lanterns to the Council
Buildings Christmas tree passing by St. Maelruain’s (and a stop off to use our
facilities) along the way on Sat 1st December. An event which gets
us all into the festive spirit and an opportunity to come together as a
community. (A lovely photo was printed in the January Church Review magazine)
On
Monday 10th we hosted the ITT, DIT and BIT 1916’s Bursaries in the church as the
individual colleges prepared to come together as Technological University
Dublin. I did enjoy reminding them that Tallaght has been a place of learning
since the 8th century and that St. Maelruain’s Church is the site of
the original monastery.
At the start of February, December and
Christmas seem like a distant memory so writing these notes gives me time to
reflect on the festive season of 2018. The 14th was a busy day for
me, I attended the Parish School Christmas Bazaar, the Tallaght Chamber of
Commerce Christmas lunch followed that evening by
‘Christmas’ Tree of Angels in the church yard (our common graveyard is used by
the local community). Parishioner Mark Luttrell and his daughter Melisa (who lost a baby through
miscarriage) are raising awareness for the need to have a means to remember
those who have had infant loss, people came to the churchyard and hung a little
angel in memory of their lost loved one on the tree.
We had the decoration of the church on
the morning of 15th December. We are very fortunate in St.
Maelruain’s to have such a talented group of ladies lead by Regina and Vivienne
in our Flower Guild who so beautifully decorated the church for the Christmas
season, thank you to all involved.
On Sat 16th our
Good News Club had the rehearsal of their Nativity Play followed by their
Christmas Party and then at our 11am service the next day they performed their
Play for the congregation. Well done to all involved. That evening we had our
Nine Lessons and Carols which was well attended and supported by the wider
community. Thank you to all who read at the service and thank you to Noelle who
organised the ladies for the refreshments following the service.
On 21st our
Parish School had their Christmas Concert when we sadly said our goodbyes to
our school principal of two and a half years, Helen Molloy. She is moving to
become a non teaching principal in a school closer to her home in Co. Carlow.
We are very grateful to Helen for how she turned our school around in the time
that she has been in St. Maelruain’s. A presentation was made to Helen after
the concert on behalf of the parents and we expressed our gratitude to her with
her future endeavours.
We had our Family Service
on 23rd with a great turn out to start our Christmas Celebrations
then on Christmas Eve we had our
‘midnight’ Holy Communion at 11.30pm, on Christmas morning we had our 8.30am
Holy Communion with Hymns which was followed by our Christmas Day Family Holy
Communion at 11.00am, all services were well attended as well as the Sunday
after Christmas. On New Year’s Eve we
had a Multicultural Service with an appreciative congregation at 11.15pm to
welcome in the New Year.
How many of us make New
Year’s resolutions that by February have been well and truly broken? The
beginning of the year is a hard month to makes changes with the evenings dark
and the weather generally fairly miserable. I would like to remind readers that
Lent is a second chance to make changes, spring is in the air and Lent is a
definite period with enough time to form new habits.
Since Christmas I have attended Bishop
Eamon Walsh’s priests Christmas dinner in the Priory, I preached for Christian
Unity in St. Mark’s, Springfield and I have been attending a course on homelessness
in Rua Red. On 27th I went to the annual Holocaust Memorial Day in
the Mansion House and to finish the month off I was invited to Mount Seskin
Community School Multicultural Day followed by a visit to St. Dominic’s
National School for Grandparents Day. God Bless William.
FUNERALS
On 13th
December the funeral of Ruth Scales took place here in St. Maelruain’s. We
extend our deepest sympathies to Ruth’s husband Robert and to their children
Arthur, Elaine, Sylvia and Elizabeth and their families.
We also extend our sincere condolences to our Auxillary
Priest Rev’d Avril Bennett on the death of her father, George on 27th
December 2018 in Cork.
UPCOMING CONCERT
There will
be a Spring Concert in aid of St. Maelruain’s on Sat 23rd February
at 7.30pm featuring soloists and the Plurabelles Girl’s Choir, an evening of
popular classical content. Donations at the door.
CONFIRMATION
The
date for St. Maelruain’s confirmation has be set for Sunday 9th June
(Pentecost Sunday), if you or your child is interested in Confirmation please
contact the Rector on 086 803 0239
CHURCH REVIEW
Subscription of €40 on
orders of the Diocesan Church Review Magazine are now due (thank you, if you
have already paid) please forward payment to Parish Office or
leave on the plate in Church in an envelope with Church Review Sub and your name marked on it. Thank
you.
MOTHER’S UNION / FAMILIES FIRST
I would
like to extend our sympathy to Rev Avril Bennett and her family on the recent
death of her Dad on 27th Dec & also Hendrika Mahon & her
family on the death of her mother on 1st Jan. Please be assured that you &
your families are in our thoughts & prayers at this sad time.
We had
a very pleasant evening in McGettigans Cookhouse in Kingswood on Monday 14th Jan. There was a small turn out due to
a lot of sickness and clashes with other events but all there had a
lovely evening and as usual we were well looked after by the lovely Cookhouse
staff. It was great to see some people who hadn't been well recently out again.
Our next meeting is on Monday 11th February 8pm in the small hall and the speaker will be Colin White from the Irish Kidney Association who will talk to us about organ donation. This meeting should be very interesting and something we should all know about and is open to anyone who would like to come along. Saoirse are looking for toilet rolls and Vivienne Bright is on the tea rota. Everyone is welcome to our meetings so please feel free to come along. Thanks very much - Valerie
BOWLS CLUB
We have being busy with league matches since we started back
for the New Year. Well done to the Miller team who have progressed to the
next round. Also the McIlwaine and Rohu teams are busy playing their matches.
Heather
TABLE TENNIS
We're back in action after the Christmas break and enjoying
Thursday nights. If you would like to give table tennis a try, join us
any Thursday at 8 pm in the Parish Centre. All are welcome , no experience
needed!
FLOWERS GUILD
Thank
you to the ladies that came and helped decorate the Church for Christmas and to
everybody who donated flowers and greenery. The Church looked lovely for
the Carol Service and for Christmas itself, though with the long break
between the Carol Service and Christmas, it was difficult to keep the flowers
alive and many had to be replaced for the 25th . Thank you to those
who supplied replacement flowers too having already provided for the Carol
Service. It is much appreciated. Thank you too to William and Valerie who keep
us supplied with tea/ coffee and biscuits and chat as we work We are pleased to
welcome Jacynta Sage, Norma Kingston. Hilary Armstrong and Barbara White who
join us this year. Many thanks to you all.
Flower list 2019
Jan. Regina Donoghue & Vivienne Bright.
Feb. Hendrijke Mahon & Vivienne Bright
March. Sun 2nd only . Hilary Armstrong.
No
flowers in Lent from March 6th to April 20.
April. Jacynta Sage & Barbara White (20th to 30th)
May. Mary Lucas &Liz Norris.
June. Janet Edgely & Liz Norris.
July. Patricia Slack & Norma Kingston .
Aug. Iris Harley & Miriam Gibney. Liz Berkeley
Aug 21st and 28th
Sept. Sisily Paul & Annamma John. Eileen Dunne Sept 15th
and 22nd
Oct Teresa Seale, Lorraine Cahill, Lorna Carroll.
Nov. Regina Donoghue & Heather Kennedy.
Dec. Carol Laughlin & Audrey Fletcher.
Jan 2020. Alison Kennealy & Eve Hutchinson .
The
Church will be decorated for Easter on SAT. 20th APRIL 2019. All help
appreciated! Please contact Hazel, 4513608 to arrange to get into the
Church. Thanks Hazel! Regina.
BOYS BRIGADE
If anyone has a boy that may be
interested in joining Boy’s Brigade please
come on down we would love to have them.
Friday evenings: Anchors 7pm – 8:00pm
Juniors
7pm - 8:30pm Company
7pm - 9pm.
GIRLS BRIGADE
The
Girls Brigade have returned from their Christmas break, and are busy getting
ready for District and National competitions which will be coming up soon. If
you are interested in finding out more about our Company, please contact
Captain Fiona Monahan (086)8519163.
WHIST DRIVE
Our
next Whist Drive is on Monday 18th February at 8.00pm in the Main Hall. All
Welcome!
CRAFTY CHATTERS
Crafty
Chatters will meet on the 5th and 19th February from 2 - 4pm in the Parish
Hall. We are all delighted to hear Mary is back on her feet again and
hope to see her back in Crafty Chatters very soon. Janet
PARISH COFFEE MORNING
Our next Coffee Morning takes place on Friday, 22nd
February at 10.30am. Join us for a cuppa and a chat, and bring a friend
along too. All welcome.
