Autumn / Winter 2021
It’s
good to be sitting down to write a Newsletter, the first one since Spring /
Summer which covered up to our Easter Vestry. We are still in very precarious
times with Covid19 but it has been good to open the Church doors again to our
parishioners albeit with the pews spaced for sitting with every third pew,
which we can reduce if numbers require. We are also putting families who enter
through the fire door in the choir stalls close to me for my children’s sermon
and there is also space on either side of the platform. We continue to have our
8.30am service in the Small Hall which proves to be a comfortable setting. We
now have over one hundred and fifty services saved on Facebook and continue
with the service online for our faithful band of viewers. Thank you to our
videographer who films the services while taking care not get any shots of the
congregation in order to comply with GPDR.
I would
like to thank our Organist Joyce Smart who has retired after over thirty
years of faithful service to St. Maelruain’s. We are very grateful to Joyce for
her dedication to the parish. Over the years she rarely missed a Sunday and I
really appreciated all her help in choosing the music for our Services and her
input into our festival services. We missed Joyce over the last eighteen months
of Lockdown.
Braeden
(who is the son of our deputy Church Warden, Boswell) has agreed to be the organist
for the foreseeable future, we are grateful to him especially as he is studying
hard.
We had our
Harvest Service on Sunday 10th Oct at 11.00am & also on Facebook
live. Thank you to Gerard Moody, our relief organist for playing, for encouraging
Braeden & our three masked singers & also for playing at funerals.
Our three
ladies sang the harvest hymns with masks on, (perhaps as they all work in
nursing it wasn’t a problem for them) thank you ladies as they continue to do
so. It was a lovely service and the Church looked beautiful.
A big thank
you to the ladies who Decorated the Church for Harvest. They normally
have a morning together and put their creative skills into action but this year
they decided to do their arrangements at home and drop them off to the Church
on the Saturday. The Church looked
fabulous and every one of our flower stands was used. We also are very grateful
to local sheep farmer Donie Anderson for donating a hay bale and vegetables etc.
to make for a fabulously decorated Church for our Harvest service.
While
thanking the ladies for Harvest, I would also like to take the opportunity to
thank them for all the arrangements they created during the period of Covid19.
Our videographer used their arrangements for our one hundred and fifty plus Facebook
Live posters and of course they were a lovely focal point for our services
which continue online.
Church Flowers
I’m sure you will all agree, it has been lovely
to see flowers in the Church all through lockdown and that Lionel did a great
job with his photography skills enhancing the Church for our Facebook viewers.
As the members of the flower guild couldn’t gather or go into the Church during
lockdown, in order to comply with rules, I met William outside the Church and
gave him a fresh arrangement when necessary. I feel it worked well and I’d like
to thank the two ladies (you know who you were!) who donated towards the cost
of the flowers for Easter . It was much appreciated.
However, please goodness we are trying to get
back to some sort of “normal” and we’ve returned to the flower list. Thank you
to those who have done flowers recently.
We
have lost two valuable members, as they have moved away from the Parish. Miriam Gibney has moved away and
returns for short periods of time and Janet Edgely has moved to the Mageough .
I might add that these two ladies, despite not being here, have continued to
pay for and provide arrangements for the last two or more years and we are deeply
grateful to them. They were both involved with us for St. Maelruains Flower
Festival eight years ago and were two much valued members.
As
a result, we are looking for more people to help us in the flower guild, as
many as are willing. We usually split a month between two people, so each
person is responsible for two weeks only. No experience is necessary, oasis and
container can be provided and I am willing to meet and help anyone who needs a
hand to get started. Once the arrangement is in the Church, that person is
responsible for checking it, watering it and replacing and dead material for
the next week, if necessary. We do the arrangement at home and simply ring
Hazel to arrange to leave it in the Church.
We decorate
the Church for the festive occasions as in Christmas, Easter and Harvest and
these occasions are an opportunity to have a chat with each other and meet,
inside or out for a cup of coffee.
We need people as soon as possible, so if you
can help us, please text me or give me a ring on 0861255161 and we’ll take it
from there.
Thank you - Regina
On Saturday
10th July Barbara, a former parishioner who is Canadian and has
moved to Mountmellick had a tradition of having a BBQ for Canada
Day (1st July) invited the Bible Study to a BBQ in her new home.
Barbara is a keen gardener and we had a lovely afternoon in her beautiful
garden. It was great to see her happy
and settled into her new home. Barbara keeps in contact with us by joining our
Bible Study on Facebook Messenger. One of the advantages of technology is that
Barbara can continue to join us.
I had to
take my holidays later this year than I normally do and while I was away the
annual ‘Light up a light’ took place in Jobstown. This is an event which
began in 2006 when local woman Mellissa Lutterell suffer a miscarriage and
found support to be lacking. Mellissa came up with idea of lighting lanterns
and sending them up into the sky in memory of babies lost through miscarriage,
neo natal death and SIDS. It has evolved into an annual event with doves and
balloons released by parents in memory of their babies. Gail Sheridan led the group
attending in prayer on a beautiful, end of summer evening. Unfortunately the
group attending could not go for refreshments afterwards in Tallaght Leisure
Centre at they did in previous years but they were compensated by such a lovely
sunny evening. Thank you to Gail for representing me.
As life
began to return to some sort of normal we decided to take part in ‘Culture
Night’ on 17th September, as we have done in recent years. The Church
doors were open from 4pm and early on I welcomed a newly qualified Italian tour
guide who was leading a group of local people around the area. We had a steady
flow of people over the course of the evening but numbers started to dwindle
earlier than in previous years so I closed up at 10pm. In other years I had
people call on their way home from town to see if we were still open but this
didn’t happen this year. Most of the people who did visit were couples and
families. Needless to say, I had the doors of the church wide open and masks
were mandatory. It was great to be able to welcome people into our beautiful
church again even in the ‘new’ normal.
On 5th
November TUD (ITT) held their Remembrance Service for those members of
staff and students who have passed away since the College opened. In my
capacity as part time chaplain I preached last year for the online service so this
year I was delighted to be able to preach to a congregation.
We had our Christmas
Shoe Box Appeal on Sunday 7th November.
Our Bible
Study has moved from Thursday evenings to Tuesdays at 8pm on Zoom, please
contact me on 086 803 0239 it you would like to join us.
Engagement: We have been
joined in recent years by a young American woman who also blesses us with her
insight at our Bible Study. Rebecca is one our parishioners who cycles to
church, as pre Covid she cycled to work to the International Financial Services Centre. She recently
came to church with her fiancé Paul with news of their engagement. Paul is a local man, hence Rebecca started
coming to Church in Tallaght. Congratulations and every blessing for their
future happiness.
Wedding: In late May Annama and John’s daughter, Sharon, who
grew up in the parish was married to Leo in the Indian Orthodox Church in St.
George and St. Thomas,
C of I Church, Cathal Brugha
Street. I preached at the service in the morning
and as I sat in the Sanctuary and looked down at the open glass door and the
socially spaced family and friends, I had forgotten what a lovely Church it is. They then came to our Parish Hall to cut the
cake.
Baptism: On Sunday 24th October we had the
baptism of Zaya Sanusi baby daughter of Malik and Tosin (nee Kuti) We welcome
Zaya into Christ’s flock and pray for her and her family.
As in the
African tradition the family came to the Sanctuary with an offering and for a blessing
and keeping Covid safety in mind, they went outside from the Font at the back
of the Church and then in the fire doors to access the Sanctuary where they
remained seated.
Funerals: The Funeral of Margaret Ezekwe (nee
Yates, as her Northern Irish father was an engineer in Nigeria) took
place here in St. Maelruain’s on Tuesday 11th July. We extend our
deepest condolences to her children James, John, Yvonne, Andrew and their
respective families and friends.
The funeral
of Philip Bailey took place on the afternoon of Monday 13th
September. We extend our heartfelt condolences to Philip’s wife Trish, his
young son Mason, to his parents Ronnie and Kay and to his siblings, Sharon,
Wendy, Rhonda and Ronald and also to his wider family and friends.
On 22nd
October the funeral of Esther Osinuga
took place here in St. Maelruian’s. We extend our sincere sympathies to her six
children and to her extended family and friends.
Friday 16th
October was World Developmental
Language Disorder (DLD) Awareness Day. We are very lucky in Tallaght to
have a local newspaper ‘The Echo’ which is celebrating it’s 40th
anniversary this year. David Kennedy founded the paper and has been very good
to Tallaght Parish over the years, supporting our various events such as our
Summer Sale, Harvest, Carol Service, Christmas Sing Along and other concerts
and events held in the parish. They also ask me for my ‘Christmas thought’
every year to be published in the paper.
It was
great to hold for the second year running
David’s
daughter Emma, who is the Echo office manager, has a son with DLD and came to
me to ask if we would light up the Church in yellow and purple on October 16th
to help raise awareness of DLD. As a dyslexic myself I was happy to be of any
assistance so St. Maelruain’s was lit up in purple (portable spot lights) and
yellow (our flood lights are already yellow sodium light). Other public
buildings across the city were likewise lit up such as City Hall / Dublin
Castle, the Red Cow Inn and City West. Let’s hope DLD Awareness Day brought
this condition to the attention it deserves.
Sunday Services (11am
Services also on Facebook Live)
8.30am Service Holy Communion each Sunday. 11.00am Service Holy Communion: 1st and 3rd
Sundays of each month. Morning
Prayer: 2nd and 5th
Sundays of each month.
Family Service: 4th Sun of each month. 1st
Wed of the month Holy Communion
with prayers for the sick 10.00am
