Newsletter January /
February 2017
We held our annual Christmas
Sing Along on Friday 2nd December. The evening was a great
success; we opened the evening with one of our Indian children playing the
piano and closed with an African child parishioner also playing the piano. In
between we were entertained by our own Music Group, the ICA Choir, ‘Now and
Then’ and a new addition to the line up, the Dominican Active Men’s Social
(DAMS). Now and Then performed some of the numbers from their up coming
production of The Messiah, which will be performed in The Priory, Tallaght, in
the week before Holy Week. We had our
usual mince pies, wine, tea and coffee along with a gift stall and raffle. The
evening was well attended with numbers up from the previous year. Thank you to
Ronnie Scott and his helpers for all their work in organising the evening, a
good night was had by all and people were home in time to watch the Toy Show on
RTE+1!
The following evening we
were delighted to welcome the Leinster Singers for their annual
Christmas Concert, they were joined by three pupils from Alexandra College and
the CIE Male Choir. The concert was followed by refreshments in our small hall
where the participants and the audience had a chance to meet.
I was invited as a guest
to the South Dublin Chamber of Commerce Christmas lunch on 9th
December. I am very grateful to the Chamber who managed to find warehouse space
for us to sort out the Christmas Shoe Box Appeal. I’m delighted to say we were
up a third on the number of Shoe Boxes donated to 3,500 for the area.
We had a ‘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 have had infant loss, people came to the churchyard and hung a little
angel in memory of their lost loved one over the Christmas period. Mark and
Melisa set up ‘Light Up the Sky’ in the summer to help families talk about
babies who died and to remember them. Christmas is a happy time but for some
people, who have suffered loss, it is a time tinged with sadness.
I attended St. Martin de Porres 40th anniversary
Mass and former priests lunch. St. Martin’s in the Aylesbury area of Tallaght
was originally Dominican but was handed over to the Diocese around the time I
arrived in St. Maelruain’s. It was a lovely chance to meet up with former
priests of the parish over lunch.
We had a lovely run up to Christmas day
with our Parish School joining us on Sunday 18th at our Children’s
Carol service in the morning which was followed that evening by our Nine
Lessons and Carols Service. Our Christmas services went well and we had our
annual New Year’s Eve multicultural service to welcome in the New Year.
Following on from the ‘morning after the night before’ I was delighted to see
our service on Sunday 1st January so well attended. Thank you to all
who helped over the festive season with readings, music, flowers and
decorations, refreshments and churchwarden duties, it was very much
appreciated.
Since Christmas we are now back into the
full swing of Parish Life and are looking forward to the brighter evenings. On
11th January I was invited to the home of the RC Auxiliary Bishop (for the Tallaght
Area) Eamon Walsh along with the priests of the area for Christmas dinner.
Again, it was a lovely evening and an opportunity to meet with the other
clerics of Tallaght.
Following on from the Alpha course,
which was in held in An Solas Methodist Church at the end of last year, we are held
a ‘reunion’ on 19th January. We have decided to meet up every seven
weeks to continue the fellowship amongst those who attended the course.
On Sunday 22nd I attended, along with parishioners, a service in St. Dominic’s Church, Old Bawn,
for Christian Unity Week. Former Archbishop of Dublin Right Rev. John Neill
preached on ‘Crossing Barriers’.
The start of 2017 has been unsettling in world wide politics and we pray
to God for guidance, wisdom and thoughtfulness for those who lead both home and
abroad. God bless William.
FUNRERAL The funeral of Neville Wright took place in St. Maelruain’s on Friday 6th
January. We express our deepest condolences to his wife Heather and to their
children Shirley, Jennifer and Ian and to their extended family and friends.
BETHANY SUPPORT
GROUP TRAINING The Bethany Bereavement
Support Group is a voluntary parish based ministry which aims to help the
bereaved and grieving. They are inviting five parishioners who would be willing
to attend a twelve week course of training (one evening a week and one full day
on a Saturday) starting in September along with some Taney Parishioners to set up a
parish Bethany Group. To be considered for the course you will be asked to
attend an information evening and also be interviewed. They also ask that you
yourself have not been bereaved within two years. Please contact the Rector for
more information 086 803 0239.
MOTHER’S UNION / FAMILIES FIRST Our pre-
Christmas night was a trip to Tallaght Leisureplex for ten pin bowling. This
was a great success and we had great fun with some of us being more successful
than others! We had a good few bowlers and a few people joined us for supper
afterwards. With all the exercise we had worked up an appetite and we had a
lovely supper of various finger foods and some festive sweet treats. All in all
we had a great night's fun and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. So thank
you to everyone for coming along and making a most enjoyable evening. We had
our Christmas dinner on Monday 9th
Jan in McGettigan’s Cookhouse at Kingwood Hotel, this was our first
visit to the Cookhouse and we were very well looked after and had a lovely meal
at very good value.
Our
next meeting is on 13th
February when our speaker will be Caroline Morrissey, on First
Aid, so do come along to what I'm sure will be a most interesting and
informative evening. As usual our meetings are open to everyone so you don't
have to be a member to come along. You are assured of a very warm welcome.
We had
a lovely letter from Saoirse for our contributions to them especially at
Christmas, so thank you for your ongoing support of this very valuable and
important project. They are hoping for donations of toilet rolls this month.
FLOWERS A big thank you
goes to those who helped with the decorating of the Church for Christmas and to
those who donated flowers for the occasion. The Church looked lovely over the
Christmas.
Thanks
also to Canon William and to Valerie who always arrive with tea, coffee and
biscuits for all. It's a good excuse to stop and have a chat for a while.
We
would welcome new people to join us on the Flower Rota. No experience
necessary, as there is always lots of help to hand, just a willingness to
provide flowers for the Church for two weeks of the year. Please contact Regina
at 4522930 / 0861255161 if you would like to help.
TABLE TENNIS We reopened on January 18th and are looking
forward to shedding those extra kilos we gained over Christmas, all with the
help of table tennis! If you'd like to join us, we play in the Parish
Centre every Thursday at
8pm. We
are open for new members and all standards of player are welcome.
BOWLS CLUB Our
club held its annual Christmas Dinner on 9th December in Lucan Golf
Club. An excellent meal was followed by a great nights dancing and singing. My
thanks goes to Ann and Denis Kane who organised the event and I hope thy will
continue to do so in the future.
Our club competitions are well under way as are the league and cup
competitions. The price team are moving along very nicely while the Rohu is in
a tough group. The ladies and gents are into the quarter finals of their
respective cups.
It is with great sadness we remember Neville Wright who passed away on
Tuesday 3rd January 2017. Neville and Heather were founding members
of our Bowls Club and Neville was captain for a number of years. Our prayers
are with Heather and the family at this sad time.
BOYS BRIGADE The Boys Brigade finished up for the
Christmas holidays on Friday 16th December with some festive fun in
Leisureplex and started back on Friday 20th January. If anybody is
interested in joining Boy’s Brigade please come along on any Friday
evening Anchors 7pm – 8:00pm (ages
4 – 7) Juniors 7pm - 8:30pm
(ages 8 – 11) Company
7pm - 9pm (ages 12 – 18)
GIRLS BRIGADE
Happy New Year from the 26th Company St Maelruain’s Girls’
Brigade!! We are back from a lovely Christmas break, getting ready for
our arts & crafts and dance competitions and already working hard preparing
for our annual show – our Company Display – which will take place on April 1st this year.
The Girls’ Brigade
has been an important part of the St Maelruain’s Parish Community for a long
time now – over 40 years. We are always looking for new members, girls
aged from 3 years old upwards, to join us. If you are interested or would
like some more information, please contact Captain Fiona Monahan on 086
8519163.
WHIST DRIVE The
February Whist Drive is on Monday 20th at 8.00pm in the Main Hall. All Welcome!
CRAFTY CHATTERS We
will be meeting on the 7th and the 21st February from 2 - 4pm in the Parish
Hall. Please get you knitting needles, crochet hook, needle and thread
or anything else you are working on.
The chat is always good and the cup of tea always hot, you would
be most welcome!
PARISH COFFEE Our next Coffee Morning takes place on Friday 24th
February 10.30am – 12.30pm. Do drop in if you can for tea, coffee, cake and
chat. All welcome!
SUMMER SALE 2017 The date for this year’s summer sale has been set, Saturday 27th
May. Thankfully here is a stretch in the
evenings at last and we are now looking forward to spring, time to clear out
those cupboards, attics and garages? Donations of unwanted gifts, furniture and
household items (in good condition!)
gratefully received. Please put the date in your diary and bring along
your family and friends on the day.
