By Kathleen Mullane

Happy Easter 

“May God bless you all this Easter and keep you all year through

May God give you all the faith it takes, to make your dreams come true

May his love & wisdom always help to guide you on your way

May His light shine down upon you now to bless your Easter day”.

Wishing everyone a very Happy Easter and hopefully the weather will clear up for the kids for their Easter holidays.

The Easter ceremonies this week are as follows:

Wed: 7.20pm Stations of the Cross & Mass.

Holy Thurs: 8pm Commemoration of the Lord’s Supper, renewal of commitment by the Eucharistic Ministers and from 9pm to 11pm there will be adoration at the Altar of Repose followed by a holy hour.

Good Friday: 3pm The Lord’s Passion, Veneration of the Cross & at 7.30pm Stations.

Holy Sat: The Easter Vigil Mass at 9pm and the lighting of the Paschal Fire.

There will be an ‘Open’ Alcoholics Anonymous meeting as always in the hall on Good Friday night at 9pm. Everyone is welcome to what is always a very well attended meeting.

Also on Good Friday it would be great if as many as possible could help with the Tidy Towns clean-up – even on their own stretch of road where already many bottles, cans & rubbish can be seen on every approach road. This would be a great learning experience for our youth who are very welcome to help out (younger children to be supervised). You can ring 087-9042477 if you need gloves & rubbish bags etc. All help greatly appreciated.

You can now buy the DVD of the exceptional “Real McCoy” at Brouder’s Shop here in Athea and Anne Lyons’ in Abbeyfeale. A great keepsake to have from Athea Drama Group.

Congrats to Noelle Tedford (daughter of Bridget, Hillside Drive, Athea) who celebrated her 30th birthday along with friends in Abbeyfeale on Saturday night last.

The old dressing room at the GAA pitch has been converted into a gym. People have already donated gym equipment that they didn’t need, so if anyone else in the parish & beyond has any training equipment they no longer want the club would be delighted to get it.

Don’t forget to return your Trócaire box this weekend or as near to Easter as possible, or you can put your donation in an envelope with ‘Trócaire’ written on it. Trócaire do amazing work with the poor  & underprivileged & Easter, as we know, is a special time for ‘giving’.