Katie Mullane Lynch,Tom Moran and Brendan Lynch, celebrating Limerick’s All Ireland win at The Red Cow.

Jane Stackpool & Mike Guinane who were married in Athea Church on September 1st 2017 by Fr. Michael Cussen assisted by Fr. Brendan Duggan. Jane & Mike have the honour of being chosen to attend Pope Francis’ Mass in the Pro-Cathedral in Dublin on Saturday next, August 26th. Their names were put forward by Fr. Brendan Duggan

Limerick Abú

The drought is over!   After 45 long years Limerick are All-Ireland hurling champions. In a match they dominated for 95% of the time they came perilously close to losing it in the last couple of minutes. Thoughts of the games lost to Offaly and Wexford sprang to mind but this time Limerick prevailed.  Great celebrations on Sunday night. On Monday the sales of Aspirin and Disprin went through the roof!!

Public Meeting   Re: Post Office Closure

A public meeting will take place on this Thursday, August 23rd at 8.30pm in the Con Colbert Community Hall to discuss the proposed closure of our Post Office in Athea.

Eleanor McEvoy Concert

Acclaimed singer-songwriter Eleanor McEvoy will appear at the Glórach Theatre, Abbeyfeale on Friday, August 31st at 8.30 pm.  Most famous for her breakthrough hit, ‘A woman’s heart’, Eleanor has released a wide range of material since, most recently garnering critical acclaim for her interpretations of the songs of Thomas Moore.  Tickets are a reasonable €20 and can be booked at 0871383940.

Church on Trial

By Domhnall de Barra

This week, the World Meeting of Families takes place in Dublin. It is a very prestigious event and a great honour for Ireland to host it but it has been completely overshadowed by the sex abuse scandals in the Catholic Church and how Pope Francis is going to deal with them. There is no doubt that the Church is in crisis and it must be a very trying time for the many good clergymen who are trying to carry on working in their parishes, looking after their congregations.  Because of the vile deeds of their compatriots, they are all now tarred with the same brush and looked on with suspicion.   What happened to young boys and girls, not to mention the unmarried pregnant girls and their babies, was terrible but the cover-up by those in authority was even worse. The institution which was the Catholic Church, had to be protected at all costs so, instead of having the offenders handed over to the police for prosecution, there was a veil of silence put over their deeds . To make matters worse they were allowed to continue in different parishes, free to abuse more and more innocents, some of whose lives were ruined. The people in authority who oversaw this travesty of justice are just as guilty as the perpetrators  themselves and deserve to be at least named and shamed. Though saying sorry is a good thing, it is not nearly enough and concrete measures must be put in place to ensure that nothing like we have recently discovered will ever happen again. The Church has to change as have the clergy. In my young days the priests had great power and were revered in their parishes. I don’t know if we, as youngsters revered them but we were certainly terrified of them. In our area at that time there was only one family who were Protestant and all the rest were Catholic except for one family who were non-believers. We were in constant fear of dying and going to Hell to be burned alive forever. God was not a loving father but someone who was constantly waiting for you to slip up so you could be punished.  Sin was all around us and you tried to avoid it but then there was the sin of going into the “occasion of sin” which carried the same penalty. The sermons at the time mostly concentrated on the sins of the flesh and the promise of fire and brimstone if we misbehaved kept us in a constant state of fear. Thankfully times have changed and young people today learn about a God of love and compassion who wants them to be good but understands when they fall from grace. The number of Catholic families has fallen sharply in recent years due in a big way to all the scandals and the intransigence  of those ion authority to accept the need for change.  The census will tell us the number of Catholics is still high but are they all practicing the faith?  Many will put Catholic as their religion because they were baptised and got their Holy Communion but a great number of those only attend the Church for weddings and funerals.  If the Church is to survive they really must accept that times have changed, people have changed and the days of meek acceptance are over. Pope Francis is a good man and I think he is coming under too much pressure at the moment to make certain statements on his visit to Dublin. He can’t cure everything overnight and it is wrong to expect him to. There are others in the Vatican and around the world who don’t want him to speak out but I am sure he will try. He is not going to please everyone and will continue to be criticised by many of those who were hurt by the Church over the years but we need to give him a chance to tackle the issues and come up with solutions. We should not make this visit by the head of the church all about the abuse scandals. It is seldom a pope will visit our island and the faithful deserve to experience the joy of his presence amongst us and the opportunity to hear the words of a man who has brought a new  humility to the office. This humility is badly needed today. For too long there has been far too much pomp and ceremony and not enough of the type of ministry that Jesus himself espoused. The message of Jesus Christ is a very simple one and if we all followed just one of his commandments; “love thy neighbour as thyself” the world would be a far better place; no wars, no fighting between neighbours  but I suppose that is a dream too far. In the meantime I hope all those who attend will enjoy the Pope’s visit and that the Church will get a boost from it. I also hope that all those  who have been hurt by the Churche’s actions and inactions will get comfort from his words of apology and his determination to usher in  a new and better regime that will put the children of God first.

By Kathleen Mullane

‘What a Game’ 

Oh my God – as I put pen to paper this Sunday evening I’m sure everyone, both at home and abroad who has any bit of Limerick blood in them, is on “A High” . What adjectives could be used to describe the game – the atmosphere and indeed the whole lead up to this memorable day – heart-wrenching, exhilarating, emotional, indeed not for the faint hearted!

The atmosphere in the lead up was ‘Electric’ to say the least and for those who scrambled for the much sought-after tickets and who travelled to Dublin for the game – all agreed that the buzz was unimaginable on the streets of the capital. We here in Athea can thank the Tidy Towns people for putting up flags and bunting and also to all the households, it was great. I watched the match here at home with some of my family and grandchildren – who, incidentally, thought we were all going crazy – jumping around, shouting, shaking and praying! The last few minutes were the longest I’m sure anyone could go through – the emotion at the whistle was something else and I’m sure everyone will relish the win for a long time to come. Dedication, hard work and commitment is the name of the game.

The death took place last week of Denny Falahee, formerly of Templeathea, who had been a sergeant at the Garda training college in Templemore up until recent years. Many paid their last respects at Grey’s funeral home in Templemore on Friday evening last. Requiem Mass at the Church of the Sacred Heart, Templemore on Saturday was followed by burial here in Holy Cross Cemetery, Athea, where again a large crowd came to sympathise with his wife Breda, daughter Trish, sister Bridie and brother Eddie, relatives and friends. ‘May the light of heaven be his’.

A reminder that this weekend Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th sees the collection being taken up for our sacristan Carol O’Connor. Carol does great work each day, organising, preparing, booking masses and doing a whole lot more so please give her the support she so deserves.

Congrats to all those who received their Leaving Cert results last Wednesday. They all did extremely well and hopefully when the college places come out this week they will have the points to get into their respective courses and settle down well into another different area of their young lives.

Best wishes go to John Hunt of Coole who celebrated his 50th birthday along with his family last week. His “big day” is actually today, 22nd and being my godson, I sent him congrats and every good wish. And I’m sure all the young boys he trains for football would like to thank him and wish him the best.

Well to end it’s “Pure Joy on Shannonside now” -and it’s like Christmas Day in August – it’s amazing what an uplift a sporting win can do.

By Peg Prendeville

Denny Falahee with his two grandsons a few years ago.

It has been an emotional week for the family. My cousin Denny Falahee was buried in Holycross graveyard on last Saturday after an illness. He celebrated his 66^th birthday in May. The Faleys and Falahees grew up together and have a great bond which was strengthened on the death of my mother because after that Denny’s mother, Auntie Mary, became a second mother to us. Denny will be greatly missed by all of us but especially by his wife Breda and daughter Trish and his two grandsons Fionn and Fiachra. We pray for comfort for them all. But the tears of sadness turned into tears of joy on Sunday when Limerick, after a nailbiting finish, became All Ireland Hurling Champions after 45 years. No more needs to be said as the whole county rejoices in the success. The green and white flags will be flying for months to come. It has given everybody a lift and given us all reason to smile again.

This is National Heritage week with lots of free events throughout the country. Each library has lots of booklets and details of events.

I am delighted to see that Pauline Sharp’s Art will be displayed in St John’s Theatre in Listowel for the first two weeks of September. Pauline Tee, who lives in Glenbawn, has called her exhibition “Essence of Equine – an exhibition of artworks in oils related to everything equine, including yardmates. Capturing horses of every description in all their beauty.” The exhibition opens on September 1^st at 8pm but continues for two weeks. Try and go to see it and maybe make a purchase. Congratulations and the best of luck to Pauline.

Ballyhahill Parents Association wishes to thank all those who turned up for the cleaning of the outside of the school last Saturday.  Many hands make light work and it was great to see such co-operation.