By Marian Harnett
PROLOGUE: Hail and Blessed be the hour and moment in which the son of God
was born of the pure Virgin Mary, at mid-night in a stable in
Bethlehem in the piercing cold. At the same hour vouch safe to hear my prayer and grant my petition. Advent prayer.
DEATH: We offer our sincere sympathies to Yvonne Smith and her family on the death of her father Michael Mitchell formerly of Dromtrasna Collins and St. Ita’s Housing and late of Ballinasloe. May he rest in peace. Sincere sympathy too, to Gerard Galvin, Duagh on the death in Limerick of his sister, Sr. Mary May she rest in peace. We also offer our sincere sympathies to Micheal, Noreen and Kathleen and the family of the late Brigid Forde nee Collins, Banard and late of Ballagh whose death was announced at the weekend. May she rest in peace. We were also sorry to hear of the death of Monsignor Liam Boyle aged 91, a native of Rathkeale, and later Knockaderry. Jer Kennelly tells us that “He travelled as chaplain with the Irish soccer team to Rome in 1990 and arranged an audience with the Pope and team was blessed by the Holy Father in front of an 8,000 audience.” May he rest in peace.
CHRISTMAS MASSES: Unfortunately, again this year it is not possible to accommodate all who wish to attend Christmas Mass. According to the public health rules for the hosting of indoor events, the capacity of a venue is reduced to 50%. Two metres socially distancing of people is still required. While this enables us to accommodate more people than attended Mass last Christmas, we still have only 50% capacity. Each individual person who comes into the church, must be counted individually.
In other words, a family cannot be counted as one, each member of the family must be counted separately. This situation needs to be managed to ensure the safety of
all who wish to attend. So again, this year we will operate a ticket system. This year Mass will be celebrated on Christmas Eve at 5.00pm and 7.30pm. Mass on
Christmas day will be at 8.00am, 10.00am and 12noon. Tickets for all Masses will be distributed in the church next Sunday, December 19 between 2.00 – 4.00
pm. Tickets will be distributed on a first come, first served basis. This year St Stephen’s Day falls on Sunday and there will be the usual two Masses on Sunday 26 at 10.00am and 12noon. You may decide to attend Mass for Christmas on St. Stephen’s Day.
MARKET AT THE BARNAGH HUB: The final market will be on the weekend of Friday, December 18 -19 inclusive.
NOONAN’S CHRISTMAS LIGHTS: Why not take a run out to Meenoline to visit the winter wonderland that is Noonan’s Christmas lights.
GLÓRACH BINGO: PRO Lorcan Curtin writes “High winds blowing up from the Feale failed to deter us from holding our penultimate drive-in Bingo last Sunday, with a substantial part of the proceeds going to the Town Park. We were delighted to do so, as two of our volunteers, Celine and Jimmy are actively involved with this wonderful facility that has provided a sanctuary of sanity to so many during the pandemic. Glórach Christmas Vouchers were sold on the day, and for anyone looking for a nice stocking filler we will be selling them again this weekend. This Sunday, December 19th at the GAA grounds will be our final Bingo of the year, and to acknowledge our loyal patrons, all who come on the day will be given tickets for a draw for Christmas Hampers.
Look forward to seeing you at the usual starting time of 1.30 pm.”
COMMUNITY ALERT: How to avoid delivery scams; First, are you expecting a parcel? There’s no need to enter sensitive information to receive one, and none of the major delivery companies will ask for this – if an app or message is asking for this, it should raise alarm bells. Next, check with the company (not the delivery company) where you placed an order using your online account rather than an email. Again, don’t click on links from within the email. If it’s asking for money or personal information, it could be a scam. Check the address of the email sender and if it looks suspicious, ignore it. Watch out for generic greetings and grammatical errors. Got the following message from AIB Internet Banking: “Dear Customer, Criminals use text, email and phone calls to steal your money.We’re removing false websites designed to look like AIB Online Banking. We use text messages to communicate with our customers. Criminals can make their fake text messages look like they come from us. We don’t put links into our text messages. We don’t ask you in a text message to log into Online Banking. If a text asks you to do this, it comes from a criminal. By clicking these links you will be giving them your personal details.Never click a link in a text message – even if it appears to be part of a conversation with us.Criminals call you pretending to be from us, the Gardai or a Government department. They can make phone numbers look legitimate. For our part, we will: Never call you to ask for an SMS or Card Reader code to cancel a transaction. Never give these codes to anyone. Never tell you not to log into Online Banking. You should: Never make payments from your account even if you have been pressurised to do so by any caller. Never let your bank account to be used by criminals. Doing so is illegal. If you believe you have received a false text message, email or phone call, please go to our website and search Security Centre for our contact details. For further information to protect yourself against fraud, visit the Security Centre on our website or refer to Fraudsmart.ie. If you are 65, you live alone or with a person/s aged over 65 you are entitled to receive a monitored alarm system. But if you have younger people living in the house who are out or if you spend long periods of the day on your own then, because you are spending hours alone you are also entitled to the system provided that you are over 65. The free equipment is provided by Pobal following an application from Abbeyfeale Community Alert, there will be a monitoring fee to be paid from the second year of installation to the installing company of €72. There may be some confusion over the word free – the equipment which costs in the region of €400 is provided free of charge by Pobal as is the first year of monitoring but after that you will be charged by the installing company for the monitoring. I have not included the phone numbers of the committee in this notice but if you want to get a panic button then ring Abbeyfeale Garda Station on 068 30010 and they will contact one of us. Should you not have a landline the installing company Task provide a sim card at a rate of €7.50 per month payable from day one with a deposit of 6 months payable on the day of installation. Then, in year two you will also receive a bill for the monitoring fee so in year one the bill will be €90 and in year two and every other year after it will €162 approx. If you wish you can arrange a direct debit and pay this amount off monthly. Committee members are Michael O’Kelly N.T., Chairman Seamus Stack, Secretary Mossie Gleeson, Assistant Treasurer Kathleen Collins, Assistant Secretary Mary McArthur, John O’Sullivan, Billy Quirke N.T., Cllr. Francis Foley, Catherine Daly, Maurice O’Connell, Assistant Treasurer Marian Harnett.