Norrie Stack with her sons, Mike and Johnny, daughter Mary and granddaughters Sarah and Jackie at her 90th Birthday celebration in the Community Hall on Saturday last.

Norrie Stack, Cratloe
celebrating with her children and grandchildren at her 90th Birthday Celebrations

Noah and Mia Nash on Noah’s First Holy Communion Day

ST. BARTHOLOMEW’S CHURCH, ATHEA

Mass Intentions next weekend- Sat April 23^rd 7.30pm

Eileen Brosnan, James Nolan, Josie O’Sullivan, Con Higgins, Thomas McKenna & Phil Pyke.

Denny & Eileen Kelly and their daughters Peggy & Helen,

Rita McLaughlin and her husband Jimmy and her parents James & Catherine McAuliffe.

All masses/services are streamed live on https://www.churchservices.tv/athea

Parish Office Hours – Monday, Wednesday and Friday 11am-1pm

Contact Siobhán on 087-3331459. or email the parish office at [email protected]

if you wish to book an anniversary mass, make an enquiry about a christening or a wedding,

arrange a signed mass card etc. and all administration queries.

Any parent wishing to baptise their child must have completed a baptismal course – details with the parish office.

Eucharistic Adoration and the Devine Mercy-

Every Thursday afternoon 3-4pm

Thank You. Sincere thanks to all who assisted in the preparation and celebration of our Holy Week Ceremonies.  Thanks also to you the parishioners for joining us in the church for this special week.

Sincere thanks for your continued financial support. We wish you and your families a joyful and blessed Easter.

Farewell Fr. Brendan

We wish Fr Brendan all the best as he leaves us this week.

Fr. Tony and Fr. Denis will be taking over responsibility for the parish from this week onwards.

The local Pastoral Area includes the parishes of Abbeyfeale, Athea, Tournafulla, Mountcollins and Templeglantine. Fr. Denis and Fr. Tony are assisted in the overall running of the five churches in the pastoral area by the Pastoral Area Council. The Pastoral Area Council is comprised of representatives of the five churches in the area along with the priests of the area.

A number of readjustments will be made in all the parishes in the area to enable Fr. Tony and

Fr. Denis provide all the necessary pastoral services to parishioners in all five parishes.

Changes to Weekend Mass Times in Athea

With effect from this coming weekend April 23/24 our weekend masses will reduce from two to one.

Mass during summer time will be on Saturday evening at 7.30pm and will switch to Sunday mornings during the winter time.

Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann

There was a real “Fleadh” atmosphere at the Top of the Town on Sunday evening last as musicians, singers and dancers from West Limerick and North Kerry joined forces to entertain the large crowd that attended the Fleadh Cheoil fundraiser. Over twenty musicians took part, with more than half that number being in their early teens. The music was top class and the singers didn’t let it go with us. A highlight of the night was when three young sean nós dancers took to the floor. Thanks to everyone who contributed to the fun and to the people who supported the raffle. Jerry Brouder donated a new bodhrán which was auctioned by Jack Quaid and fetched €100. Thanks Jerry. Next night is in Knockdown on the 23rd.

Sun Shiny Day for Knockdown Vintage Run.

After a two-year absence we are delighted to say that once again a brilliant day was had by all who attended the Knockdown Vintage Club Annual Charity Road Run on March 27th last.  A massive crowd turned out both by way of participants and spectators and a wonderful family atmosphere prevailed, with the weather also in our favour.

The Club had great pleasure in welcoming Vintage Cars and Tractors from far and wide.  A marvellous spectacle was enjoyed by all.  A very sincere thanks

to every one for their presence both by way of participants and spectators.

The day would not be possible but for the generosity of Ta and Ita Mullane for the use of their premises and for the wonderful entertainment supplied by Big Maggie and Billy.  As always, a huge Thank You to Killeaney Soccer Club for the use of their facilities.  Without them the event would not be possible.

Our thanks to the very kind Gentlemen on Motorbikes and to the other individuals who turned out on the day to assist with stewarding, parking, leading the way on the runs and for maintaining good Health & Safety standards.

Numerous amounts of spot prizes were donated to our raffle, and we would very much like to say thank you to all those businesses and individuals whose generosity has not gone unnoticed.  Thanks also to the people who very kindly gave of their time to sell Raffle Tickets.

Our Auction was also a huge success, thanks to all those who donated items for this event.

This year we opened an “I donate” page and this too was another successful venture and to those who contributed we say “Thank You”.  The page remains open if anyone still wishes to donate. www.idonate.ie/fundraiser/KnockdownVintageClub2022

One of the highlights of the day was the participants picnic stop at Foynes Yacht Club which was thoroughly enjoyed by all.  Many thanks to the Yacht Club for facilitating this.

No one should have gone home hungry on the day as there was a spectacular array of excellent food supplied.  Our sincere thanks to all the Sandwich Makers, Cup Cake Creators and Apple Pie bakers who so generously supplied us with loads of goodies. Thanks also to the wonderful ladies who helped serve the food on the day.

Thanks to all of our Club Members for all of their hard work leading up to and during the event.

The beneficiary of this year’s event is The Irish Community Air Ambulance.

And we are pleased to announce that in excess of €7000.00 was raised on the day. Again, a huge thank you to everyone.

The Date for our presentation night to be held in the Knockdown Arms will be furnished at a later date.

We look forward to seeing all of our friends and patrons on the night where we can guarantee a night of fun and frolics.

The Way I See It

By Domhnall de Barra

There was a man on the radio the other day being interviewed on a book he had written. Some of it had to do with the relationship between success and happiness and whether one was responsible for the other. This is something I have been thinking about for a long time as I watched people strive for what they thought was success by accumulating more and more money. The problem was, no matter how much they had, it wasn’t enough to make them happy. There are people in this world who are so rich that they could alleviate poverty in most of Africa but they spend their every waking hour trying to increase their already massive bank balances. What is success anyway?  It can come in the form of a victory on the track or playing field, the winning of an Oscar but most of us see it as having a good career or making loads of money. Money, as one of my friends said one time, isn’t everything but it is very handy when you go shopping. As long as we have enough to survive and keep ourselves clothed and warm, the material things we crave will not make us ant happier. I remember when I was young I wanted to have a bike of my own. Eventually I got one from my mother who had used it for years and I was happy for a while. I wanted to get a “man’s” bike with a crossbar to look more “manly”. Eventually I got that but then I wanted to get one with a three speed gear. Eventually I got the top of the range, a racing bike with the handlebars turned down and I was on the pig’s back for a while. The novelty soon wore off and I turned my eyes to motorbikes. I started off with a small one but, as with the bicycles, I wanted bigger and better until I got a 650 AJS, the biggest bike on the market at the time. I had the misfortune to crash on that bike at 120 mph and luckily am alive to tell the tale. That ended my fascination with two wheel vehicles and I wanted to get cars. The same pattern ensued, always wanting bigger and more powerful until I realised that it was the dream that was important, not the reality. If you get a new car it is wonderful at first and you think everybody is looking at you with envy but, after a while it is just another vehicle to take you from A to B. Life is like that. Young people today are obsessed with exam success that will give them enough points to get their desired University course in the hope that they will have successful careers. It is great to see that they now have that opportunity, unlike my generation, but getting to the end of that line is not guaranteed to bring happiness. If they are lucky enough to work in a profession they love they will be happy but there are a number of people who are very well paid jobs that they hate. The man who wrote the book said we should ask ourselves what three things we would do differently if we had our lives over again and what three things made us happy. If we think about it carefully, I bet most of us will not mention the accumulation of wealth. Relationships, family and  health are where the real success stories lie and we should embrace every opportunity we get to enjoy them. There is so much beauty around  in the fields and woods, on the beaches, in the boglands yet we mostly ignore it and fly off to places like the Costa del Sol for our holidays to fry on the beach each day and get drunk in the club at night. In my own case I look on my family as my wealth. I take great delight, and a bit of pride too, in the successes of my children and the love and affection of all the grandchildren. I look forward to their frequent visits and of course they are never far away now with face time on the smart phones.  It is also great to visit them in Denmark and America and the fact that myself and Noreen created this family makes us a definite success even if we are not millionaires!

Boris Johnson’s government has decided to send illegal migrants who reach Britain to Rwanda for processing. This is a very cynical way of getting rid of the problem. Their reasoning is that many of those who have risked their lives crossing the seas to reach the country are economic migrants rather than refugees from war zones. Of course there will be a small number  who want to get a better life for themselves but the vast majority are genuine refuge seekers who will now be put on a plane and shunted off to Africa. Johnson hopes that after a while they won’t bother coming at all and his objective will be achieved. What a huge difference between what we in Ireland do for those in need and what the British regime do. I wouldn’t expect any better from Boris Johnson, a man who, if he had any shred of decency, would have resigned when he was found out to have lied through his teeth about having parties in 10 Downing Street. He lied to the public in the lead up to Brexit and then shafted a decent woman, Theresa May, who had secured a good deal with Europe but not enough for Boris and his Tory hard liners who still think they rule the world. He lied when he accepted the Protocol on Northern Ireland using it as a delaying tactic  and always had the intention of backtracking at a later date.  He has been found guilty and fined for breaking his own lockdown rules; any other leader in a democratic state would have resigned but he will hang on to the bitter end. There must be a few level headed members of the Tory party who have to realise that he is gone  past becoming a liability and should be told to go. He has brought politics to a new low and will be remembered for all the wrong reasons. He will not be remembered fondly by those unfortunate victims of war throughout the world who now find that in Britain there is no room in the inn.

Sharon Reidy Walsh presenting a cheque for €3,865 to Annmarie Hayes, proceeds of the recent Quiz at the Top of the Town, in memory of the late Pa Walsh