Athea Drama Group are delighted to announce dates for our upcoming play ” The Anniversary “
Pictured here are the cast.
Johhny Corkery, Theresa O Halloran, Louise Ahern, Paul O Connell, Julie Moloney & Shane McEnery.
The dates are: Feb 9th, 11th, 12th, 16th, 18th & 19th 2023.
Annual Going Strong Party
The Athea Annual Going Strong Xmas Party will be held at Top of The Town on Wednesday 7th. December with Mass at 12.30 sharp.
Everyone is welcome and age is immaterial!! Names to be in by 1st December by contacting any of the following :
Eileen: 087 9848247
Peggy: 087 9416223
Mairead 087 6407026
A deposit of €5 is required. A great day is assured.
Noonan Family Christmas Lights
The launch of Noonan Family Christmas Lights will take place on Sunday, November 20 at V94 YH7W with Sam Maguire, Liam McCarthy accompanied by Nickie Quaid and Tadgh Morley. All welcome.
The Way I See It
By Domhnall de Barra
At this time of year you can’t help seeing people wearing the poppy. It is worn to remember all the British soldiers who died in the wars and raises funds for the British Legion which is a club for ex-servicemen. Nothing wrong with that, you might think, but every year it causes controversy, especially on this Island where many people don’t want to glorify anything to do with the British army. In the UK there is great pressure on people to wear the poppy and not doing so is looked on as not being patriotic and leaving the side down. TV presenters and sportspeople are almost forced to wear the emblem. Derry born footballer, James McClean, who plays his football in England, got into trouble with the media because he refused to wear it. One would imagine it was very understandable, given the history of the British army in that city, that somebody from the nationalist side of the divide would have reservations about wearing any emblem that could be seen as supporting the very people who were involved in the likes of Bloody Sunday. Would British people living in Ireland be expected to wear the Easter Lilly in commemoration of the IRA people who died? – of course not yet there is pressure on us all at times and it is wrong. There was a big discussion about the whole thing on the radio last week and some people said they would not wear an emblem that commemorated British soldiers who committed so many atrocities throughout the world while others said the Lily glorified the people who laid bombs in pubs in England during the troubles. The fact is there is no difference between the person who plants a bomb in a public place and the soldier who triggers a missile that will hit a block of flats and kill many people, It is all part of war and war is not nice or played by the rules. By right, war should be fought between armies but civilians became targets a long time ago. In the second world war both the Germans and the British bombed each other’s cities in the full knowledge that they were targeting civilian residential areas.. America dropped an atom bomb on Japan, probably the worst war crime of all, wiping out thousands of people in the process. Yes, war is horrible and we sometimes look at those who take part in it with rose tinted glasses. We have this romantic idea of a brave volunteer who joins up willing to give his life for his country but the reality is far from the truth. In the first world war there were regular career soldiers but the majority were conscripts who didn’t want to be there and those who had joined the army out of economic necessity because there was so much hardship at the time. Many of theses were Irish and there were some who fought because they believed, what John Redmond told them, that if Ireland supported Britain in the war, home rule would be given to Ireland in return. For whatever reason, they found themselves in the trenches and they basically became cannon fodder. Wars are not waged by soldiers, they are the plans of armchair generals who have no problem sending men forward knowing full well that the most of them are going to be killed. We see this in Ukraine at the moment where the Russian army is coming under pressure on the eastern front. They now have three lines of defence. In the front line are the conscripts, including prisoners, who are badly trained and ill equipped. In the second line are the reservists who have been recently called up and behind those is the regular army soldiers who are there to shoot any of the front two lines who want to retreat. So these “soldiers” are basically being killed by their own people. Soldiers do not have a say. They are programmed to obey and to kill and of course there are many in their ranks who are psychopaths and no army has a monopoly on those. Just look at what happened in our own civil war 100 years ago. So whatever way you look at it war is dirty and many crimes are committed by those who take part in it. Should we remember those who died in the wars—yes I think we should. The vast majority of those who died did not have a choice and many did give their lives so that we might be free. It should however be an entirely voluntary act to wear an emblem like the poppy or the lily and nobody should be coerced into doing so. There should also be mutual respect between the two sides and nobody should be made to feel uncomfortable, whatever side they support.
I got a bit of a shock the other day when I took a test and proved positive for Covid. I have had all my boosters and I thought I was in the clear after coming through the last couple of years but no, I was caught. To be honest I thought it was the usual head cold that I get at this time of year which lasts for a few days making me feel miserable but then is gone, but the Antigen test said otherwise. Now, I had heard that this test is not completely accurate so I consulted “Dr. Google” to see what the story was. On one site it stated that there was “positive proof” that the test was accurate but then on another site there was “positive proof” that the test will pick up the common cold. Both were backed up by people with lots of qualifications so, as they say, “you pays your money and you takes your chances”. Anyway, I am feeling fine and working away behind closed doors even though I have tested negative again so that I don’t pass it on to somebody who is vulnerable. I am not happy though because I missed the session in Knockanure on Saturday night and the golf in Ardagh on Sunday. Poor me!!!
Lillian is off sick at the moment so forgive any typos in this week’s newsletter. She has a job correcting my many mistakes every week so I hope you will forgive any you find. My best sometimes is just not good enough!!
St. Bartholomew’s Church Athea
Mass Intentions next weekend Sun Nov 20th at 11 am
Mary Ahern-1st Anniversary. Kieran Sheehy-5th Anniversary.
Antonio Missorici – Month’s Mind.
Ministers of the Word Angela Cafferky & Tom O’Keeffe.
Ministers of the Eucharist Mary Dalton & Angela Brouder O’Byrne.
Annual Remembrance Mass Friday evening Nov 18th at 7pm.
Weekday Masses this week Tuesday morning at 9.30 and Thursday evening at 7pm.
Eucharistic Adoration and Devine Mercy Chaplet on Tuesday morning after mass.
All masses are streamed live on https://www,churchservices.tv/athea
Baptisms on the 4th Sunday of the month at 12noon.
Parish Office: Mon-Fri 11am-1pm. Call 087-3331459 or email [email protected]