Right: Local CE Scheme participants, Eddie Barrett, Donncha Quille, Ronnie Twomey and P.J. Langan, erecting the Christmas Tree in Mrk. Park.

Going Strong Christmas Party

The Annual Athea Going Strong Christmas Party will be held in the Hall On December 6th. Mass will be at 12 noon followed by Christmas dinner, dancing, a raffle and afternoon tea. To book a place please ring: Mairead Langan  087 6407026 or Eilish Geoghegan 087 9065042 or in person at the Credit Union.  Payment of €20 will be taken on the day.

Graveyard Collection

It’s that time of year again so Athea Community Council will be sending collection envelopes to every home in the parish in the coming week. This collection helps with providing petrol and machinery to keep our cemeteries in good condition throughout the year. The envelopes may be  handed in to the Credit Union where a box is available or they can be dropped into  the Community Council Office.

St. Vincent de Paul  Christmas Appeal

The annual collection for St.  Vincent de Paul will take place  on this Saturday, Sept 2nd., from 9am to 5pm.  Your generosity is greatly appreciated.

The collection in Glin takes place on Friday 1st also from 9am to 5pm.

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul do great work in helping the needy in our communities, especially at this festive time of the year.

The Way I See It

By Domhnall de Barra

The other day, as I was out walking, I said to somebody passing by, “lovely day”. “it is, thank God” she replied and it got me thinking of how much a part of our lives religion was when I was growing up. It started each day as we got out of bed with morning prayers, then there was grace before breakfast and as we left the house for school, we were sprinkled with holy water and a little prayer that God would guard us and keep us safe on the road. Before the lessons started at school we had morning prayers again and of course we spent part of our day learning new prayers and studying the Catechism. There were two, the green and the red. There was never enough of these to go around so we shared one between two or three.  This sometimes created problems with “nits” in the hair that were easily transmitted from person to person. If my mother saw us scratching our heads, the fine comb would come out and every inch of the head would be scraped on to a newspaper. If the infestation was bad you could actually hear the nits as they hit the paper. Every child in the house had to be done and then some kind of lotion was massaged on the heads. I don’t know what it was called but it had an awful smell. The Angelus was said when the bell rang at 12 noon and we had prayers before we finished school and made our way home. Grace before and after supper followed, before or after the Angelus at 6pm and then there was the rosary and finally bedtime prayers. People entering a house would say, “God bless all here” and other phrases like  “fine day thank God”. God had to be given credit for everything good that happened during the day but we never blamed Him for anything bad !  We attended Mass every Sunday and Holy Day of Obligation without fail and went to Confession on Saturday at least once a month and received Holy Communion the following day. In those days you had to fast from 12 0’clock the night before to be able to get Holy Communion, which was a long time for somebody who was going to the last Mass on Sunday and maybe having to walk a few miles to get to the church. Lent was strictly observed with Fasting a abstinence for the duration anf of course every Friday of the year was a day when meat could not be eaten. So, religion did play a huge part in our daily lives but we didn’t even think about it because nearly everyone was a practising Catholic. The first time I saw the one family in the parish who were Protestant I was surprised to find them quite normal. I don’t know what I expected but we had been told that they were not the chosen people and would be going to Hell forever so maybe I though they would look more evil. Thank God we have left those notions behind us and we now appreciate other religions as well as our own.  Times have changed and people are not as religious as they used to be but maybe they are better that some of those who used to go to Mass every morning and then not practice what they were taught in their daily lives. I know people who would come out of the church after receiving the sacraments and spread malicious gossip about a neighbour. Fr. Cussen once said, at a Mass in Athe, that when we go to meet our maker, we won’t be asked how many times we went to Mass or said our prayers, we would instead be asked how we treated our families and friends. I believe that he is right and that everyone who does good has the same right to the Kingdom of Heaven regardless of what their beliefs are. What religion we practise is decided by where in the world we are born. There are good and bad Muslims as there are good and bad Catholics.

The riots in Dublin the other night were, sadly, very predictable.  There has been an increase in hard core right wing groups all over the world in recent years and their agenda is chaos and racism. Some have genuine concerns but, when they protest, they are infiltrated by a group of people who are out to cause damage and looting. It would be easy to say they are the product of backgrounds in deprived areas but that is not always the case. With some of them holding down very good jobs as well. It is easy to spread disinformation and hate in these days of mass media and there are those who believe everything they read. Yes, there is a problem with immigration. Ever before the Ukraine war, people who came here for asylum were left in direct provision for years sometimes before the government made a decision on their eligibility. There is also no doubt that we, as a nation, don’t have endless resources to deal with the numbers that are coming at the moment. We are only a very small island on the fringe of Europe and we should only have to deal with our fair share. That being said we should have a Céad Míle Fáilte for all those immigrants who are living and working in our community. They are not taking our jobs, as a matter of fact we are depending on them to keep some of our vital services going. There is plenty of work to go around. Ireland should be the last place on earth to deny genuine immigrants an opportunity to better themselves. After all didn’t our fore fathers go all over the world because they had to. There isn’t a family in this country who hasn’t got somebody who emigrated in the past. Some of them, too, suffered discrimination and racism but we should learn from that and realise that we now have a new Ireland, a land that is diverse but one that is being enriched by that very diversity. Don’t be taken in by people whose only agenda is to cause mayhem and damage. They represent nobody but themselves

Church Notices

Ide Naofe Pastoral Area   (Athea, Abbey Feale, Mountcollins, Templeglantine and Tournafulla).

Canon Tony Mullins 087 2600414, Fr. Willie Russell 087 2272825, Fr. Denis Mullane 087 2621911 and Fr Dan Lane 087 2533030 (retired).

Baptism Information: Next baptism date is Sunday December 17^th at 12 noon and on the fourth Sunday of the month thereafter. Contact parish administration for details.

Parish Administration: Tues-Fri 11am-1pm. call Siobhan on 087-3331459, outside these hours

text or email [email protected]

Mass Intention Sun Dec 3^rd : Denny & Birdie Ahern. Bob Guiry & Kitty Hough. Nora McCoy.

William & Mary Broderick.

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

Outdoor Advent Wreath at St. Bartholomew’s Church Advent is a time of expectation and hope filled with rich traditions. “Advent” means “arrival” or “coming,” and it prompts us to pause each day in December and remember why Jesus came at Christmas. The advent wreath and candles provide beautiful symbolism for each week of advent as we wait for Christmas to arrive. The advent wreath is made up of five candles in total – three purple candles symbolising Hope, Peace and Love, one pink candle symbolising Joy, and one white ‘Christ Candle’. Advent lasts for four Sundays leading up to Christmas, beginning on Sunday December 3rd. This year, a large outdoor Advent Wreath will be placed at the front lawn of St. Bartholomew’s Church. On each Sunday evening of Advent, a short prayer ceremony will take place outside the church at 5pm, where the community will be invited to come together for the lighting of the candles. We would like to extend a special welcome to families and children and every member of our community.

BODHRÁN COMPETITION

The annual Bodhrán Competition was held at Batt’s Bar on Friday night last. The organisers, Francie Flavin and Jerry Brouder would like to thank all those who took part in the competition, adjudicators Domhnall de Barra and Eibhlín Broderick, Helen Barry of Batt’s Bar for her sponsorship of the beautiful trophies, Jack Quaid for the amplification, all those who bought raffle tickets and  the sponsors of the spot prizes.

A great night was had by all.

Results:

Junior:  1st. Paddy O’Connor, 2nd. Darragh Ó Cinnéide, 3rd. Feidhlim Watters, 4th Eoin O’Connor

Ladies: 1st. Tríona Ní Cinnéide, 2nd. Elizabeth Scanlon.

Confined: 1st. Jerry Brouder,  2nd: Liam Broderick, 3rd: Paddy M. Griffin

Open: 1st: Mike Walsh, 2nd: Jerry Brouder, 3rd: Paddy M. Griffin.