Thanks to Dalton Family, Dirreen for lighting the final candle of Advent on Christmas Eve, representing Sophie Mulligan. Declan done the reading and young Paddy Dalton had the honours of lighting the candle. Thanks to everyone who attended the lighting of the candles each week, and to all who provided the refreshments, the music, and those who took part in the readings. Diocese of Limerick Athea Parish Church Community

Happy New Year to you all and what a start!  We are iin the middle of the worst snow storm we have seen since the early 1060s with many homes without electricity, water or  internet connection. Because of this there is no hard copy of the newsletter this week but hopefully we will be back on track next week. The following piece came in before Christmas but somehow fell through the craks and got ommited. Apologies to Timmy Woulfe and The O’Sulloivan family.

                                   Patie

Patie Sullivan has passed on, one of the great Atheanians of our generation. A stalwart of many activities, probably my most regular contact with him being through the Credit Union. Founded in 1968, at the time it was dominated by men, where Patie used his vast knowledge of local events, helped by his daily communication with milk suppliers. Patie’s judgement was central to loan applications in the early days. During these times also, the Credit Union, with Patie on board, presented a strong backbone that prevented amalgamations with stronger units of the association. With the passing of Patie, the male domination of the Credit Union is almost completely extinct and Patie would be quite happy with this, considering the calibre of each of the outstanding female directors at present. Patie was held in high regard by all, as a long serving welcoming face at the creamery, loved and adored by his family, especially his nieces and nephews and by the community at large. We will remember him for his spontaneous smile and friendly words for everyone. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam uasal.

Timmy Woulfe

The Way I See It

By Domhnall de Barra

As all the fuss of the Christmas period dies down the weather has really taken a turn for the worse. As I write this piece the snow is coming down heavily giving us the biggest fall we have had in recent years. Many people can’t even get out of their driveways and, unless completely necessary, nobody should drive on roads that in places are treacherous. I got out this morning because I have a four wheel drive Yeti with great off-road capabilities and I went to Abbeyfeale for a few essentials. There were only two other people in the whole of Super valu so the shopping was easy except there were no papers and the milk and bread shelves were empty. Some places have no electricity so, all in all, not a great start to 2025. This is the time of year when we used to look forward to the Wren (pronounced “ran”) nights. The younger generation won’t know what I am talking about but some of you will have fond memories of those nights. Every townland had its own batch of wrenboys in the days when there were no cars and we walked  through as much of the parish as we could gathering a few bob in every house.  Some batches would go out on Christmas night to cover the local area and a route would be planned for the following day. There were houses where we knew we would get a drink or a little food and we made sure we visited houses that had family members home from England for the holidays because they would be very generous to our cause. It was a long and tiring day, tramping from house to house, and we were lucky if the weather was favourable. I remember well getting severe pains in my legs on a St. Stephen’s night when I tried to get some sleep but it was all worth it. The next plan was to get the use of a house for the party.  Most of the local houses had the same layout with a big kitchen the centrepiece where  the big fireplace heated the building and allowed meals to be cooked.  This is where the dancing would take place and  another room was needed for eating. A third room, probably a bedroom would be used as a cloak room and the back kitchen was where the porter was kept.  A group of the leading wrenboys would go to town to buy all the necessities for a good night. There were no fancy drinks in those days so the list was short: a barrel of porter, a bottle or two of whisky for the wrenboys and raspberry wine for the women, you wouldn’t get away with it today!  Bread and sliced ham were also purchased with maybe a barmbrack thrown in for good measure. On the night of the party the first order of business was to tap the porter barrel. There was a knack to doing this and there was always someone who could be relied on to do so. The bronze tap came separately and had to be hammered in to the barrel pushing a wooden bung before it. The trick was to hit the tap hard enough with a mallet to  drive in the bung replacing it with the tap but not so hard as to drive it too far which would allow all the porter to spray out. Musicians would be hired for the night which usually started around 9 or10pm and would last until daylight the following morning. People from around the neighbourhood would be invited to  enjoy the revelry free  of charge but anybody from outside the area could “join” for a fixed fee.  The dances were mainly polkas but in some areas the reel, set and hornpipe were also danced. Four men would gather in the centre of the room and when the music started they would invite the women to join them. Every now and then people would be invited up to the room for tea and sandwiches and somebody went around with a bucket full of porter filling up the mugs and “pannies”. (a “panny” was a tin mug). I have great memories of wren nights in Johnny Patsy Mick’s, Dave Connor’s and May Herbert’s, we even had one in our house when I was very young. The musicians were seasoned entertainers and knew exactly what to play for the dancers. There was a fiddle player whose real name was McMahon but was known as “Gregero”, Patcho Gleeson the flute player, Colm Danaher and Timmy Woulfe along with Jack Gleeson on accordions and later myself and the late Timmy Keeffe and Vincent Barrett did our bit. It was hard work but we got a break when a singer was asked to perform and before we knew it the night would be over. It might sound like very little now but, back then when we were all poor, it was a great occasion and brought all the neighbours together for a bit of much needed fun.

Church Notices

Parish Pastoral Unit (Athea/ Abbeyfeale/ Mountcollins/ Templeglantine/ Tournafulla).

Fr. Tom Mangan 087-2348226, Fr. Willie Russell 087 2272825, Fr. Dan Lane 087 2621911.

Mass Intentions: Sunday Jan 12th – Frank Sheehy 1st A/v. Sr. Rosarii O’Sullivan – 1st A/v.                        Sean O’Halloran. Vincent Barrett. Joseph O’Connor (Upper Athea). Joe Brouder (Con Colbert St.).

Michael Flaherty & his wife Kate, daughter Mary & nephew John. Bernard & Nellie O’Sullivan and their grandson Kieran.

Masses this Friday evening at 7pm will be the months mind mass for Canon Patrick Kelly RIP.

To book a Mass intention contact the sacristy after mass or contact Siobhan on 087-3331459.

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

Baptisms take place on the fourth weekend of the month. Parents who wish to baptise their child in the next few months should contact Siobhan on 087-3331459.

Parish Administration: Tues-Fri 11am-1pm. call Siobhan on 087-3331459, outside of these hours text or email [email protected]     Facebook:  Athea Parish Church Community

Canon Patrick Kelly months mind mass on Friday January 10 th at 7 pm in St, Bartholomews Church Athea .All are welcome to say final farewell  to our former Parish Priest.