Parish Notices Sunday 22nd January 2017

The Rector writes ‘We are in the middle of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which is always held from 18th to 25th January each year. 

This year’s the theme is ‘Crossing Barriers’ and the content was prepared by the German Churches.

 We , that is,  myself, Fr Pat Fogarty (Carrigaline PP) and Fr Sean  O’Sullivan (Monkstown PP) have planned an Ecumenical Service in St Mary’s Church Carrigaline at 7.30pm next Wednesday 25th.

We are delighted that Dr Andrew Pierce, the Assistant Professor of Ecumenics in the Irish School of Ecumenics, Trinity College Dublin, is going to join us and speak to us.  I hope that as many of you as possible will come along next Wednesday to celebrate all we have in common.’

 

Missing……

Has anybody seen the Glass Cover for the Wall Clock in St Mary’s? The Churchwardens have exhausted all avenues at this stage so are appealing to anyone who might have spotted it on its travels, please talk to Hilary Warren-Perry or Rowland Njoku if you can help. Thank you.

DIOCESAN MAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTIONS for 2017 are due by 31st January. The annual subscription is €25. Please pay Rowland Newenham or the Church Wardens.

CONFIRMATION  If there is anyone you know of in the parish who might still wish to be confirmed, please contact the Rector immediately.  The classes will begin on Saturday 4th February and it won’t be possible to join in once they have begun.

Monkstown home group will meet again on Tuesday 24th January at 8pm at Hazel and Jonathan Fleury’s house. All welcome. Enquiries to John Sweeney 087-0656290.

Owenabue Garden and Flower club, Carrigaline will hold their AGM in the Canon McCrea Hall in St Mary’s School on Monday 23 January at 8 pm.  This will be followed by a quiz. Enquiries to 086 3222615.

THEOLOGICAL BOOK CIRCLE are currently reading ‘The Shack’ by William P. Young and will meet in the Rectory on April 3rd to discuss. All welcome!

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

23rd Jan         Toddlers plus One 10am

Monday Club 3-5pm Parish Hall

24th Jan         Monkstown Home Group 8pm Fleury’s home

25th Jan          Holy Communion 10.30am St Mary’s

Ecumenical Service for the Week of Prayer for  Christian Unity 7.30pm St Mary’s.                                       Preacher : Dr Andrew Pierce, Trinity College

27th Jan         CAMEO. Monkstown Sailing Club. 10.30am

29th Jan         United Service 11am St Mary’s Church

Service of Wholeness & Healing 7pm St John’s

9th Feb          Friendship Club 11am Rectory

12th Feb        Sunday Club 11am Parish Hall

 

Random Notes CCXIX

Sometimes driving out of Cork city provides an opportunity for reflection (without taking your eyes off the road of course).

This morning, after a school visit to Midleton, I had the opportunity to stop at a striking piece of public art which is positioned just to the north of the N25, just before you get to the Midleton – Whitegate roundabout.

This sculpture is “Kindred Spirits” and is installed in Bailic Park beside the main road.

“Kindred Spirits” was sculpted by Alex Pentek, in memory of an extraordinary gift by the Choctaw Nation to the Irish people during the Famine. 13 years before the Famine, the Choctaws were forced by the American army, at gunpoint, to march across mountains and snow. They were stripped of their land in Alabama, Mississippi and Florida, and had to walk 500 miles to Oklahoma.

The journey became known as the Trail of Tears and 2,500 Choctaw Native Americans lost their lives over three years.

Despite the gruelling hardship suffered by the Choctaw, in 1857 they raised the then considerable sum of $170 ($4,400 in 2017 dollars) to alleviate the suffering of the Irish people during the Famine.

The sculpture, consisting of nine stainless steel eagle feathers, commemorates this act of kindness. It was installed in 2015, in the middle of a biodiversity refuge at the edge of Midleton.

The sculpture was formally unveiled in 2016.

If you’d like to go visit it, turn left at the roundabout on the N25 outside Midleton, then the next left past St Mary’s school and then Midleton CBS. Bailic Park is at the end of the road. The sculpture is easily visible as the nine feathers stand 6 metres tall in the middle of the park.

 

SJFW

 

Photos by SJFW.  Some material taken from the Irish Examiner.

See https://www.choctawnation.com/news-events/press-media/choctaw-irish-bond-lives