Parish Notices Sunday 24th November 2019
The Rector writes ’Next week Carrigaline Community School (CCS) is hosting an award-winning play by Patricia McCann ’Bring me back alive’ about the devastating aftermath of suicide. It deals with the tragic consequences of suicide, while at the same time projecting a positive message that there is help out there and it gives hope to people and the courage to reach out and ask for that help. The Play is produced by ‘Shine a light Suicide & Mental Health Awareness Group’ with an all Cork cast and director Darren Kelleher of Actors Vision.
The play is on in the Carrigaline Court Hotel this coming Thursday 28th and I plan on going to the 11:30am showing (it will be on again around 2pm). If anyone would like to join me , I’ll be in the foyer at 11:15. As a parish, we have contributed a small amount to help CCS offset the expense of this very important endeavour and we applaud CCS and the chaplain Colm O’Brien for their Vision and courage in bringing this thought-provoking play to our area.’
Today is our Annual Gift Day. Thank you for all you already do for and give to our parish not just today but all year round!
Please check your spam/junk mail folders for Parish emails. For some reason emails have stopped going to some Parishioners inboxes. Mark the Parish as a favourite or approved recipient and hopefully this will help as we work on resolving the issue.
A reminder that this afternoon Elaine will be installed as Canon in St Fin Barre’s Cathedral during the Choral Evensong Service at 330pm. All are welcome to join her & it would be lovely to have many of you there.
Christian Aid Calendars for 2020 are available at the back of both churches at a price of €10. Payment can be given to the wardens who will pass it on to John Sweeney, our Christian Aid rep.
Carrigaline Union & Douglas Union with Frankfield Drama are having another wonderful Theatre Supper event this November (7:30pm 28th, 29th & 30th November). Again held in the Canon Packham Hall in St Luke’s Douglas, this year’s plays are ‘A Secret Life’ by Harry Parsons and ‘The Music Lovers’ by George Feydeau . Friday & Saturday are sold out but there are still some tickets for Thursday left with Christine in the office.
Saplings Home Group will meet at the home of Trevor and Millie Kingston on Wednesday 27th November, @ 8pm Please let them know if you can attend. 086 809 1443. All welcome , looking forward to seeing you.
Monkstown Home Group next date of meeting is Wednesday 27th November 20.00 in Sarah Foott’s home Monkstown. We are studying the Lifebuilder text – ‘Images of God’ – Dale and Sandy Larson – all welcome.
Owenabue Garden and Flower club, Carrigaline, will hold their Christmas Gala (supporting Pieta House), on Monday 25 November at 8 pm in St Mary’s school hall. Demonstrations will be given by Ann Slattery- AOIFA. Entry €10, including refreshments. Visitors welcome. Enquiries to 0863222615.
24th Nov Installation of Canon Elaine 3:30pm in St Fin Barre’s
25th Nov Littlies + One 10-12 Parish Hall
27th Nov Holy Communion 10:30am St Mary’s Church
Mother’s Union 8pm Parish Hall
27th Nov Monkstown Home Group 8pm Venue Foott’s Home
Saplings Home Group 8pm Kingston’s Home
28th-30th Nov Theatre Supper Night 7:30pm in Canon Packham Hall
30th Nov-1st Dec Carrigaline Christmas Fayre, GAA Hall
4th Dec Mother’s Union Lunch. 1230pm RCYC
11th December Christmas Film Night,’Risen’ 7pm in the Parish Hall
Mulled wine & Popcorn!
15th December Carrigaline Community Carols, 7:30pm St Mary’s
22nd December Nine Lessons & Carols, 4pm , St John’s Church
24th December Carols around the Crib, 4pm , St Mary’s Church
First Eucharist of the Nativity 11:30pm St Mary’s
25th December 9.30am Eucharist St John’s & 11am Eucharist St Mary’s
29th December 11:15am United Christingle Service St Mary’s
Hannukah Ceremony Service, 4:30 Shalom Park
6th January 10am Epiphany Service in St Mary’s School,
6th & 13th January 8pm Whist Class, Parish Hall
18th January Special Whist Night 8:30pm in Canon McCrea Hall for CEPT Carrigaline Welcomes Group
Random Notes CCCXXIV
November 9th was the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Nine years previously, I had the good fortune to visit West Berlin at the age of 12.
Here’s a picture of my friend Stefan and I standing at the wall near the Brandenburg Gate.
How we got there is a strange story: I was spending the whole summer with German friends to learn the language. Stefan’s older brother, Christian, was a freelance journalist who later developed an interest in theology and church development. Not long after my arrival, he had secured an opportunity to interview Heinrich Albertz, former mayor of West Berlin and Willy Brandt’s successor. Naturally this interview had to be done in person, in West Berlin. When Stefan and I heard Christian was going to Berlin, we wanted to go too. Then Stefan’s aunt got wind of the trip, and decided to join us. However, she had no passport. As she was a social worker, she went to the passport office and got one within 24 hours on the pretext of having to escort two 12-year-old boys to Berlin.
So off the 4 of us went. Even today, Berlin is a 5 hour drive from the Ruhrgebiet where Christian and Stefan lived. We drove right across West Germany and crossed the border into the East near Magdeburg. For the remainder of the journey we were confined to one of only three access corridors West Berlin had with the West. It was a surreal experience: Entering West Berlin involved passing a prominent border clearly marked with tank traps. We arrived mid-morning and set off to explore the city before Christian went to interview Herr Albertz. We stood at the viewing platform at the Brandenburg Gate and looked over the wall into East Berlin with its strange Soviet architecture. We toured the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnis-Kirche, a bombed-out ruin with a new church built inside. A stroll down the Kurfürstendamm revealed it to be bustling but a bit seedy in places.
We had ice cream while Christian went to do his interview. It was not until this year’s anniversary that I discovered its significance: Heinrich Albertz, as well as being a former mayor, was also a prominent anti-Nazi, a Wehrmacht conscript, a Protestant theologian and a politician in the SPD. In 1975, when he was serving in Berlin as a pastor, he intervened in the abduction of mayoral candidate Peter Lorenz by a group loosely associated with the Red Army Faction. As part of Lorenz’s negotiated release, Albertz escorted two released prisoners, Verena Becker and Gabriele Kröcher-Tiedemann, to the port of Aden in Yemen. Lorenz was released unharmed. Albertz went on to join the German peace movement and died in 1993. As for us? After the interview was over, we started on the long drive home in Christian’s old Audi. I slept most of the way home much to Stefan’s disgust. The whole trip was completed inside 24 hours. I did not return to Berlin until 2001 with Michelle, when Potsdamer Platz was a huge building site and the Bundestag had been graced with its Norman Foster glass dome. I have since returned in 2017 for a conference. Berlin is of course transformed completely now, though the less said about Willy Brandt Airport the better!
SJFW
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