Pew Sheet – 28th July 2024

The Rector writes  ‘Some of you asked me to print the Bishop Hélder Câmara quote I used in my sermon last week so here it is

‘‘Accept surprises that upset your plans, shatter your dreams ,give a completely different turn to your day and who knows? to your life! …  Its not chance … Leave God free to weave the pattern of your days.’

Dom Hélder Câmara (1909 – 1999) was a Brazilian Catholic priest who served as Archbishop of Olinda and Recife from 1964 to 1985 during the military dictatorship in Brazil.  A self-identified socialist, he was an advocate of a theological approach ‘Liberation Theology’ that emphasised the “liberation of the oppressed”, he also challenged unjust socio-economic conditions and was an passionate advocate of political liberation for oppressed peoples. 

Another well known quote from this remarkable man is

“When I give food to the poor,

they call me a saint.

When I ask why the poor have no food,

they call me a communist.”

That says it all really.’

There will be no midweek Services during August as the Rector is on vacation until 25th August. In the event of a  Pastoral emergency, please contact the Revd Canon Robert Ferris 085-800720  

Thank you. 

Dates for your Diary

Friday 9th August.

Diocesan Outing for Mary Sumner Day
Meet for coffee at 11.45 at St. Mary’s Parish Hall, Carrigaline before a link Communion Service with Lichfield Cathedral Diocese at 12.30pm. Lunch at 2pm and tour of Fort Camden Meagher at 3pm. for those who wish to do so.
Cost: Tour €5 and lunch €13. (Soup and sandwiches and coffee/tea.) Please contact Deirdre (0862612442) before Monday 29th July to confirm you are coming and arrange lifts if necessary. 

Booking is essential for the caterer to know numbers. Should be a lovely day for us all, so do come!

Sunday 25th August

This will be Síle Hunts last day with us before she heads out to the diocese as a fully fledged Lay

Reader!  We will make a little presentation to her at both services.

Sunday 1st September

The Sunday Club will now meet on the first Sunday of the month. 11am in the Parish Hall.

Sunday 29th September

United Animal Blessing Service at 11am in St Mary’s Church.  (no 9:30am Service)

Service of Wholeness & Healing at 7pm in St John’s Church.

My Fourth Time, We Drowned

Fáilte Cork is the name of the Community Sponsorship Group towards which both St Mary’s and St John’s parishioners, individually and collectively donated €1250 in retiring collections and other individual donations on Sanctuary Sunday.

Fáilte Cork are grateful to Kelly Buckley for speaking on the day, to Simon Woodworth for leading the services and to the parishioners for donating so generously. We have now reached 50% of our €10,000 target.

Fáilte Cork have invited Sally Hayden, author of the multi-award-winning book “My Fourth Time, We Drowned” to participate in a public interview in the Aula Maxima in UCC on Thursday 12 September (c. 5-30-7 pm).

This book is a groundbreaking work of investigative journalism in which Sally Hayden reveals the fate of innumerable migrants trapped Between the EU’s borders and the traffickers and criminals exploiting them.

It is about those seeking refuge on the World’s deadliest migration route, the Mediterranean Sea.

The book received the highly prestigious Orwell Prize for Political Writing in 2022, and has also received numerous other awards, including the Michael Déon Prize, An Post Irish Book of the Year, and one of the New Yorker’s Best Books of 2022.

As Carrigaline Union of Parishes is a Church of Sanctuary, and I am one of your representatives in that role, I would like to promote this event.

If anyone wishes to buy tickets to this public interview (€10 each) please contact me.

Thank-You for reading this!

 Rowland Newenham 0872522541

Random Notes CDLXV

It’s been almost two years since Seán and I travelled together to Kilimanjaro. My last visit there was in January this year. The project is coming to an end now and will wind up in August. So, what have we achieved?

The academic stuff first: We have a number of papers in progress and should have at least six under review by the end of 2024. Scientific papers are the bread and butter of any academic discipline – if we don’t publish it didn’t happen! We are making the birth registry itself available under a Creative Commons license so anyone else can use it anywhere else in the world.

A version of the registry is running in Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre, where about 9,000 births are recorded annually. The data gathered are used for further research work with a view to reducing maternal and child mortality. Our project reduced the cost of this registry from $12,000 per annum to close to zero.

It gets a little more complicated when we look at what we did out in the dispensaries and clinics. The electronic system worked perfectly well, and everyone agreed it was much better than the paper system it replaced. The Regional Medical Officer was very keen on it and was enthusiastic about deploying it everywhere (he said this at a meeting during Seán’s first morning in Kilimanjaro). Unfortunately, this good sentiment never translated into action, so we were unable to expand beyond our original five sites. And, as the project is wound up this August, even those five sites will revert to paper.

Are we back to square one? Not quite. The registry will continue to run indefinitely in the main hospital. The €1,500 that Seán handed over on behalf on the parish helped to build the new Kangaroo Mother Care unit. This is proven to reduce child mortality.

See https://www.infantcentre.ie/2022/09/15/phd-profile-dr-aisa-shayo/ for more details.

We’re also looking at expanding the project to more countries, this time with a view to getting health ministry commitments from the start so, when the new registries are up and running, they stay running indefinitely. We submitted a preliminary proposal a couple of months ago for a €5,000,000 project covering Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia and Rwanda. At the time of writing, we have now been invited to submit a detailed proposal in September.

If we are successful, researchers from Ireland, England, Norway, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Rwanda will join forces to improve maternal and child information systems in selected regions of Africa over the next few years. Wish us luck!

SJFW