2nd February 2014

Newsletter for the Parishes of Saggart - Rathcoole - Brittas & Newcastle Parish Team Fr. Enda Cunningham PP St Mary’s Parochial House Saggart. Tel: 4589209 Mob: 087-1380695 Fr. Aidan Kieran CC 1 The Glebe Peamount Road Newcastle. Tel: 4589230 Mob: 087-6397744 Fr. Aloysius Zuribo C.C. c/o The Parish Office St. Mary’s Parochial House Tel: 4589209 Parish Pastoral Worker Mr Sean O’Rourke c/o The Parish Office St. Mary’s Parochial House Tel: 4589209 Mob:087-0540695 Fr. Michael Shortall PC 87 Beechwood Lawns Rathcoole Tel: 4587187 Mob: 087 -2861765 Fr. Michael McGowan PC 7 St. Patrick’s Crescent, Rathcoole Tel: 4589210

We pray for Jim Mansfield (Saggart) who is recently deceased. We extend our deepest sympathies to his family and friends. Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord And let perpetual light shine upon him. Monday 3rd February - Feast of St. Blaise Blessing of Throats The blessing of throats is traditionally offered each year on February 3rd, the Feast of St. Blaise. The blessing of throats will be available after Masses on Monday morning in Saggart (9.30am), Rathcoole (9.30am) and Newcastle (10am). There will also be an extra Mass in St. Finian’s Newcastle at 7.30pm, after which the blessing of throats will be available. Mass with Anointing of the Sick Rathcoole, Saturday 15th February, 2.00pm World Day of the Sick is celebrated every year on February 11th, the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. To mark this occasion in the parish, the Sacrament of the Sick will be offered in Holy Family Church, Rathcoole on Saturday 15th February for anyone who would like to avail of the anointing of the sick at that time. There will be a celebration of Mass at 2.00pm, during which the Anointing of the Sick will be available. You can receive the Sacrament of the Sick: 1) if you have a medical diagnosis; 2) if you are going to hospital in the near future; or 3) if you are over 65 years of age. The sacrament may be received once a month.

Parish Secretary Martina Hopkins The Parish Office St. Mary’s Parochial House Opening Hours: 9.30-1.30 Monday to Friday Tel: 4589209

Accord Annual Collection 15th/16th February 2014 The annual collection for Accord, the diocesan agency for the care of marriage and the family, takes place in two weeks time on Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th February. This collection will replace the usual SHARE Collection.

www.saggartparish.com [email protected]

Good News To Go ‘Good News To Go’ returns on Friday, 7th February in Gardiner St Church at 7:00pm. We will reflect and pray on the question of homelessness - following up on One Thing - which took place before Christmas. We are inviting young people to attend from parishes and groups to take part in a Magis Programme on Friday evening and Saturday on homelessness, with input from Peter Mc Verry SJ. They will also be asked to help on a soup run, and visit the Capuchin Day Centre. Bro. Martin OFM CAP will lead the Catechesis at 7.00pm. The Magis Prog starts at 7:30 call 01 8943164 to book. Further information on www.facebook.com/goodnewstogo or www.magisireland.com

Eucharistic Adoration Holy Family Church Rathcoole Every Friday 7.30 – 8.30pm Items for Newsletter If you have any items for the newsletter, please contact the Parish Office or email to the addresses given below. Please indicate clearly that the items are for inclusion in the Parish Newsletter. Many thanks. [email protected] or

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Presentation of the Lord

St. Vincent de Paul Collection - Newcastle Sunday 2nd February After 10.30am Mass The January collection for the local conference of the St. Vincent de Paul society will be taken up after Mass in St. Finian’s Church, Newcastle on Sunday of this weekend. The date of this collection was changed at the request of the parish.

Mass Schedule Saggart: Sunday: 9 am & 11.30 am Weekday: 9.30 am Rathcoole: Saturday Vigil: 6.30 p.m. Sunday: 10 am & 12.00 pm Weekday: 9.30 am Saturday: 10.00 am Brittas: Sunday: 10.30 am Newcastle: Saturday Vigil: 7.00 p.m. Sunday: 10.30 am Weekday: 10.00am Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri. Confession Saggart: Friday, after 9.30am Mass Rathcoole: Saturday after 10.00am Mass Newcastle: Saturday after 7.00pm Mass Baptism Saggart 2.00pm Sunday Rathcoole 4.00 pm Saturday Newcastle 2nd Saturday 4pm Last Sunday 2pm Please contact the Parish Office Marriage Please contact the Parish Office

Beginning Experience Beginning Experience: is a support group for those coping with the pain of loss of their life partner, through death, separation or divorce. The next coping programme will commence on Wednesday 5th February, for seven Wednesday evenings, at 7.15pm in White Friars Community Centre, Aungier St., Dublin 2. For further information phone 01 6790556 Teen Line for Young People Teen-Line provides a free-phone help-line for young people who may be feeling alone, worried or distressed. We provide emotional support through our non-judgmental, secure and confidential listening service. We are built on the belief that young people from all social, religious and ethnic backgrounds can experience challenging times at some time in their lives. The founder of Teen-Line Ireland is Maureen Bolger, whose son Darren died by suicide. Free-Phone Help-Line 1800 833 634 Our phone-lines are open from 7p.m. – 10 p.m. 7 days per week, and from 3p.m. – 10p.m. on Wednesdays. Annual Diocesan Mass for the Sick Mount Merrion, Sunday 9th February 3pm The Annual Diocesan Mass for the Sick will take place this year in the Church of St. Therese in Mount Merrion on Sunday 9th February at 3.00pm. Archbishop Diarmuid Martin will be the main celebrant on the day. You are very welcome to attend and please bring family and friends who would like to receive the anointing for the Sick. Refreshments will be served afterwards in the Parish Community Centre. St. Joseph’s Young Priests Society Meeting Saggart Parochial House Friday 7th February, 7.00pm This meeting will explore the possibility of setting up a branch of the society in Saggart in addition to the branches which are currently in Rathcoole and Newcastle. The society supports men who have discerned a vocation on the journey to priesthood. All welcome.

Venerable Matt Talbot First Friday Novena Mass and Prayers for Healing especially for those suffering and families directly or in-directly suffering from addiction will take place in St. Agatha’s Church, North William Street, on the 7th February at 7.30pm. All are Welcome. For further information please visit www.matttalbot.ie or call 01 855 4078. Cemetery Masses: Change of Date We wish to give notice early in the year that there is a change of the date for the cemetery Masses in Saggart and St. Finian’s Churchgrounds, Newcastle. The Cemetery Mass for St. Finian’s Churchgrounds will take place in St. Finian’s Church, Newcastle at 10.30am on Sunday 29th June, followed by Blessing of the Graves. The Cemetery Mass for Saggart Cemetery will take place in Saggart Church on Sunday 29th June at 3.30pm, followed by Blessing of the Graves.

Pope Francis—General Audience 29th January 2014—Sacrament of Confirmation In this third catechesis on the Sacraments, we pause to reflect on Confirmation or “Chrismation”, which must be understood in continuity with Baptism, to which it is inseparably linked. These two Sacraments, together with the Eucharist, form a single saving event — called “Christian initiation” — in which we are inserted into Jesus Christ, who died and rose, and become new creatures and members of the Church. This is why these three Sacraments were originally celebrated on one occasion, at the end of the catechumenal journey, normally at the Easter Vigil. The path of formation and gradual insertion into the Christian community, which could last even up to a few years, was thus sealed. One travelled step by step to reach Baptism, then Confirmation and the Eucharist. The word “Confirmation” reminds us that this Sacrament brings an increase and deepening of baptismal grace: it unites us more firmly to Christ, it renders our bond with the Church more perfect, and it gives us a special strength of the Holy Spirit to spread and defend the faith, ... to confess the name of Christ boldly, and never to be ashamed of his Cross (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 1303). For this reason, it is important to take care that our children, our young people, receive this sacrament. We all take care that they are baptized and this is good, but perhaps we do not take so much care to ensure that they are confirmed. Thus they remain at a midpoint in their journey and do not receive the Holy Spirit, who is so important in the Christian life since he gives us the strength to go on. Let us think a little, each one of us: do we truly care whether our children, our young people, receive Confirmation? This is important, it is important! And if you have children or adolescents at home who have not yet received it and are at the age to do so, do everything possible to ensure that they complete their Christian initiation and receive the power of the Holy Spirit. It is important! Naturally it is important to prepare those being confirmed well, leading them towards a personal commitment to faith in Christ and reawakening in them a sense of belonging to the Church. Confirmation, like every Sacrament, is not the work of men but of God, who cares for our lives in such a manner as to mould us in the image of his Son, to make us capable of loving like him. He does it by infusing his in us his Holy Spirit, whose action pervades the whole person and his entire life, as reflected in the seven gifts that Tradition, in light of the Sacred Scripture, has always highlighted. These seven gifts: Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety and Fear of the Lord. And these gifts have been given to us precisely with the Holy Spirit in the Sacrament of Confirmation. When we welcome the Holy Spirit into our hearts and allow him to act, Christ makes himself present in us and takes shape in our lives; through us, it will be he — Christ himself — who prays, forgives, gives hope and consolation, serves the brethren, draws close to the needy and to the least, creates community and sows peace. Think how important this is: by means of the Holy Spirit, Christ himself comes to do all this among us and for us. That is why it is important that children and young people receive the Sacrament of Confirmation. Dear brothers and sisters, let us remember that we have received Confirmation! All of us! Let us remember it, first in order to thank the Lord for this gift, and then to ask him to help us to live as true Christians, to walk always with joy in the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.