18th January 2015

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. 2 Carrigmore Place Saggart, Co. Dublin Tel. 01-4589209 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 Parish Secretary Martina Hopkins The Parish Office St. Mary’s Parochial House Opening Hours: 9.30-1.30 Monday to Friday Tel: 4589209 www.saggartparish.com [email protected]

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

[email protected]

Parish Pastoral Council Meetings There will be a meeting of Newcastle Parish Pastoral Council on Monday 19th January at 7.30pm. There will be a meeting of Saggart/Rathcoole/Brittas Parish Pastoral Council on Tuesday 20th January at 8.00pm. If there is any matter you wish to bring to the attention of either council, please contact one of the members of the relevant council or one of the priests of the parish. Congratulations Johanna Canelones and Dylan Carey Congratulations to Johanna Canelones who was confirmed by Bishop Eamonn Walsh at 12 Noon Mass in Rathcoole on Sunday last,11th January, the Feast of the Lord’s Baptism. Johanna will marry Garry McCarthy in February, and we wish them every blessing and happiness in the future. Congratulations also to Dylan Carey, who received his First Holy Communion from Bishop Walsh at the same Mass. Dylan was presented for the sacrament by his proud mother and father, Jennifer and Wayne.

Closing Date for Primary School Enrolment Friday 30th January 2015 is the closing date for applications for children to be enrolled in in all of our local primary schools this year. This is for children to begin Junior Infants in September 2015. Please contact the appropriate school office for more details. Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament St. Finian’s Church, Newcastle Monday 26th January, 7.00-9.00pm There will be adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in St. Finian’s Church, Newcastle from 7.00 9.00pm on Monday 26th January. The time of adoration will finish with an informal benediction. All welcome, whether you can come for ten minutes or two hours! Thank You From Holy Family Community School Holy Family Community School would like to thank the parishioners from Saggart/Rathcoole/Brittas and Newcastle for your generosity with the Church gate Collection for Concern in December. A total of €1600 was raised from the Church gate collections at all churches. We would also like to thank all local business in Rathcoole, Saggart, Newcastle and Citywest for their generosity in donating spot prizes for the School Raffle in aid of Concern. We wish everyone a happy and blessed New Year. Study the Catechism of the Catholic Church In February, in conjunction with the parishes of Clondalkin, we will be launching a study course of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which was published in 1992. The course will involve 6 modules of 12 weeks at a time. It is envisaged that 2 modules will be delivered each year. The first module will begin in February. Further details in the coming weeks.

Second Sunday of the Year

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

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity This year's Inaugural Service will take place in St Bartholomew’s Anglican Church, Clyde Road, Dublin 4, on Sunday 18th January at 3.00pm. Fr Damian Mc Neice, will preach the sermon. This year’s theme is “Give me to drink” (John 4:7) All are welcome. Prayer resources for the entire week can be found at http://www.ctbi.org.uk/681

MASS IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE PEOPLE OF FRANCE St. Mary’s Pro-Cathedral Dublin 13th January 2015 Homily Notes of Archbishop Diarmuid Martin Abraham Skorka is a Jewish Rabbi in Buenos Aires who has been a friend of Pope Francis for many years. Yesterday he wrote a striking article as a broad reflection on the significance of the events of the past week in France and on the challenge it brings to all of us, whatever our faith or belief or culture, wherever in this world we live. The article began with the words of God to Cain in the fourth chapter of the Book of Genesis, a text which is honoured by all three Abrahamic faiths: “Cain was very angry and downcast. God asked Cain, 'Why are you angry and downcast? If you are doing right, surely you ought to hold your head high! But if you are not doing right, Sin is crouching at the door hungry to get you. You can still master him” But Cain decided to ignore God’s invitation, rather: “He said to his brother Abel, 'Let us go out'; and while they were in the open country, Cain set on his brother Abel and killed him”. If we fix our hearts on doing what is right, we can still today master the effects of evil. That is our sentiment this afternoon as we gather in solidarity with the people of France and those anywhere in our world who suffer the effects of violence and evil. Rabbi Skorka reflects on how in the twentieth century the confused passions of European societies came to shape dramatic conflicts which left behind a trail of death and destruction never seen before. In two World Wars and in numerous conflicts and persecutions, “those elements which within a civilized culture can curb the potential for destruction which always lies within human hearts were shattered”. We must never allow that to happen again. If we fix our hearts on doing what is right, we can do that. If not, we open the path to violence, destruction and death. Rabbi Skorka stressed that every act of violence and barbarity represents the bankruptcy of the culture which inspires it and he added “when religion becomes a constitutive component of such barbarity it reflects the complete failure of the purpose of religion”. He called on religious leaders to have the courage to develop a religious dialogue which knows how to unite hearts. He called on religious leaders of every creed, alongside those whose lives are inspired by science, by the arts and by all other forms of human creativity to commit themselves together, explicitly and unequivocally, “to take up the challenge which God posed to Cain and overcome every instinct towards destruction with the strength of our spiritual forces”. That is the challenge which, as believers and non-believers alike, we face as a human family. The events of Paris last week have shocked and stunned us. It was an attack on a city, on a nation, on a culture, and on democracy. But our reflections on the attack on ideas should never take away from our sensitivity that it was an attack on ordinary people, men and women, who woke up that morning to go about their daily tasks and never returned to their families. We pray for all those who were the victims: those killed and wounded and traumatized and their families. We pray for the perpetrators: those who fell victim to destructive instincts exploited by false and disparaging visions of faith and life. We need to build up a culture of dialogue and respect. We must do it honestly and with the courage to tackle what is wrong in our own hearts, in our own cultures, in our own religious traditions. We must condemn violence wherever it takes place. We must condemn with equal strength every form of violence. We must condemn violence not just because it strikes us with shock and horror on one particular day. Every single act of violence has within it the seeds of spreading and destroying. Violence is not less serious or of lesser concern to us when it happens in places and contexts which are distant from us, as in the violence in the Middle East or the horrendous violence in Northern Nigeria. Where we allow violence to flourish anywhere, we are breaking down those factors which curb the capacity for destruction which is always lurks deep in human hearts. As Christian believers, we know that the power of the love of God enjoys no limits when we embrace it, as our first reading reminded us: “Nothing can come between us and the love of God”. As followers of Jesus Christ, we are constantly called to reflect on what it means to feel abandoned, as Jesus did as he cried out on his Cross. But Jesus’ cry of personal abandonment was the precursor of all those who place their own fulfilment and ambition and pride in second place in the lonely and fearful task of building up a different society, where decency replaces depravity, where vision can numb the blindness of hate, where tolerance flourishes into understanding, respect and love. If you are doing right, surely you ought to hold your head high! But if you are not doing right, Sin is crouching at the door hungry to get you. You can still master him” If we fix our hearts on doing what is right, we can still master the effects of evil today and in the future. The challenge of belief in a God of life and love is to challenge the destructive passions of human kind wherever to raise their ugly head. May the God of love, of mercy and compassion guide us and enlighten the hearts of all of us who with courage dream dreams of peace.”