Evening Retreat
I have a vivid memory of an English teacher at school focusing on the word Retreat in a poem. He explained that the word might mean to retreat in battle or to go on retreat and look inward. It took me only 15 years to come to the conclusion that it is the same word. When we retreat in battle we are pulling back from our act of war/aggression, when we go on retreat we pull back from the outside world. The whole idea is to stop and change course or change our mind.
The big treat in store for our Catholic community this year is the Eucharistic Congress next June 10th to 17th. You may have noticed a big sign on the Church boiler-house that we are a Host Parish for the Congress. This means that we are hosting the French speaking community for Mass on Monday 11th June. There will be Mass at 9.30am in French (they will have their own Chaplain!). Also the Church will be made available to them for some of the workshops on two or three evenings of the week of the Congress. More about this later! All are welcome.
Our big event as a Parish, for the Congress, is the Retreat Evening on Mon 30th April 7.30 – 10 pm. The Parish centre will be open and people will be able to stay for all or some of the evening. The Congress theme is ‘Communion with Christ and with one and other’. Our evening will begin with a session from some teenagers on their experiences of bringing help to communities in the Third World. The second part will be a guest speaker, a sort of prayerful lecture. We conclude with a Reflection time of Exposition of the Blessed
Sacrament and we’ll conclude with Benediction.Personally, I’m looking forward to an evening OUT of the Hurdy Gurdy!
Fr. Philip (It’ll be a reTreat for us all)
Thank you for the €1233 which you donated to last Sunday’s collection for the Support of Priests of the Dioceses and for the Share Collection which amounted to €1031.
The collection amounts for Easter Sunday should have read as follows: €1523 was donated to the collection for the Support of Priests of the Dioceses and €1069 to the Share Collection.
The €1295 which was collected at the Mass on Holy Thursday was donated to the Capuchin Day Centre for Homeless People in Bow St. We have received an acknowledgement and thank you letter from Br. Kevin.
Thanks to parishioners who have already handed in their Easter Dues.
Trocaire Boxes may be returned to the Parish where Trocaire will collect them.
This Sundays 10am Mass is part of the ‘Do this in Memory of Me Programme’. This Mass is for children who will be receiving their First Holy Communion here on Sun., May 13th. We welcome the children and their families to our Sunday Mass.
The Milltown Parish Adult & Toddler Group meets in the Parish Pastoral Centre at 10.30am on Friday morning. All welcome.
Students from Alexander College will be confirmed here on this Tuesday April 24th. There will also be a Confirmation Ceremony in our Church on Thursday, May 3rd for students from Enable Ireland.
Our Annual Mass for all those who were baptised here during the last year will take place at 11.30am on next Sunday, 29th April.
The Parish Baptism Team will meet with the parents and God parents of children who are to be baptised here in Milltown during the month of May. This meeting will take place at 8pm on Thursday night in the P.P.C.
A Craft Group meet in the Parish Pastoral Centre on Thursday morning at 10.30am. If you enjoy craft work and would like to join this group please do come along. Activities include knitting, crochet, rug making etc. the choice is yours!
Dublin Diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes:
this Pilgrimage which takes place from Friday Sept. 7th – Wednesday Sept. 12th. Booking forms are available in the Parish Office and further details are on the Church Notice Boards.
In line with Government policy, the Garda Commissioner has directed that from the 30th April 2012, Donnybrook Garda Station will close to the public from 10pm to 8am daily. Members of the public wishing to call into the Garda Station during these hours should instead call to Irishtown Garda Station, Ph. 6669600 or in the event of an emergency phone 999/112.
Catholic Youth Care will have a retreat for Young Adults on April 28th. For further information contact CYC at vjackson@cyc.ie or akeegan@cyc.ie
In preparation for the Parish’s Journey to the 50th International Eucharistic Congress,
An Evening Retreat of Prayer & Reflection will take place in our church from 7.30 – 10pm on Monday, April 30th.
Fr. Michael Collins from the Dublin Diocese will be the quest speaker at this service. Fr. Collins has written many books including ‘The Vatican – Secrets and Treasures of the Holy City’ and ‘The Illustrated Bible, Story by Story’. Both books were published by Dorling Kindersley.
Further details of this service are included in a handout which is available for collection from the church porches.
The draw has taken place for the parish’s allocation of tickets for the Statio Orbis in Croke Park on June 17th. Those who will receive tickets have been notified. If more tickets become available, the remaining applicants will be offered them.
A Family Table Quiz Night will take place in Alexandra College at 7.30pm on April 30th. Funds raised from this event will support two teams of students from Alexandra College who are to help fund and build accommodation blocks in Eugemot Orphanage in Ghana.
PILGRIMAGE TO KNOCK
St Joseph's Young Priest’s Society in Dundrum is organising a pilgrimage to Knock on Sat. 23rd June. Chief Celebrant and Homilist will be Archbishop Charles Brown, Papal Nuncio. Bus departs from Bank of Ireland, Dundrum. More details later. Contact Tony O'Connor 087 2399414, 2982917.
