Lies Damn, Damn Lies and Statistics!
At the beginning of Feb I wrote an article about School patronage. I referred to the fact that Milltown Parish doesn’t have a Parish/Catholic school. The Irony being that the majority of the families with children of Primary school going age come from the Mount St Anne’s area, where the previous Primary and Secondary Schools were.
At a national level there is considerable interest in Schools and their patronage. The numbers of children under 12 in Ireland is on the increase. The issue was also raised at the Donnybrook deanery meeting which took place on Mon last.
When there is only one National school in a parish and it is under Catholic Patronage, then there is a considerable responsibility on the Patron to cater for other faiths. If the school has extra places when the Parish Children are taken care of, then any other pupils are actually entitled to a place (subject to certain policies and E. U. regulations). And some parishes have huge schools that are half empty, and thus find it very difficult to make’ financial ends meet’!
Our Archbishop looked at this issue very soon after becoming appointed to the Diocese. In many ways he began this conversation.
But of course, it is much more complicated than this. We need to keep ourselves informed. Some elements in our Society seem to want to remove Catholic Schools from the scene completely. So please do read the attached article which is very interesting.
Fr. Philip Adm (Faith is caught not taught!)
Thank you for the €1,368 which you donated to last Sunday’s collection for the Support of Priests of the Parish (& Dioceses) and for the Share Collection which amounted to €1,099.
Trocaire boxes are available at the back of the church. Please collect one on your way out. Ailish Ni Rian from Trocaire will address the congregation at all Masses this weekend.
The Dublin Simon Community will have a church gate collection after all Masses this weekend. Simon have long relied upon the support they receive from the community in order to continue their work with the homeless. Please be as generous as you can.
HYMN BOOKS:
The copies of the Hymnal which are available in the church are on loan from a neighbouring parish. We ask parishioners to refrain from taking these books home with them!
LITURGY GROUP MEETING:
The Parish Liturgy group will meet at 8.30pm on Tuesday March 12th.
PRAYER WITH SCRIPTURE:
This Parish Group continues to meet during Lent at 8pm on Tuesday evenings in the Parish Pastoral Centre. They extend an open invitation to anyone who wishes to join them.
The Milltown Parish Active Retirement Group has arranged a visit to the Chester Beatty Library on Tuesday March 12th. A guided tour will commence at 11.30am.
LENTEN LECTURES IN MILLTOWN:
What has happened to Vatican II? The next lecture in this series will be on Wednesday March 13th. Una Agnew will talk on ‘Spirituality of Everyday Life; the Universal Call to Holiness’. Further details on this series of talks are on our Parish Notice Boards.
Rathmines Parish:
‘St Paul and his letters’ a series of Lenten talks by Sean Freyne will continue in St Mary’s Community Centre, Richmond Hill, Rathmines on Wednesday, 20th March starting 7.30pm all are welcome.
RECRUITMENT OF CHURCH CLEANERS -
We urgently need some additional volunteers to help with the weekly cleaning of our church. If you have an hour or two to spare during the week perhaps you could consider joining this ministry. Please give your name to Fr. Philip if you are interested in joining this group of parish helpers
MILLTOWN PARISH BRIDGE CLUB
Parishioners are invited to apply for membership of the Bridge Club. There are a limited number of places now available. Players of all standard are welcome. Play night is Wednesday of each week from 7.30 p.m. to 10.30 p.m. approximately. Unfortunately there are no lessons available for beginners March.2nd t at 7.30pm. New members welcome.
There are French Classes available on Wednesday afternoon in the Parish Pastoral Centre for 5 – 12 year olds. Class sizes are small. For further details please contact Zinit May at 086, 1044498 or email Zinit at Zinit.may@gmail.com.
Archbishop Michael Jackson, Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, will give a lecture in St. Mary’s Haddington Road Ballsbridge Dublin 4 on Thursday 14th March 2013 at 8.00 pm. The lecture is entitled “Mission and Hope”. Admission is free.
MA in Chaplaincy Studies & Pastoral Work:
MA in Chaplaincy Studies and Pastoral Work, 1 Year Full-time & 2 Years Part-time commencing this coming September 2013.
Mater Dei Institute of Education are now accepting applications for their MA in Chaplaincy Studies and Pastoral Work. The MA in Chaplaincy Studies and Pastoral Work course provides academic, pastoral, spiritual, personal and professional development for those already working or wishing to work in the above contexts who seek to enrich their skills in the areas of Faith Development, Chaplaincy and Chaplaincy Coordination. For details about the programme visit www.materdei.ie/chaplaincy-studies or contact T: 01 808 6518 E: admissions@materdei.dcu.ie
Bach St Matthew's Passion:
On Good Friday two years ago the Golden jubilee of St Pius X Church Templeogue was celebrated with a memorable performance of Bach's St John Passion. The Jubilate Choir who sang that work has reassembled to sing Bach's magnificent St Matthew Passion in St Pius X Church Templeogue, on Monday 25th March (the Monday of Holy Week). There will be two adult choirs and a children's choir (St Pius X Boys' National School) and they will be joined by a list of distinguished soloists and the Orchestra of St Cecilia. Once again, the project is directed and conducted by Killian Farrell, until recently a student of Templeogue College. For further information parish website at www.stpiusx.ie
The Milltown Parish Adult & Toddler Group meets in the Parish Pastoral Centre at 10.30am on Friday morning. All welcome.
