Parish Newsletter Sept.11th 2011

Priests Fr.Paul Clayton-Lea P.P. 9822438 Fr.William Murtagh P.E.,A.P. 9822224 parish e-mail: web: Clogherhead.myparish.eu

Daily Mass St.Michael’s Mon-Fri. 9.00am Miraculous Medal Novena after Mon. Mass.

Weekend Sat.Vigil 7.30pm Sun. 9.00am & 12.00pm St.Michael’s , 10.30am Walshestown

We pray for our deceased relatives & friends, those on the Parish list of the Dead, deceased Benefactors of the Parish, recently deceased Barry Gargan, Abbie Keelan, Ursula Kirwan, Cepta Lenihan & those for whom Masses are offered.

Sat.10th 7.30pm Mona Saurin (10th Anniversary) Peg & Tom King

Sun. 11th 9.00am Thomas Murray 12.00pm Hugh,Patrick & Catherine Hodgins

10.30am Walshestown – Paddy McCann

Sept.12th Mon. Kirwan Family (Main St.) Eliza & John Joe Shevlin

Sept.17th Sat. Vigil Mass 7.30pm Olive & John Kirk, James & Brigit Byrne (Barrackfield)

Sept.18th Sun. 9.00am Laurence & Anne McLeer 12.00pm......

Walshestown 10.30am Kevin Fox & Ann Millar

Baptisms: We welcome into the Christian Community newly baptised Fionn, Thomas Garry (Oriel Cove).

Weddings: Congratulations to newly wed Jane Daly & Ian Russell from Dromiskin who were married in St.Michael’s during the week.

Collections: Special Priests Collection this weekend Sept.10th /11th

Irish Heart Foundation Annual Church Gate Collection 17th /18th Sept.

The Legion of Mary meets each Weds. in St.Michael’s Meeting Room at 7.30pm. For further info.contact; Nora 086 826 1808 Ann 086 086 6467

The Parish Draw was postponed this week as a mark of respect to the family of the late Barry Gargan R.I.P.

The Final Draw for Weeks 7,8,9 & !0 and Grand Finale takes place next Thursday night 15th Sept. at 8.00pm in St.Michael’s Meeting Room. All are welcome to witness the Draw.

Cancer Research Coffee Morning. Thursday next, Sept.15th from 10.00am in Maggie’s Home, Almondstown. Just follow the signs an d support this worthy cause.

Triduum in Honour of St. Pio St Nicholas' Church Dundalk 12th-14th September at 7.30pm Preacher Fr Ermelindo, who lived with Padre Pio All Welcome

World Youth Day 2011 Barcelona – Madrid August 11th-22nd 2011

World Youth Day 2011, where can we start with the experience we had. World Youth Day lasts longer than one day. It is an experience which we prepared many months for to bring us to Barcelona and Madrid in August. We decided a couple of months ago to take part in World Youth Day as we heard it was great “craic” and an opportunity to meet young people from worldwide who were not shy about expressing their faith, and how right people were who told us this. We had immense fun on our trip while broadening our minds to our faith. As neither of us had taken part in something as big as WYD before we didn’t know what to expect.

In the past few months the Armagh Diocesan Youth Commission had many planning meetings for our trip. On August 11th we said our goodbyes to our families and headed for the airport. The 2 hour flight to Barcelona was full of excitement. On our arrival in Barcelona we were taken to our accommodation in Pureza, in the diocese of Teressa. This is where we spent our Days in the Diocese in preparation for our week in Madrid. The Days in the Diocese allowed the group as a whole to bond and to examine our religion with masses and celebrations with other pilgrims from countries such as Canada, Italy, Zimbabwe, Poland, Spain and a host of other nations. We also got time to see the Black Madonna statue in Monserrat, the Nou Camp Stadium and Gaudi’s Cathedral known as the Sagrada Familia.

On Monday morning it was time to move on to Madrid and so with some sadness and a huge amount of excitement we packed up the buses for our 8 hour bus journey to Madrid, which in the end took us 10! This was where WYD took on a whole new meaning. Everywhere we went from the Metro station, to restaurants, to shops and even walking down the street, we met so many other pilgrims from all over the world wanting to know where we were from, exchange tokens from their countries and take many photos. In Madrid we took part in many other events with thousands of other pilgrims. Some masses were a spectacular sight to see as 12,000 young people gathered in a stadium to express their faith, even if some people decided to take a short sleep as mass went on. As many other pilgrims descended on Madrid in the following days each event was becoming larger and larger. Events like the opening mass, Stations of the Cross, the vigil and closing mass had approximately 1.5 million youth at them celebrating their faith. It was incredible to be 2 people out of these millions. The vigil on Saturday 20th with our Holy Father was an experience which we will treasure forever. Amid the thunder, lightning and heavy rain everyone was still in good spirits and stayed up late into the night telling ghost stories. The following morning we made our way back to the metro station and began our journey back to our accommodation where we packed up everything for our final day.

On Sunday night the 21st we packed up our buses again and headed for Barcelona for our flight home. Everyone was still full of excitement from the trip so a few sleepless hours were had before everyone finally got to sleep on the bus. Upon arrival in Barcelona airport on Monday morning we unloaded the bus and as some of our pilgrims had an early flight back to Belfast we began to say our goodbyes. A prayer for safe travelling was said before we all departed on our separate ways. The flight to Dublin was later in the day so the rest of us had some time for last minute shopping. The flight home was also full of laughter as everyone spoke about the experience which we each had.

We would like to thank our local parish for their support and thoughts but in particular we would like to thank our local parish priest Fr.Paul Clayton Lea and the Knights of Columbanus who through their generosity and encouragement made what has been called World Youth Day a life changing experience for us. We would also like to thank ADYC for their support and help throughout the pilgrimage and each pilgrim on the journey of faith. Without each person involved the pilgrimage would not have been as successful and fun. Thank you all.

To sum up World Youth Day in one word ------AMAZING

The next World Youth Day will take place in Rio de Janerio in 2013 and we plan to be part of this celebration.

Sinead and Aoife Walsh St.Michaels Parish Clogherhead Armagh Diocesan Youth Commission Group

Called to the Contemplative life? The Cistercian Community in Portglenone, Co. Antrim, will guide a weekend of vocation discernment for men who may feel they have a vocation to the contemplative monastic life. Dates: 4th – 6th November, 2011. Details available either by ringing 028 25821211 or by contacting the Vocations Director at

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A number of students from St Joseph's CBS are travelling to India next month to work with disadvantaged primary school students for a period of 3 weeks. A guest tea to raise funds will be held in St Joseph's CBS Newfoundwell next Friday 16 September at 7.30pm. If you wish to host a table please contact D Seerey at 086-8067853. Your support is greatly needed. .