The dates for the Liturgy & Life course 2010/11
The dates for the Liturgy & Life course 2010/11 are as follows:
Fri Oct 29th/ Sat Oct 30th/Sun Oct 31st – ALL SAINTS
Fri Nov26th/Sat Nov 27th/ Sun Nov 29th – ADVENT
Fri Feb 25th/Sat Feb 26th/ Sun Feb 27th – LENT
Fri April 15th/Sat April 16th/ Sun April 17th – PALM SUNDAY
Fri June 10th/Sat June 11th/Sun June 12th – PENTECOST
|
|
Abington Church Murroe, Co. Limerick is a centre for worship set in a unique building which dates from 1870, it has a rich ecumenical heritage. It is situated in east County Limerick at the foot of the beautiful Sliabh Felim mountains a short distance from Murroe village and its Benedictine Monastery of Glenstal Abbey. It serves the Church of Ireland community in this area of the Diocese of Limerick and because of its age is now in need of restoration.
In order to develop the church as a resource for the whole community we know that we will have to provide toilet facilities and improved heating for the comfort of our patrons and performers. We cannot further develop the potential of the building without such basic comforts which we hope to provide in the near future.
The main aim of the Friends is to restore and maintain the fabric of the church. . We will raise the necessary funding for this and our other projects by holding concerts and recitals, by accessing public funding and by adding to the number of Friends which is how you can, if you wish, help us.We invite you to become a friend.
From the Dublin/Limerick Road (N7) take the R506 at Annacotty and follow signs for Cappamore until you arrive at the church gate. Alternatively, from the Tipperary/Limerick Road (N24) take the north-bound road at Boher (around the side of the thatched pub) and follow the signs for Murroe – again until you reach the gate of the church.
2nd Sunday of the Month
11.00 a.m. Morning Prayer3rd Sunday of the Month
11.00 a.m. Morning Prayer 4th Sunday of the Month
12.00 Noon Eucharist
On Saturday, July 24, Fr Fintan was interviewed on RTE radio-one by George Lee, on a programme named ‘Mind Your Business’, about Glenstal’s successful brand of dessert and liqueur chocolate truffles. The interview explored the marketing of niche products and, in particular, the mismatch with selling through the major multiples. Fintan explained he was wary of their big, powerful and impersonal character and said he preferred to deal with family-run foodstores, wine shops and gift shops. George sampled some of the chocolates and was very impressed, especially with that flavoured with Glenstal’s Lemon Verbena Liqueur. Try as he did, George could not extract the secret traditional recipe from Fintan. The covers of this medieval file remained firmly shut
Lavery painted Collins in 1921 when he was in London negotiating the terms of the Irish Treaty. The original portrait was said to have been given to Kitty Kiernan and has since been lost.
On Saturday 31st July 2010 the Irish Harp Orchestra, led by Janet Harbison, will give a Concert in the Abbey Church commencing at 4.30pm. This Concert is open to all and there will be no charge. Please arrive early.
Inter-Monastic Project – 2010
Six Sixth Year students from our Abbey School flew out this week in the company of Fr John O’Callaghan, osb to continue their mission of teaching and improving the school life in St. Benedict’s School, Hanga Abbey, near Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania.
This is the third year for a group from the school to support this project. This year thanks to support from Benedictines in Germany and America and other aid agencies in Ireland, plus energetic fundraising by the students themselves, a French engineer is travelling out (at his own expense) with solar panels for the school buildings to insure a continuity of supply of electricity to run the 100 computers the students brought out in 2008.
This year, apart from teaching the Tanzanian students the International Computer Driving Licence (ICDL), they will also spend time in and bring sports equipment to a local orphanage.
As the students pay their own costs, all finance raised for this project is spent on this project.
Ordination of Fr Cuthbert Brennan, osb July 2010
On Sunday 11th July Cuthbert Brennan was ordianed to the Priesthood by the Archbishop of Cashel and Emly in the presence of the Glenstal Community and a very large circle of family and friends. It was a liturgy which was adorned by calm, prayerfulness and beautiful vocals. Rarely has the acoustic of the Abbey Church been so superbly deployed.
There was a very relaxed and generously prepared reception in the Castle Rooms afterwards with the excellent catering talents of Campbell Catering on show as well as a minimum of fuss, bother and speeches!
On Monday 12th July Fr Cuthbert celebrated his first Mass in the Abbey Church, again in the presence of his Community, Family and Friends. Fr Brendan was the invited homilist, and his homily is included below.
FIRST MASS – Homily by Fr Brendan Coffey, o.s.b.
Many years ago, Cuthbert, you began a search which eventually led you to this school of the Lord’s service. Since then it has led you, as a monk – to Chicago and back again – to this monastery and to this day, and that search continues until it ends in Him. Much has changed in those years and there is much for which we now give thanks. As the reading you chose from Ecclesiasticus puts it – has anyone who trusted in the Lord been disappointed?
Those of us who were here yesterday will remember the archbishop presenting Cuthbert with the bread and wine which Michael and Breda brought to the altar. A simple gesture and a profound one. A gesture which we repeat every time we gather to celebrate this mystery of Christ’s love for us in the Eucharist.
You might even recall what the archbishop said when he gave Cuthbert these gifts – let me remind you: “Accept from the holy people of God the gifts to be offered to him. Know what you are doing, and imitate the mystery you celebrate: model your life on the mystery of the Lord’s cross.”
In a few moments we will repeat this very gesture and it is worth our while reflecting on the meaning of it all.
Bread is fruit of the earth and therefore a gift of God, but it is a gift which has to be transformed by the work of our hands to become bread. Wine too is fruit of the earth, fruit of the vine, but the grape has to be crushed, destroyed, and thereby transformed into wine which gladdens the human heart. This food and drink transformed once by our labour are further transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit that we might share in the banquet of heaven.
These are our gifts – as they were the gifts of Melchehisedech (that mysterious figure of the Old Testament who we hear mention of in our Eucharistic Prayer), for we are a priestly people. These are the gifts we offer on our altar and we do this in memory of him.
This has profound implications; for it means that our lives – my life, is the fruit of his death. The history of salvation has become my history. Therefore, I must live well. Model your life on the mystery of the Lord’s Cross. For we must love the Lord our God with all our heart and all our soul and all our mind and our neighbour as ourselves.
Cuthbert, as a priest, it is your privilege, for privilege indeed it is, to preside at the celebration of the Eucharist, to lead the people of God in this timeless celebration of the mysteries of Christ. It is your privilege to preside over the Liturgy of the Word; God’s revelation to his people. It is your privilege, in the name of the Church, to pray the Eucharistic prayer and invoke the Holy Spirit, to stand before the altar of God as earth unites with heaven in this one great act of giving thanks and praise. This day there are some in heaven who have an extra reason for that thanks and praise and who are without any doubt very proud.
To understand what all this means we need only think of the disciples in the upper room, behind closed doors, on the day of resurrection. Christ came and stood among them. They saw, they could even touch the risen one. Here, now, he stands among us. What we celebrate is the icon of heaven. It reveals the face of God to us and there is nothing more beautiful than the face of God.
To lead God’s people in prayer, Cuthbert, must adopt the attitude of Christ himself: the one who serves, who humbles himself, who bends down and washes the disciple’s feet; something, which as a monk, you also learn from the daily worship of God in choir. As St Paul put it in his letter to the Phillippians; keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and the God of peace will be with you.
On a day like today there is no greater wisdom that you can receive, no greater advice which can be given you, than that which the Church in her mysteries places before us day after day for us to ponder in our hearts. And so Cuthbert – Accept from the holy people of God the gifts to be offered to him. Know what you are doing, and imitate the mystery you celebrate: model your life on the mystery of the Lord’s cross. Ad multos annos.
The Diamond Jubilee of Fr David’s Ordination
The Diamond Jubilee of Fr David Conlon’s ordination was celebrated with his family and confreres on Sunday July 18th 2010.
In June 1950 David was ordained for the Society of African Missions (SMA) and after studies in Rome was appointed to the Society’s mission to Liberia. He served as Secretary to the Internunciature in Liberia and secretary to the Bishop of Monrovia, Dr John Collins, while undertaking building and construction work for the Diocese. Liberia proved to be a hard station and David’s health was unable for it.
At the end of some four years he was re-assigned to Ireland and appointed Rector of the Major Seminary at Dromantine, Newry, Co. Down. His next appointment was as Vocations Director and fund -raiser for the missionary work of the society
In September 1969, in his 44th year, David joined the Community at Glenstal in pursuit of a growing interest in monastic life, nurtured by the Cistercian monks of Portglenone. Following a period of adaptation and integration, David joined the Glenstal team of Frs Ambrose, Columba and Columba Cary-Elwes (Ampleforth Abbey) in the task of bringing the Benedictine vocation to the young Church in Nigeria. The first effort in the Diocese of Enugu was not successful, and led to the move to Ewu-Ishan which has after some 25 years become a well established independent Priory with a community of over 30 Nigerian monks.
In 1982 David returned to Glenstal and was appointed monastic bursar. In 1986 a bout of prostate cancer led to a harrowing year in the Mater Hospital undergoing several operations.
After a full recovery from this ordeal, David was appointed Assistant Bursar and became involved in fund-raising projects for the Abbey and for the new monastery in Nigeria at Ewu-Ishan. He also fulfilled a term as Novicemaster for the monastery at Glenstal during this period.
Currently David continues as Assistant Bursar and is involved in a regenerated Oblate Programme. He is now enjoying reasonably good health in this, his 85th year, on this planet.
Over 50 of his family attended a sumptuous running buffet provided by the ever-reliable Campbell Catering group from 1.00 – 3.00pm in the Castle Reception rooms. The guests had a small respite including a well-received visit to the Terraced Gardens where the Glenstal Monkey and various Elephants were on show to the younger members of the party! The family reassembled in the Boardroom of the Castle for a special celebratory Mass offered by Fr David in thanksgiving for all that he has enjoyed in his long life and especially the support of his family. The Master of Ceremonies for the day was Rory Conlon, David’s nephew and son of Michael. And an excellent job he did too! Happily the day was fair for all involved.
The Ecology, Eucharist & Education course scheduled for 16th-20th August 2010 has been cancelled.
The Ecology, Eucharist & Education course scheduled for 16th-20th August 2010 has been cancelled.
