PROLOGUE: If you want happiness for an hour – take a nap. If you want happiness for a day – go fishing. If you want happiness for a year – inherit a fortune. If you want happiness for a lifetime – help someone else.”
– Chinese Proverb
EASTER CEREMONIES: All ceremonies will be broadcast live from Abbeyfeale on church services tv this coming Holy Week. Mass on Spy Wednesday at 10am followed by Adoration until 11.30am. The Mass of the Last Supper at 7pm on Holy Thursday. Good Friday – a day of fast and abstinence – ceremonies at 3pm and Stations of the Cross at 8pm. Holy Saturday Mass at 9pm. Easter Sunday Masses at 10am and 12 noon.
THE CURIOUS CASE OF THE DISAPPEARING CURATE: Palm Sunday morning I turned on the computer at 11.45am, went to church services tv , clicked on church, then on Ireland then on Abbeyfeale and there was Fr. Shoji moving around the altar in his civvies lighting the candles before the noon Mass. Fr. Shoji is our curate and he arrived in Abbeyfeale on St. Patrick’s Day in 2019 from his native India. He immediately endeared himself to everyone he met with his self deprecating humour, shy smile and beautiful singing voice. After a couple of minutes he went back into the sacristy and I continued preparing a cake of brown soda bread to put in the oven and bake during Mass – multi tasking at its best. Cake in, hands washed, apron discarded I sat down to watch the Mass armed with several pieces of palm to have blessed. By 12.10pm I was getting agitated when the picture remained as it was when Fr. Shoji left – candles lighting, table with holy water and palm in front of the altar but no sign of a celebrant. By 12.15pm I had myself convinced that when our wonderful curate went back into the sacristy he must have tripped, fallen and banged his head and was now laid out on the floor with no one to tend to him. I did consider driving into town a mere five minutes away and going to the church but then I remembered the cake so instead I texted Fr. Tony and sacristan Ann . After another ten minutes and with no reply to either of my texts I rang my friend Bridie who is cocooning and whom I knew would surely be watching the Mass. She said did you click on the picture and of course, the second I did, Fr. Shoji appeared on the screen as large as life – not that you could call our elfin Fr. Shoji large but oh, the relief. My computer screen had frozen and Mass was in progress! The cake turned out well too.
MESSAGE FOR THOSE WHO ARE COCOONING; I was contacted during the week by a concerned local who saw an elderly couple shopping in SuperValue recently despite being supposed to stay at home and cocoon. She discovered that they had no family living locally and that they felt they had to come to town for their shopping themselves. Please be assured that no elderly person should feel they have to leave the safety of their home because we have loads of volunteers here in Abbeyfeale who will bring them their messages whether groceries or medicines. So, if you are living alone and need assistance or advice phone one of Abbeyfeale Community Council Helpline Numbers any day 9-5pm on 068 31169, 068 32080 or 087 7571144. The Gardai are also available on 06830010 and they will pick up medicines, messages etc.
WHY WE NEED TO KEEP WASHING OUR HANDS: Following on from the Harnett Reunion last year one of our new contacts sent us an article written by a journalist who had to have a bone marrow transplant which resulted in her immune system being compromised: “After my transplant, I washed my hands constantly, and I washed them thoroughly. I washed the palms, the backs, my wrists, each finger individually (concentrating on the finger tips), and then I scrubbed my fingernails in my palms. The whole “wash your hands for 20 seconds” thing made me laugh when I first heard it. If you truly wash your hands thoroughly, with the goal of removing any trace of pathogen you may have touched, it always takes at least 20 seconds, if not more. I washed my hands like this after every time I used the bathroom, before I ate, after touching anything in a public place, immediately after returning home from being out anywhere, after working out, after driving my car, after working on my computer, after feeding my pets, after cleaning my house. If I wanted to scratch my nose, or I needed to put in my contact lenses, I washed my hands first, before ever touching my face.If my hands didn’t physically feel freshly washed, I washed them. If I couldn’t remember the last time I washed them, I washed them. I only used hand sanitizer when I didn’t have access to hot water and soap. If this sounds extreme, consider how much simpler and easier this is than being sick. Washing your hands constantly is just a matter of habit. You have to make yourself do it for a while, and you have to really focus on remembering, but once you do that long enough, you create a habit that will protect you for the rest of your life. In a globalized world ripe for pandemics, this is a necessary 21st century practice. If you find yourself wondering whether you’re washing your hands enough, then you aren’t.”
ABBEYFEALE COMMUNITY ALERT: The most important thing you need to do today is write out your Eircode and place it by your phone. If, God forbid, you have to call the emergency services this is all the information they require to arrive to your hall door. Task who are the alarm installers that Abbeyfeale Community Alert work with have advised that everyone who has a panic button presses that button to make sure that it is in working order. Remember that all the shops have designated times in the early morning for shopping for the elderly. Don’t entertain callers offering to do jobs around the house. If you need shopping or messages, contact the local committee who have been set up by Abbeyfeale Community Council on 068 31169/068 32080/ 087 7571144 any day between 9-5pm. The Gardai are also available to help vulnerable people and will call to people, collect shopping or medicines so if you want help ring them. Do also ring Abbeyfeale Gardai on 068 30010 (Three hundred ten) if you have concerns over callers/ travelling salesmen, if the phone is unattended the call will be answered in NCW and the local squad car will be notified. When you reach the age of 65 and live alone or with a person/s aged over 65 you are entitled to receive a monitored alarm system. But if you have younger people living in the house who are out for long periods of the day then, because you are spending hours alone you are also entitled to the system provided that you are over 65. The free equipment is provided by Pobal following an application from Abbeyfeale Community Alert, there will be a monitoring fee to be paid from the second year of installation to the installing company of €72. I have not included the phone numbers of the committee in this notice but if you want to get a panic button then ring Abbeyfeale Garda Station on 068 30010 and they will contact one of us. Should you not have a landline the installing company Task provide a sim card at a rate of €7.50 per month payable from day one. Then, in year two you will also receive a bill for the monitoring fee so in year one the bill will be €90 and in year two and every other year after it will €162 approx. Committee members are Michael O’Kelly N.T., Seamus Stack, Mossie Gleeson, Kathleen Collins, Mary McArthur, John O’Sullivan, Billy Quirke N.T., Cllr. Francis Foley, Catherine Daly, Marian Harnett.
HELPLINES: Men suffering domestic abuse, operates 36 hours a week on 1800816588. 24 hour helplines for women suffering domestic abuse 1800 341900 or Adapt 1800 200504. Limerick Social Services: 061-314111. AA 061/311222 Al-Anon 086/8143425. Parent Support worker 068/31019. Accord NCW 069/61000. Samaritans Freephone 116123 or text 087/2609090 or email [email protected] Aware (Depression & Anxiety) 1980 303 302 National Suicide Helpline (Pieta House) 1800 247 247 Irish Advocacy Network (Peer advocacy in mental health) 01 872 8684 Pieta House (Suicide & self-harm) 01 623 5606 IACP (Counselling & Psychotherapy) 01 230 3536 Shine: (Supporting people affected by mental ill health) 01 860 1620 061 – 412111 or Free phone 1850609090 A.A. 061-311222. Al-Anon 086-8143425 Bereavement Support: 068 / 31203 068/ 31262 068/51984 St Vincent De Paul Tel 087/1213560 . Counselling Appointment 061/314213. ALONE; has launched a national support line and additional supports for older people who have concerns or are facing difficulties relating to the outbreak of COVID-19 (Coronavirus). Professional staff are available to answer queries and give advice and reassurance where necessary. The support line is open Monday to Friday, 8am-8pm, by calling 0818 222 024. Hours may be extended to meet the demand.
CHURCH SERVICES: Mass is being celebrated every day in the Church of the Assumption and broadcast on churchservices.tv and Monday to Friday, the Stations of the Cross are also being broadcast at 3pm. RTÉ will air Mass every weekday at 10.30am from St. Eunan’s and St. Columba’s Cathedral, on RTÉ News Now. West Limerick 102fm will broadcast Mass on Sunday morning from Abbeyfeale at 10am. Radio Kerry will also broadcast Mass on Sunday morning during the Horizons religious programme at 9am (Mass will be at 9.30am). On Sunday mornings RTE 1 broadcast either Mass or Christian worship prayer at 11am . If you have Sky or one of the other TV packages, check out EWTN Catholic religious station for broadcast Masses and prayers. On the RTE Saorview channels, if you keep moving up through the tv channels you get to the radio channels coming through the TV, and on them there is Saroview channel 210 that broadcasts Radio Maria Ireland – a lovely station of Mass, Rosary, prayers and conversations on religious topics.
087 260 0414
