Your Weekly Offering Sunday 26th January 2020

1st Collection Development fund € 2,169 2nd Collection Offertory € 1,187

Thank you for your continued support

Bob’s Your Uncle Lotto

Numbers drawn 26th Jan 8 - 20 - 22 - 30

No Jackpot Winner 14 Match 3’s share €1000

Tickets available in the lotto office or in the Parish

Centre

Every Friday and Sunday night in the Youth Centre,

Green Lane at 8.30pm.

ACCORD Marriage and Relationship Counselling Service

Accord Carlow offers a confidential one to one low cost

counselling service with trained and experienced

Counsellors.

For further information, phone Mary at 059 9138738.

Carpenter Brothers Funeral Directors Est 1927

serving Carlow & the surrounding area for Three Generations

10 Barrack Street Carlow R93 R1X2

Tel: 059 - 9131237 / 087 - 2535999 E-mail carpentersbar@yahoo.co.uk

With Sincere Gratitude

On behalf of my family and I, I would like to offer a word of

sincere and heartfelt thanks to all who offered their

condolences and sympathy on the passing of my mother. As

a family we were overwhelmed by the support which we

received at such a sad time in our lives.

The kindness of so many made a difficult moment a little

more bearable. Please continue to keep my father and my

siblings and I in your prayers.

With heartfelt thanks again,

Fr Ruairi

€20,000

St Willibrord Echternach, Luxembourg Pilgrimage 2020

From 678AD to 690AD Willibrord from Northumbria was

trained and ordained in Carlow. A relic of St Willibrord resides

in Carlow Cathedral.

Spiritual Directors: Bishop Denis Nulty and Bishop

Michael Burrows

Sunday, 31st May to Thursday, 4th June.

Cost: €745 per person sharing (Twin/Double Room)

For further information and to book contact Tullys Travel at

059 91 36100.

Ministers of the Word

February 8th/9th

6.15pm Orlaith Ní Mhórdha

8.30am Joe McDonald

11am Gemma Lawlor

12.30pm Diarmuid O’Donovan

7pm Jennifer Murnane O’Connor

A message from the Cathedral Parish Grandparents’

Association about climate change - We follow Pope

Francis’ thinking on being kind to ’Mother Earth’

Creation is not a property, which we can rule over at will; or,

even less, is the property of only a few: Creation is a gift, it is

a wonderful gift that God has given us, so that we care for it

and we use it for the benefit of all, always with great respect

and gratitude.

Pope Francis, General Audience, 21/5/14.

Kildare Pilgrimage to the Holy Land 20th July for 8

nights

Taking in Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Mount Tabor, Cana,

Nazareth, Jericho, River Jordan, Dead Sea and Sea of

Galilee departing from Dublin.

Kildare Christmas Pilgrimage to the Holy Land 2020 for 8

nights

Same Itinerary as above, departing from Dublin.

Contact James Treacy at 086 057 2216 or call office

018783111.

Rambling Rovers walk on Mondays and Wednesdays at

8pm. Meeting at Youth Centre (Green Lane).

Donation of €1 per walk. Proceeds to Carlow Hospice.

Did you know?

Johannes Gutenberg, the inventor of the printing press, was Catholic and the first book ever printed was the Catholic Bible.

Family Carers Ireland will be holding their first Carers

Support Group meeting of 2020 on Wednesday 5th February

at 11am in The Cathedral Parish Centre. All welcome. For

more information please call 056 7721424.

Rosary and Divine Mercy Chaplet every Sunday at 3pm at

the Statue of Our Lady at Rossmore, Killeshin.

St Vincent de Paul

Collection after all Masses this weekend - 1st/2nd February.

Saints of the Week

Monday: St Blaise - Patron of throat infirmities

Wednesday: St Agatha - Martyr, Patron of bell-founders.

Thursday: Ss Paul Miki and Companions - Martyrs

St Blaise and the Blessing of Throats

Through the intercession of St. Blaise, bishop and

martyr, may God deliver you from every disease of the

throat and from every other illness, in the name of the

Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

- Prayer used to bless throats on St Blaise’s Feast

Very little is actually known about this early Christian

martyr, however we know that Blaise was the bishop of

Sebaste in Armenia and suffered martyrdom about AD

316.

The first reference we have of him is in the medical

journals of a court physician from the end of the fifth or

beginning of the sixth century, where St. Blaise is

mentioned as being called upon for treating objects stuck

in the throat. By the ninth century, the saint was also

revered in Europe and went on to become one of the most

popular saints in the Middle Ages, venerated as one of the

“Fourteen Holy Helpers” (which also included saints such

as St. Christopher, St. Erasmus, St. Denis of Paris, St.

Barbara, St. Catherine of Alexandria and St. Giles.)

In time, the custom of blessing the throats of the faithful

developed, with priests holding two tapered candles -

blessed the day before on Candlemas, February 2nd -

over the head or the throat while invoking the intercession

of St. Blaise against any ailment of the throat and body.

It is an ancient custom of the Church to bless the sick,

rooted in the ministry of Christ and his apostles. The

blessing of throats is ordinarily given during Mass or a

celebration of the Word of God on February 3rd, the

memorial of St. Blaise, following Candlemas, the feast of

the Presentation of the Lord.

Quiz Night

A quiz night will be held in The Workman’s Club, Browne

Street, Carlow at 7pm on Thursday, 6th February.

All proceeds are in aid of St. Mary’s Academy Immersion

Project to India.

Tables of 4 are €40 each.

All are welcome.

Blessing of Throats

There will be a blessing of throats after 10am Mass on

Monday 2nd February celebrating the Feast of St Blaise.

World Day for Consecrated Life

Today, Sunday, 2nd February is the World Day for

Consecrated Life. We give thanks to the Lord for all the

courageous women and men who offer their lives in service

of the Lord and the Gospel, especially the clergy and

religious in our own Parish and Diocese.

Medjugorje Pilgrimages

10th - 17th June 2020

Spiritual Director: Fr. Ruairi O’ Domhnaill

23rd - 30th September 2020 Spiritual Director: Fr. Michael Duffy OFM

Further Details please contact Noeleen Dunne 059 914 2670

The Parish Team

Fr. Ruairí Ó Domhnaill Adm. Fr. Brian Maguire The Presbytery,

Old Dublin Road, Carlow.

Tel: 059 913 1227 Emergency: 087 258 8118

Sr. Dolores Fitzgerald

Parish Sister Tel: 059 914 0408

Deacon David O’Flaherty

Tel: 059 9164087

Philip Lawlor Pastoral Worker

Newsletter Editor Tel: 059 913 1227

Parish Centre Tel: 059 9164087

info@carlowcathedral.ie

Mass in the Cathedral for the week of the 3rd February - 9th February. Monday 3rd - Friday 7th: 7.30am and 10am

Saturday 8th: 10am Novena Mass and 6.15pm Vigil ‘Aifreann as Gaeilge’ Sunday 9th: 8.30am, 11am, 12.30pm and 7pm

Sacrament of Reconciliation: Saturday after 10am Mass. Capuchin Friary: Mon to Sat 12pm - 1pm and 4.30pm - 5.30pm. Adoration: Monday to Friday 6pm - 8pm and after Novena Mass on Saturday until 12 noon.

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Sunday, 2nd February, 2020. The Presentation of the Lord ‘’World Day for Consecrated Life’ www.carlowcathedral.ie

Congratulations Fr Paul

Fr Paul Dempsey, Parish Priest of Newbridge, Co.

Kildare has been appointed Bishop of Achonry.

Bishop Denis has issued a statement congratulating

Fr Paul and also asks for our prayers. He especially

asks the young people of our Parish to pray for Fr

Paul. May the Holy Spirit govern and guide his future

ministry. Below is Bishop Denis’ statement:

I warmly welcome the announcement today that

Pope Francis has appointed Father Paul Dempsey,

Parish Priest of Newbridge and Vicar Forane of

Kildare & Leighlin North Deanery, as Bishop of

Achonry.

Father Paul was born in Carlow, moving at the age of eight to Athy. He studied Philosophy in

Milltown Institute before entering St. Patrick’s College, Carlow to study for Kildare & Leighlin

diocese. He is the first native of Carlow town appointed a Bishop in Ireland in 130 years.

Since his ordination as a priest in 1997, Father Paul has served the Diocese of Kildare & Leighlin

with great distinction and dedication, while always demonstrating an immense capacity for work.

His appointments have always been in the more populated Kildare end of the diocese – Clane,

Kildare, Naas, Sallins, Two-Mile-House and more recently Newbridge, where he has been Parish

Priest since 2015.

In addition to his parish appointments, Father Paul has in the past held responsibility in the areas

of youth ministry and vocations. He is a great collaborator with priests and people. Working in

one of the largest parishes in our diocese, his many initiatives empowered lay people and

encouraged young people. His work expanding the Newbridge Share Food project and reaching

out to those living in Direct Provision in the parish has been outstanding.

Father Paul’s going from Kildare & Leighlin leaves a deep void since his contribution to the

diocese has been immense. We will certainly miss him but we are also very proud of his

achievement and appointment this day. Today is a great day for Kildare & Leighlin, to see one of

our own, with his gifts and potential, recognised by Pope Francis.

On a personal level Father Paul has been a tremendous support to me. I appointed him Vicar

Forane and Diocesan Consultor in 2014 and in those roles he brought great clarity of thought and

fresh perspectives. I have every confidence that he will fulfil his new ministry as chief shepherd of

Achonry with the same dedication and commitment that has characterised the years of his

priestly life. Father Paul can be assured of the prayers, good wishes and support of the entire

Kildare & Leighlin family.

Bishop Denis Nulty

Will you open the door?

‘Today ... is the feast day of encounter: the newness of the Child encounters the

tradition of the temple; young Mary and Joseph encounter the elderly Simeon and

Anna. Everything, therefore, meets as Jesus arrives.

What does this mean for us? Above all, that we too are called to welcome Jesus who

comes to meet us. To encounter him: the God of life is to be encountered every day of

our lives; not now and then, but every day. To follow Jesus is not a decision taken

once and for all, it is a daily choice. And we do not meet the Lord virtually, but

directly, we encounter him in our lives, in the concreteness of life. Otherwise, Jesus

becomes only a nice memory of the past. When we welcome him as the Lord of life,

however, as the centre and the beating heart of everything, then he is alive and lives

anew in us. And what happened in the temple also happens to us: around him

everything meets, and life becomes harmonious. The encounter with the Lord is the

source.’

Pope Francis, Homily, 2/2/19.

The artist Holman Hunt painted the picture ”The Light

of the World”. It depicts Christ standing at the door of

a soul, knocking to be let into that person’s life. Hunt

was criticised due to the fact he did not put a handle

on the door. He refuted the criticism, saying that the

handle is on the other side of the door - the door is

opened from the inside out.

The Lord waits patiently for each of us to invite him

into our lives. He gently knocks and never forces his

way in. Our encounters and relationship with Jesus

will define our lives. What do we ask of the Lord on

the Feast of his Presentation?

“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If

anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will

come in and eat with that person, and they with

me” (Revelation 3:20).