Parish News
PASTORAL LETTER OF THE HOLY FATHER POPE BENEDICT XVI TO THE CATHOLICS OF IRELAND
ECUMENICAL SERVICE.
As part of Heritage Week 2010, an Ecumenical Service will take place in Sts. Mary & Peter Church Arklow on Wednesday August 25th @ 8pm. The Arklow Revival Gospel Choir will perform. Guest speaker for the evening will be Senior Superintendent Slater from the Fisherman’s Mission. All are invited and very welcome. Refreshments will be served immediately after the service in Arus Lorcáin.
EUCHARISTIC ADORATION.
Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament takes place in the Church of Sts. Mary & Peter 3 times a week, as follows:
Everyone is welcome to visit and spend time before the Blessed Sacrament.
PARISH SUMMER CHANGES.
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has appointed Fr. Paul O’ Driscoll to be curate in the Parish of Athy, Co. Kildare with effect from early September. Fr. Paul has made an enormous contribution to our Parish over the years and will be missed greatly. We will have the opportunity to show our appreciation and gratitude to Fr. Paul on September 17th at mass in Sts. Mary & Peter Church @ 7.30pm and in Arus Lorcáin after the mass.
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has appointed Fr. Michael Murtagh to be Curate with us here in Arklow with effect from early September. We look forward to welcoming and working with Fr. Michael.
ARKLOW PARISH YOUTH EXCHANGE.
The Arklow Parish Youth Exchange will take place from August 19th for one week. This event will see our town welcoming 17 youths and 2 adults from Germany, Italy and Bulgaria. Sincere gratitude is expressed to those families from Arklow/ Johnstown Parish who have kindly offered to host our guests. Trips planned for the week include tours of many local and National attractions such as Glendalough, Kilmainham Jail, Ceart Traveller Centre and the Chester Beatty Library. There will also be a BANDS NIGHT held in Arus Lorcáin on Friday August 20th at which local bands will perform for the visitors giving them an opportunity to mingle with teenagers from Arklow. A group of enthusiastic teenagers have been meeting with the Exchange Committee to co ordinate this trip. All young volunteers involved will be eligible for a Youth Pass which is a certificate of recognition of their involvement in youth based activities, a certificate that is recognised throughout Europe.
AN INTERNATIONAL YOUTH MASS will take place in the church on Sunday August 22nd at 12 noon to which all parishioners are very welcome. The Johnstown Youth Choir will include Taize Music in the mass following their recent trip to Taize.
Celebrating 150 years:
On August 18th 2011 Arklow Parish will celebrate 150 years of the dedication of the church of Sts. Mary and Peter. It is hoped that these celebrations will start on January 1st 2011 and run through until December 31st 2011. A sub-group has been set up to explore ways of how these celebrations will take place. It is hoped to involve as many people in these plans as possible.
Visitation:
You may remember an article in one of last year’s newsletters about the formation of a Visitation group in the Parish. Here is an excerpt from that article to ‘jog your memory’:
Visitation is a way to reach out to the community through face to face calls to the homes in the parish. The Visitation Group hopes to provide another link between those working in the parish and the community, through networking and outreaching. Members of the group visit houses, just to say hello, have a chat and provide information on parish activities. It is hoped that the group will listen, offer support and invite people to re-engage in the church if possible.
A group has now been trained and are eager to get started. We hope to get this up and running in the coming months. Further details will be available on this website and in the Newsletters as soon as they are finalised.
