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Parish of the Assumption
Area Code: 057 Tel: 93 21587 - 93 22415 Fax: 93 51510
www.tullamoreparish.ie
E-mail Parish Secretary:
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4th Sunday of Advent ~ 20th December 2020
Fr. Joseph Gallaghar P.P
Rt Rev Sean Heaney CC VG
Fr Kevin Fleming SSC
Fr. Luke Ohiemi C.C.
Fr. Fergal Cummins C.C.
Sr. Genny Hassey
Sr. Margaret Burke
GET IN TOUCH
St Mary’s Parish Centre, Benburb St, Tullamore
Phone: 0579321587
Email:
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Web: www.tullamoreparish.ie
Office Hours: Mon-Fri 8.30am-5pm; Sat 2.00pm to 4.00pm to book Holy Mass tickets, weddings, baptisms, certs, etc;
Priest available for emergencies 24 hours daily.
Parish Support Services: Bereavement Listening, etc. For appointment, ph 0579326604, Monday-Thursday 9.30am-1.00pm; Wednesday & Thursday 6.00-8.00pm.
WEEKEND MASSES
Church of the Assumption: (Vigil) 4.00 & 6.00pm Sunday 7.00am, 9.00am, 11.00am & 1.00pm
Durrow: Sunday 11.30am
Tickets are required for all weekend Masses. Please call in to the Parish Centre.
WEEKDAY MASSES
Monday-Friday 7.45am & 10.00am
Saturday 10.00am
First Friday 7.45am & 10.00am
You can join us on the webcam www.tullamoreparish.ie
CONFESSIONS
Saturday 2.00-3.00pm in Day Chapel
CHRISTMAS MASSES
At Christmas time many people want to come to Mass. This year presents an enormous challenge because of the restricted numbers we can safely have in our churches. We are putting on as many extra Masses as we can to accommodate as many people as possible.
• For our Christmas Masses tickets are essential, with them people will know the Mass they can go to and which zone in the Church they can go to.
• The demand for tickets far exceeds the space available and all tickets have now been given out.
• Only those with tickets can be admitted.
• The 10.00am Mass on St. Stephen’s Day is a shared Mass and for families of those being remembered.
For those who cannot get to Mass on Christmas eve or Christmas Day, there is the possibility of coming the following weekend or sometime during the 12 days of the Christmas period. All the Christmas Masses will be carried on webcam and perhaps families could light a candle and participate together in the Mass at home.
It is a strange and difficult situation for everyone and we ask for your co-operation and understanding at this time.
All Christmas Eve and Day Masses will be offered for the intentions of those on our Christmas Mass Bouquet list.
We thank you for your support during this trying year and we wish you every good health, peace and blessing this Christmas.
SUNDAYS OF ADVENT
Today Sunday 20th, at 6pm, there will be a prayer service of hope around the theme of “The shortest day the longest night” remembering all who have died and those living with suicide bereavement and those who may find Christmas lonely and difficult.
POINSETTIAS FOR THE CHURCH
If you would like to donate a poinsettia to decorate the church for Christmas, please leave into the Sacristy.
CHRISTMAS CONFESSIONS
Confessions available today, 2.00-4.00pm; Monday after 10.00am Mass; Tuesday & Wednesday 5.00-7.00pm.
EXTRACTS FROM CHRISTMAS MESSAGE FROM BISHOP DEENIHAN
Full Message can be found on our Parish Website
…This year, that joyful Christmas celebration and that sense of light and hope is needed more than ever. Many will understandably feel that 2020 will be a year best forgotten and fewer will face the New Year with the apprehension they may usually have on New Year’s Eve.
For me, the image from last March of Pope Francis praying alone in the vastness of an empty St. Peter’s Square, enveloped by darkness and rain, was a powerful and striking image of a fearful and weeping world. In many ways, it typifies the past year. Those who lost family members to the virus and those who were bereaved during the pandemic have walked in that darkness and shed those tears this year. The consoling and supportive rituals that we are familiar with, both religious and social, were not possible and separation from family and social contacts caused distress, loneliness, and isolation. The prospect of a vaccine is indeed encouraging news, allowing us to look forward to once again to being able to visit one another, renewing social contacts, restoring the possibility of visiting the sick and elderly both in hospitals and in nursing homes and offering some hope to those whose livelihoods have been adversely affected. The emerging danger of the virus, public health advice, and subsequent regulations meant that our coming to adore Him has been very much restricted. Many of us were torn between trying to protect life and health and practicing our faith. Who would have thought this time last year that we would not have been able to attend Mass and the Sacraments for almost half the year and under severe restrictions for another four months?
But, of course, our faith can never be confined to a church building on a weekend. Our faith is something more. It forms us, influences us and it is something that we practice and display in several ways. During the past few months, a new focus on the family home as a ‘Domestic Church’ has emerged, where families pray together at home and where the faith is practiced and handed on from one generation to the next. Webcams and broadcast services became a lifeline and helped people to pray. But our faith is sacramental too! It needs the support and nourishment of the Sacraments. The current virtual manifestation and celebration of faith must be temporary.
May your Christmas be holy and joyful and may the new year bring hope and happiness, a renewal of friendships and social contacts, and the freedom to worship joyfully and safely.
SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM
Contact the Parish Secretary to arrange Baptism.
SACRAMENT OF MARRIAGE
To book the Church for weddings, contact the Parish Secretary.
NB: NOTICES FOR THE BULLETIN MUST BE IN THE PARISH CENTRE BY 9.30AM WEDNESDAY.
Only notices from parish groups, non-profit making organisations & clubs included
PARISH COLLECTIONS
Plate: Tullamore €1265; Durrow €111
Envelopes €3257
Thank you for your continued support.
PLEASE CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR FIONA PENDER, OUR PARISHONER WHO HAS BEEN MISSING SINCE 22nd AUGUST 1996
MASS INTENTIONS
Mon 21 7.45 Daniel, Mary, Ann, Maura, Donal, Paddy & James Beatty
10.00 Margaret & John Talbot & Mai & Jim Doody
Tues 22 7.45 Kevin Moran
10.00 Bridie, Noel, Declan, Alan & baby Josh Kelly
Wed 23 7.45 Hubert & Margaret Collins, Spollenstown
10.00 Keane & Prenderville Families
Thurs 24 10.00 Liam Duffy, Moylena
Sat 26 4.00 Rody, Mary & Mary B Molloy
6.00 Anne Tobin, 1st Ann
Gertie Hoey, 1st Ann
Sun 27 9.00 Jim Roche, Church Rd, Tom Hynes, Daingean Rd
11.00 Katie Walsh, 1st Ann
1.00 Michael Kelly, Chancery Lane, Mon Mem
Shared Mass Sat 26, 10am: Tommy & Jamie McDonald; John O’Brien; Bridie Brennan; Kathleen & Stephen Grennan; Mary & Joe Corcoran; Patsy & Ciss Gorman & Frances Walsh; John Duncan; James & Teresa Doyle; May Cunningham; Maureen Lawless, Maryann & Jim Kelly; Michael Moran; John Brady; Hensey Family & Fedelm Lane; John, Josephine & Elizabeth Hayes & Cuskelly Family; Hayden, Allen & Darrah Families; Chris, Paddy & Noeleen Bracken; Sr Pius Clarke
DEATHS
We offer our sympathy to the families of Thomas Carroll, Joe Hume, Sr Redempta Horan, Brendan Flanagan, Patrick Flanagan & Frances Nolan.
BAPTISMS
Welcome to God’s family Scarlett Rose Kerrigan, Lucy Kathleen Gorman & Emily Jane Connolly who were baptised recently.
COMMUNITY NOTICES
MABS: Helpline 0761 07 2000 Mon to Fri 9am - 8pm.
ALONE: COVID support line for older people. Ph 0818 222 024, 8am-8pm daily.
AA: Offaly House, Offaly St, Mon, Wed, Thur, Sat & Sun 8.15pm, Tues, Wed, Fri & Sun, 1pm.
TULLAMORE RAPE CRISIS CENTRE: Opening times Mon-Fri 9.30am-5pm, Ph 0579322500; Freephone 800323232;
TARA: Happy Christmas to all members of TARA. Hopefully we will be able to get together soon. |
