Solemnity of All Saints, 1st November 2018

Fresco scenes of Christ in glory surrounded by groups of Angels and Saints, painted by Blessed Fra Angelico (1395 – 1455) and assistants, and Luca Signorelli (1445 – 1523), in the vault of the San Brizio Chapel in the Cathedral of Mary Assumed in Orvieto, Italy

This Thursday, 1st November 2018 is the Solemnity of All Saints, a holy day of obligation. We celebrate the triumph of God’s grace in all the Saints of Heaven. We take example from them, and ask them to intercede for us with the Lord.

Masses in Kinvara and Ballinderreen Parishes are as follows:

Wednesday, 31st October 2018:

Vigil Mass in St Joseph’s Church, Kinvara at 7.00pm.

Thursday, 1st November 2018:

St Joseph’s Church, Kinvara, 10.00am

Ballinderreen, 7.00pm

November Indulgences

Many people ask about how to obtain the indulgences for the souls of the departed in November, so here are the norms, as found in the Liturgical Calendar for Ireland, page 153:

1. From twelve o’clock noon on 1 November until midnight on 2 November, all who have confessed, received Holy Communion and prayed for the Pope’s intentions (one Our Father and Hail Mary, or any other prayer of one’s choice) can gain one plenary indulgence by visiting a church or oratory, and there reciting one our Father and the Apostle’s Creed.
This indulgence is applicable only to the souls of the departed.
Confession may be made at any time within the week preceding or the week following 1 November.
Holy Communion may be received on any day from 1 November to 8 November.

2. The faithful who visit a cemetery and pray for the dead may gain a plenary indulgence applicable only to the Holy Souls on the usual conditions once per day from 1 to 8 November. The conditions above apply also for this.

The Apostles’ Creed:

I believe in God,
the Father almighty,
Creator of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died and was buried;
he descended into hell;
on the third day he rose again from the dead;
he ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty;
from there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and life everlasting. Amen.

If you would like to read an explanation of indulgences in the Catechism of the Catholic Churchclick on the link here.

November: Praying for those who have died

During the month of November, we pray in a special way for those who have died. The traditional November lists of those who have died are available with envelopes at the doors of each of the Churches. You are welcome to write the names of your deceased loved ones on the list and return it to the Church. A Novena of Masses will be offered, beginning on 1st November, between Kinvara and Ballinderreen, for those named on the lists. It would be best if you could please return the lists before the beginning of those nine days. You can return them to any of the Churches, or to the Parish Office or to Kinvara Parochial House.

The November lists of those who have died. The Ballinderreen version is similar!

Mass for those who died during the year

There will be a special Mass in each of Ballinderreen and Kinvara Parishes for those who died since last November. The family members of those whose funerals took place in our parishes during the year are especially invited to the Mass. If you have a relative or friend who died since last November whom you would like remembered in this Mass, please contact Catherine in the Parish Office 086 8577644.

Kinvara Parish: Friday, 2nd November 2018 at 7pm (St Joseph’s Church)

Ballinderreen Parish: Tuesday, 6th November 2018 at 7pm.

On both evenings, there will be tea and light refreshments in the meeting room after the Mass, a chance to chat together, to console the bereaved, and to enjoy each other’s company.

May perpetual light shine upon them.

Seamount College Opening of Year Mass

Pictured after the Opening of Year Mass for Seamount College, Kinvara, celebrated in St Joseph’s Church on 5th October 2018 (left to right): Fr Hugh Clifford P.P., Bishop Brendan Kelly, Ms. Maighréad Mhic Dhomhnaill. Ms Mhic Dhomhnaill is holding the new award given by the Sisters of Mercy for the student who gives outstanding spiritual leadership each year.

Bishop Brendan Kelly celebrated Mass to mark the opening of the school year for Seamount College, in St Joseph’s Church, on Friday 5th October 2018. The Church was packed for the Mass, and the congregation included the students and staff of Seamount, as well as some parents and members of the weekday Mass congregation.

Bishop Brendan was struck by how the students entered so well into the prayerful atmosphere of the Mass.

Seamount College Principal, Ms. Maighréad Mhic Dhomhnaill announced a new award given by the Sisters of Mercy for the student who gives outstanding spiritual leadership in the school during each year.

Rosary request from Pope Francis

Holy See Press Office Communiqué, 29.09.2018:

The Holy Father has decided to invite all the faithful, of all the world, to pray the Holy Rosary every day, during the entire Marian month of October, and thus to join in communion and in penitence, as the people of God, in asking the Holy Mother of God and Saint Michael  Archangel to protect the Church from the devil, who always seeks to separate us from God and from each other.

In recent days, before his departure for the Baltic States, the Holy Father met with Fr. Fréderic Fornos, S.J., international director of Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network and asked him to spread this appeal to all the faithful throughout the world, inviting them to conclude the recitation of the Rosary with the ancient invocation “Sub tuum praesídium”, and with the prayer to Saint Michael Archangel that he protect us and help us in the struggle against evil (cf. Revelation 12, 7-12).

The prayer – the Pontiff affirmed a few days ago, on 11 September, in a homily at Santa Marta, citing the first chapter of the Book of Job – is the weapon against the Great Accuser who “goes around the world seeking to accuse”. Only prayer can defeat him. The Russian mystics and the great saints of all the traditions advised, in moments of spiritual turbulence, to shelter beneath the mantle of the Holy Mother of God pronouncing the invocation “Sub tuum praesídium”.

The invocation “Sub tuum praesídium” is recited as follows:

We fly to Thy protection, O Holy Mother of God. Do not despise our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us always from all dangers, O Glorious and Blessed Virgin.

With this request for intercession the Holy Father asks the faithful of all the world to pray that the Holy Mother of God place the Church beneath her protective mantle: to preserve her from the attachks by the devil, the great accuser, and at the same time to make her more aware of the faults, the errors and the abuses committed in the present and in the past, and committed to combating without any hesitation, so that evil may not prevail.

The Holy Father has also asked that the recitation of the Holy Rosary during the month of October conclude with the prayer written by Leo XIII:

Saint Michael Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil; may God rebuke him, we humbly pray; and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl through the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

Mass in Foy’s Cemetery

The congregation at the Mass in Foy’s Cemetery on 14th September 2018

Mass was celebrated in Foy’s Cemetery (Ballinderreen Parish) on the evening of Friday, 14th September 2018, Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. The Mass was offered for all those buried in Foy’s Cemetery and in Killeenavara Cemetery. Prayers were offered for those buried in the cemetery recently, those buried over the centuries, and those who are buried in the famine grave. Thanks to Aodh Dalton for the photographs included in this post.

The famine grave
The Mass being celebrated. The celebrant was Fr Hugh Clifford P.P.
The Liturgy of the Word. Unfortunately, it began to rain during the Mass.
The blessing of the graves
At the Foy’s Cemetery Mass

 

Memories of Cruinniú na mBád 2018

A Galway hooker at Cruinniú na mBád 2018

The annual Cruinniú na mBád festival, celebrating the traditional commerce that existed between the coasts around Galway Bay, was held in Kinvara from Friday 10th to Sunday 12th August 2018.

Mass was celebrated at the pier on the Sunday.

Unloading the turf

 

‘Rás na gCurach – Craobh an Domhain’

 

Mass at the pier on the Sunday. Fr Hugh Clifford P.P. was joined by Fr Phonsie Flatley SMA and Fr Anthony Keane OSB. Photo by Thomas Quinn.

Mass was celebrated at the pier at 12 noon on the Sunday. Fr Hugh Clifford was joined by concelebrants Fr Phonsie Flatley SMA, a native of Kinvara, and Fr Anthony Keane OSB of Glenstal Abbey, who is a regular visitor for the Cruinniú. The Kinvara Parish choir sang at the Mass, and the liturgy was prepared by Marie O’Shaughnessy and Máire O’Keefe. Thanks to Christina Connolly of Kinvara FM radio for this recording of the Mass, which you can listen to by clicking here.

A view of part of the congregation at the Mass
Members of the Kinvara Parish choir, and Maeve Cairney, cantor of St Colman’s Church, singing at the Mass
The blessing of the boats by Fr Phonsie Flatley SMA
Fr Anthony Keane OSB, Fr Phonsie Flatley SMA, Fr Hugh Clifford PP
Climín seaweed raft racing
Enjoying the spectacle at Cruinniú na mBád 2018
Galway hookers
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