Issue
86 CSNL NEWS November/December, 2024.
Parish
Of Celbridge & Straffan with Newcastle-Lyons
Church
of Ireland United Dioceses of Dublin & Glendalough
By the
parishioners - for the parishioners
From
Our Rector - Dear Friends ..
It is
the morning of the US Presidential election as I write these notes and a time
when many people are holding their breath as they wait to see the outcome, not
just in America but throughout the World and that includes Ireland. It is a
nervous and uncertain time as the result will have implications for all of us.
We too are facing into an imminent election in this country and that will
affect us even more immediately than what happens on the other side of the
Atlantic. And so there is a lot of uncertainty as to what lies ahead and yet we
must keep going and hope and pray for the best.
The
Christmas story which we are about to enter into once again is also set in the
context of instability and uncertainty as we see the humble nature of Jesus’ birth and the subsequent threat to his life and his
being forced to flee to Egypt with Joseph and Mary until Herod
had died. And yet out of those fragile
and threatening beginnings Christianity was born – it was not and is not meant to be a religion of power or dominance but
rather presence and witness especially on the margins of our World communicating
God’s Love to all but especially
those who are suffering.
As
Christians by following Jesus we have committed ourselves to live in and
on the uncertain margins of our World. It is not the safest place to live but
it is the place where God does extraordinary things. May we have the faith to
embrace uncertainty and trust that God is closest to us when we feel most
vulnerable.
Yours Stephen
Straffan Sunday
Services Live Streamed
https://www.churchmedia.tv/straffon-church-of-ireland and www.facebook.com/CSNLParish.
Church
Services
Sunday Newcastle 9 a.m* Straffan 10.15 a.m. Celbridge 11.30 a.m.
1st Holy
Communion Service of Word Holy Communion
2nd Service
of Word Holy Communion Service of Word
3rd Holy
Communion Morning Prayer Holy Communion
4th Morning
Prayer
Holy Communion Morning Prayer
5th 29th
December. United Service. 11 a.m.
Straffan Church.
*Services will continue in Newcastle at 10 a.m., on
the 1st Sunday as a permanent change in the Sunday timetable.
On Going Events
Craft
& Chat: The Group continue to meet each Tuesday in
the Slip Hall at 2.30 p.m. All are
welcome for crafting, chatting and refreshments.
Wednesday Night Prayers: From 8 p.m., to 9
p.m. At present, they are held in the
home of Tony & Elizabeth Waldron in Newcastle. If anybody would like details they can
contact Rev. Stephen or Dee Huddleston. Everyone is very welcome to come along or to
let them know if there is something they would like them to pray about.
Saturday Night Services: Rev. Stephen hopes to re-launch
the services in Christ Church, Celbridge in the New Year. These are generally quite informal. It would be great to see some new faces. Also
if you play a musical instrument feel free to bring it along. Refreshments normally follow and time for a
chat after the service.
Whist Drives: Come along for great fun, prizes and a tasty
supper on the last Fridays of the month at 8 p.m., in the Slip Hall. Thanks to all who organised and provided
refreshments and raffle prizes for those on 27th September and 25th
October. The next date is Friday, 29th
November and this will be the Christmas night - so lots of festive fun!
Chuckle
Time
A lady went into the Post Office to buy stamps for her
Christmas cards. “What
denomination?” asked
the clerk. “Oh good heavens,
have we come to this?” the lady exclaimed. “Well give me 20
Catholic & 20 Church of Ireland please.”
Christmas
Fair - Saturday, 30th November - Primrose Hill School
Put
the date in your diary! This is a joint
venture between the three churches and our parish school. It will be held from 11a.m., to 3 p.m.
All
the usual stalls, teas, a raffle and more and lots for the kids
· Face painters
· Santa’s Grotto
· Elvie Photo booth
· Personalised Colouring books
Church
Of Ireland Youth Department Funding Now Available
Youth workers and volunteer youth leaders are strongly
encouraged to apply for the above Bursary fund - Next Steps - to boost their
skills and bring out their potential.
The closing date for the current round is Saturday, November, 30th
2024. Vocational training and
development in youth ministry is essential and its impact on the Church can
last for generations. An application
form can be had from Barbara Swann, CIYD’s Office Administrator at admin@ciyd.org.
WhatsApp
Groups
WhatsApp group continues to be very active. There are also groups specifically for
Newcastle and another for Straffan notices – together they provide a very
effective means of contact in the parish.
Sharing
Hope With People Without A Home
Each parish in the Church of Ireland is being
encouraged to consider how it can help to overcome homelessness at a local
level between Harvest and Christmas.” Homelessness is a
rucksack that none of us wants to be carrying”. Archbishop
Michael Jackson, Chair of the Church & Society Commission
said. A two page flyer can be downloaded
from the Church of Ireland website, gives more information.
Straffan
Christmas Carol Service
This will be held on Sunday, 15th December
at 3 p.m. Whilst having a traditional
carol service, this year we would like to add something special. We have a small Ukrainian community living in
Straffan, some of which attend our church.
They have also been actively involved with our Market & Carboot Sale
over the summer. This small community
arrived last year during 15th & 17th December. During this past year, they have made great
efforts to participate and integrate despite the significant language
barrier. At this year’s carol service we
would like to combine our traditional service with a flavour of Ukrainian
culture and have their participation.
Christmas is a time when everyone is easily preoccupied with their own
family arrangements and it can pass others by without any great joy.
In our combined Irish/Ukrainian Carol Service we will
have some carols with combined English/Ukrainian verses, some Ukrainian carols
and some readings in Ukrainian. It gives
us all an opportunity to share our cultures and celebrate a special occasion
together. After the Carol Service we
hope to have an opportunity to mix with our Ukrainian friends and to wish them
also a happier Christmas period.
There will be more details nearer the time and also on
all services during Advent and Christmas on the parish website and Social
Media.
Kill
Senior Citizen’s Christmas Dinner
The Editor has been asked to advertise the
above which will be held in Kill GAA Hall on Sunday, 8th
December. This covers Kill, Ardclough,
Straffan parish area & Johnstown.
Further details from Kill Parish Office.
Thanks
The Editor omitted to say thanks to all
maintaining church grounds and to Dee Huddleston & Geoffrey McMaster for
taking services in July, August and September!
Thanks to Dee for taking the service in Straffan on 6th
October and speaking on the work of Christian Aid and also 3rd
November and to both Dee and Geoffrey who took the services when
our Rector was preaching at the harvest in Limerick.
Baptism
Welcome
to Elizabeth Grace Rebekah Huddleston, daughter of James &
Rebekah who was baptised in Straffan Church on the 2nd November.
Her Godparents are Ellen Forster, Abbie Forster, Stephen Forster and Nina
Huddleston. We wish Elizabeth every blessing in her journey in faith
and life.
Concerts In Christ
Church, Celbridge
Concerts
– It has been a very busy
couple of months for concerts in Christ Church Celbridge since Abbaesque,
Culture Night Traditional Irish Night, Conor McKeown, Sean Keane and a Leonard
Cohen tribute with John McKenna.
The next date for the diary is Saturday 21st December when Conor
McKeown returns for a Christmas concert.
Regular
concert goers (and parishioners) are very happy to have full length pew
cushions in all the pews!
All tickets are now up on Eventbrite and also
available from Breda - 087-9630719.
During his sermon on Sunday, 27th October, Rev.
Stephen, spoke about the concert in Christ Church, Celbridge when John
McKenna presented “At War with Mercy” featuring
16 songs written by Leonard Cohen.
John dressed up as a tramp and greeted people at the church, but
most passed by. He then walked up the
aisle slowly at the start of the concert, when probably some were thinking was
he going to interrupt the concert, when he took to the stand as the
presenter. A lesson in how we perceive
people and treat them. A lesson for all,
before our Rector spoke on Blind Bartimaeus and his unorthodox
way of being noticed.
Remembrance
Sunday - 10th November, 2024.
Thanks to those who supported the Poppy Appeal,
poppies being available in all churches on the day. The Royal British Legion in Ireland would
like to thank all who donated last year.
2025 will be the 100th anniversary of the Legion in the
Republic of Ireland. A special service
of Remembrance will be held in the Irish National War Memorial Gardens, Dublin
on Saturday, 12th July.
Market
& Carboot 2024 - Looking Back - By Jos Evertsen
It’s hard to believe that we are at the end of our 14th
season. Another year of the Market &
Carboot has gone by. This year is
proving to be THE record year of all.
We hosted 12 events and nearly 800 cars.
Whilst we had a few light showers from time to time, overall we have
been blessed with the weather and did not need to cancel any event. The demand for bookings has been
unprecedented. It was not uncommon to
process up to 130 booking requests for 72 places.
It has been an interesting year where we tried to
introduce a little novelty and variety:-
We experimented
with creating a CRAFT corner
We had
extra help from our Straffan based Ukrainian community. It gave them an opportunity to integrate and
participate in our events, to learn English, to meet people and experience some
of our local culture;
Our
local Straffan based band ‘No Strings Attached’ entertained us several times;
We
hosted our first ‘KIDS
MARKET’ very
successfully, with a request for more next year;
We
sponsored a Stall for the RNLI. Their
efforts contributed to our community awareness of their activities and also
supported their fundraising efforts for a new boat in Wexford.
Including our new Ukrainian volunteers, this year we
have a Team of 49 people. We are quite a
large group, but as we know it takes a lot of people to run our Community
Event, everyone taking a few turns over the entire season. Thanks for your commitment and dedication, we
have had a most successful season. Here
are some of the comments that have come back from our regular booters:-
.. you
are an amazing Team, we feel very secure, there are lovely people, a social
every two weeks …
..thanks
to all the Team who work to set it all up and assist us as needed …
…thank
you all for hosting a great carboot this season …
..we
enjoyed all the fun and laughs. Most
successful season so far. Music and good
cheer. Well done to you and all the Team
…
Thanks again to everyone for your time and
contributions. A special
thanks to:-
Our
Team of Bakers. Without your
home baking, we would not be able to run such a successful Tea Stall. Your donations of baking are greatly
acknowledged and appreciated. We are all
well aware that the cost of both baking ingredients and the use of electricity
are increasing relentlessly. On behalf
of all of us “THANK
YOU!” and
Our
Behind The Scenes Team, for putting up and taking down the
roadside signs, setting out the roadside cones early on the Saturday morning,
managing our rubbish bins, cutting the grass and keeping the grounds, the ‘Staking-Outers’ and those
managing the bookings.
The total income raised during 2024 was just over €16,000 benefiting
the parish with just over €8,000. To date,
since 2011, the parish has benefited just in excess of €76,000!
With your help and support, we can hopefully continue
next year. The shape of the Market and
Carboot Event has increasingly become a widespread Community Event with
fundraising benefits. A change from our
initial Fundraising Event with local Community benefits. Looking forward to meeting up again next
March to review the Market & Carboot event 2025. If you have any further ideas or suggestions,
please bring them along. For now, thank
you all again. We wish you well and good
health over the next few winter months and until March, 2025. Best regards.
(.. and a HUGE
THANK YOU to Jos from all the Parish!)
Dublin &
Glendalough Magazine - The Church Review
Subscriptions are due on 1st January - thanks to Elizabeth
Waldron (Newcastle-Lyons), Debbie Kelly (Straffan) & Ken
Denner (Celbridge) for distributing and to whom subscriptions should be
paid. If you do not already receive the bumper packed magazine and would like
to do so, please contact the above.
Harvest
Festivals
The first was held in St. Finian’s Church,
Newcastle-Lyons on Sunday, 29th September, when our Rector
was the preacher. Members of the
congregation took part in the readings and prayers, led by Geoffrey McMaster and thanks too to James
Pasley for playing the organ. The
decorations were especially impressive.
The congregation remained in their pews and were served with
refreshments. The collection was for the
Bishops’
Appeal.
Christ Church, Celbridge celebrated the harvest
festival on Sunday, 13th October, when again the church was
beautifully decorated. It was lovely to
have involvement from some of our schoolchildren at the service - leading
prayers and assisting our Rector with his sermon. After the service, the congregation moved to
the Slip Hall for refreshments. The
collection again went to Bishops’ Appeal. Thanks
to James Pasley for playing the organ.
Sunday, 20th October was the date for the
harvest thanksgiving in Straffan Church, which was also live streamed on the
webcam. The church was decorated to the
usual high standard. Thanks are due to
all who made the preparations for the day, not only in Straffan but in all
three churches. Thanks to Jenny Shaw for
playing the organ. The collection again
was for the Bishops’
Appeal. It was good to see many
Ukrainian friends attending.
A fresh appeal was launched by the Church of Ireland
Bishops’
Appeal. Funds raised will be shared
equally between the Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem, which has a number of
schools and hospitals in the region including in Gaza, and Tearfund. The Archbishop of Jerusalem, Hosam Naoum said:
“The
whole system is collapsing but as Christians, we continue to have hope, and we
are called to be resilient. Despite
everything people are determined to continue with their ministry.” Tearfund’s church partners are doing their
best to respond across the region, working in very difficult circumstances to
provide meals for displaced people, ship vital medicines and keep schools
running.
Ecumenical
Pet Blessing Service - Saturday, 5th October - Christ Church,
Celbridge
This year was one of the biggest attendances with the
church full of pets and their humans. The dogs were in fine voices as
usual. Rev. Stephen was
accompanied by Fr. Jonathan from St. Patrick’s Church, Celbridge in blessing the
pets and remembering sick and deceased pets dear to their humans. All pets were given a Bandana with the word ’Blessed’ printed on it and
a Blessing certificate.
After the service the congregation moved to the Slip
Hall for refreshments. A collection of €640 given at the
service went to KWWSPCA who were there in numbers with some rescue and
volunteer dogs as usual and they shared information about the work they do in
sheltering, fostering and homing dogs.
Thanks to all who made it a great day - presenting certificates and
Bandanas, providing refreshments, preparing the church and cleaning afterwards
and to James Pasley for providing the music.
Sympathy
Our deepest sympathy to Judith Gleeson and
family of Celbridge on the recent death of Judith’s
father, Roy Watts. The Funeral
Service took place on Wednesday, 16th October in All Saints’ Church of
Ireland, Raheny with Cremation afterwards at Glasnevin Crematorium Chapel. Our prayers are extended to his wife, Pamela,
his children, Judith, Lynne, Sandra & Robert, sons-in-law Jim
& Shane, Robert’s partner Maria,
grandchildren Richard, Leanne, Peigi & Cara, sister Margery
and her husband Harry and extended family and friends. May God comfort all who mourn.
Slip Hall
With the closure of the Montessori School there is now some availability
for morning hires in the hall. Please
send enquiries to email:csnparishhall@gmail.com.
The
Church Clairvoyant (1955) - Rev’d S J Forrest
They grumbled at
the anthems and the chants they couldn’t sing,
They moaned about
the settings that the festivals would bring,
But they left the
poor old organist to find out everything,
By instinct, or
possibly, by radar.
They groused about
the particles of dust upon the pew,
But they never
told the verger, or perhaps they thought he knew,
By instinct, or
possibly, by radar.
They fetched the
doctor fast enough when father had the gout,
They called the
district nurse when tonsillitis was about,
But they never
told the Vicar, for they thought he’d know without,
By instinct, or
possibly, by radar.
The moral of these
verses isn’t
difficult to show:
That if you think
a man is wrong, politely tell him so,
Don’t leave
the chap to ascertain the things he doesn’t know
By instinct, or
possibly, by radar.
I am slowly
learning who is who and what is where but it’s going to take
some time to reach what might be called ‘Full Operating
Capacity’.
Organisation
Focus - Team Hope Shoe Boxes
Team Hope sent 176,615 shoebox gifts to children in 12
countries across Easter Europe and Africa as part of the 2023 Christmas Shoebox
Appeal. For many of these children, this
is the only gift they will have received this Christmas (or in their lives
before). We know every box contains
cherished items that can transform a child’s life, a scarf and woolly hat can
keep the cold at bay or a simple pen and notebook could be the passport that a
child needs to be able to start their journey through the education
system. Through the giving of a shoebox
our Partners can also identify other needs and provide help.
Your kindness spreads to the families and communities
and the ripple effect you start with your shoebox gift can never be
under-estimated. Thanks to all who
provided items and shoeboxes this year and in advance to all those involved in
the packing.
Calendar
Of Events
November
Sun 10 Remembrance Sunday.
Fri 29 Whist Drive. Slip Hall.
8 p.m.
Sat 30 Christmas Fair. Primrose Hill School. 11 a.m.
- 3 p.m.
Closing
date for C of I Youth Department Funding.
December
Sun 1 Advent Sunday
Sat 8 Kill Senior Citizen’s Christmas
Dinner.
Sun 15 Straffan Christmas Carol Service. 3 p.m.
United
with Ukrainian community.
Sat 21 Concert.
Christ Church, Celbridge. 8
p.m. Conor McKeown.
Tue 24th Christmas Eve
Wed 25th
Christmas Day. Holy Communion in all 3 churches at the usual
times.
Happy
Christmas!
Sun 29th United Service. 11 a.m.
Straffan Church..
(Details of other
Christmas services will be posted on the Parish website, Social Media and
announced in all churches.)
January
Wed 1 New Year’s Day. Happy 2025 to all readers!
Church
Review subscriptions due.
Tue 7 Closing date for inclusion in the next
issue of CSNL NEWS.
Sun 12 CSNL NEWS available in all 3 churches.
Who’s Who
In The Parish
www.cs-nl.org celbridgestraffannewcastlelyns@gmail.com
Rector: Rev.
Stephen Neill 01-6288231 087-2328172
www.paddyanglican.com stephen.neill@gmail.com
Keep up to date on www.cs-nl.org
&
https://www.facebook.com/CSNLParish & www.Dublin.anglican.org
Anxiety weighs down a heart,
but a kind word cheers it up. Proverbs.
12:25.
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