Dr. Martin Centre
The staff and management at The Dr. Martin Centre in Portlaw would like to let you know that the centre is now open from Tuesday to Thursday from 10am to 2pm. Our daily activities include chair yoga, bingo, use of tablets, chair exercises, meditation, use of treadmill, quizzes, our life story books and more. You can view their weekly dinner menu from our Facebook page.
Ballyduff Camogie Club
Our recently formed camogie club held their AGM and all there agreed that it has been a very successful year. It is wonderful to see 50 girls registered with the club and the next few years look very bright. The outgoing officers did a brilliant job and were returned for the coming year. The chairperson is Tim Counihan, Vice Chairperson is Dermot Dooley, Secretary is Michelle O Donoghue and Treasurer is Mary Griffin. We wish the committee and the club the very best of luck for the coming year.
Church News
The 3rd Sunday of Advent has always been known as Gaudate Sunday. This means Rejoice and has for many years been the day when the children of Rome bring the figurines of Baby Jesus from their family cribs to St. Peter’s Square to be blessed by the Pope during the Angelus. In celebrating the tradition of Bambinelli Sunday as it is affectionately known as, we are invited to bring our figures of Jesus to our weekend masses on the weekend of December 12th where they will be blessed.
If you are making family plans for the festive season and would like to know the mass times around the season I have been given the list and can let you have a sneaky preview. Some extra masses have been added to protect everyone and cater for all.
Monday December 20th @10am
Tuesday December 21st @7.30pm
Wednesday December 22nd @7.30pm
Thursday December 23rd@ 7.30pm
Friday Christmas Eve @7.30pm
Saturday Christmas Day @ 9.30am and 10.30am
St. Stephens Day @10am
The weekday masses for the week after Christmas will be at 11am each morning.
First sign of Christmas
As a child I knew that the Sunday I entered my church and saw the Advent wreath sitting beautifully beside the altar then we were on the countdown. We only had a short time to make sure we got ourselves on to that good list. I have a little bit more of an adult view of the wreath now but it is always a reminder of how fast the days go by. The Advent wreath is a wonderful tradition and I really think it is a beautiful reminder of the season of Christmas