BALBRIGGAN PARISH Inc. Balbriggan, Balrothery & Balscadden

May 19th/20th 2018 Feast of Pentecost

The Blessing of Animals will take place on Sunday, May 27th

Session 1: After 10am Mass Session 2: After 12 noon Mass

Please join us with your finned, furry, feathered or scaled friend. In the absence of Dr. Doolittle, we ask that you have your animal safely secured!

This is part of our preparation for the World Meeting of Families and celebrates the special part our pets have in Family life

WORLD MEETING OF FAMILIES

PAPAL MASS

PHOENIX PARK

SUNDAY, AUGUST 26th at 3pm

Tickets for the Papal Mass in the Phoenix Park in August are expected to be released soon and they will be free! To assist parishioners wishing to attend the Mass, Balbriggan Parish will make a Group Application for those wishing to attend the Mass. With a large number expected to at-tend, it’s worth noting;-

It will be a ticket only event It will be a long day with Mass at 3.00p.m. It will be a 5k walk from transport drop off point

to the Mass.

Parishioners wishing to be part of the Parish Group Application are asked to contact the Parish Office by ei-ther e-mail or collect a Form from the Office for what promises to be a memorable occasion.

SOME DATES FOR YOUR DIARY June Bank Holiday Weekend Check out our stand at the Balbriggan Summerfest

9th/10th of June Fr. Ciaran O Callaghan CSsR will speak at all Masses on the theme of Family: Giving our children Roots and Wings

17th June Blessing of the Graves in Balrothery at 4pm

23rd June Family Fun DayA great day in our Parish Calendar!

13th— th of July

22nd July Blessing of the Graves in SS Peter & Paul

12th August Blessing of the Graves

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!!! With such great numbers attending the World Meeting of

Familes, volunteers are needed to help out in a variety of roles.

Welcoming people at the Airport and helping at Information Points, blogging and social media, photographers, stewards,

people who speak other languages as well as English—whatever your skills are, there is a place for you! Please see

www.worldmeeting2018.ie for more details

Sermon by Monsignor Lorcan O'Brien Sixth Sunday of Easter, B, 6th. May, 2018.

The referendum on whether or not to repeal the 8th. amendment of the Irish Constitution is a most serious question of conscience for the citizens of the Irish Republic, touching as it does the most basic of human rights, the right to life. Each of us bears a big responsibility in how we influence the outcome, even if we should decide not to vote. The decision of the Irish people will have consequences not only for the child in the womb but will shape respect for the right to life more generally. Today, it s the child in the womb, to-morrow the fragile older person. For Christians, the choice we make is particularly critical, as it determines how we are before God; God, who as we heard in the readings, sent Jesus into our world to be the sacrifice that takes our sins, our lack of love, away. In this critical matter, how do we love oth-ers as Jesus, has loved us? Some incontrovertible facts need to be acknowledged in coming to a decision. Life in the womb is human life, a who not a what at a stage of life we all were once. A pregnant woman is for good reason is described as a woman with child, even if that child should have a condition which may end its life. Every human life exists in an ecosystem of relation-ships. There is no such thing as an autonomous, inde-pendent human life. To be human is to be interdepend-ent. Should a pregnancy be experienced as a crisis, that is a responsibility for us all. To suggest that it is not the business of anyone other than the woman, is part of the mind -set behind the historic mistreatment of single mothers and an injustice to pregnant women. To say, this is your choice to make may really mean, this is

your problem to fix There will always be very challenging personal situa-tions in our lives. Trying to resolve them by trying to put the clock back does not work. We have to live with what is and deal with it as best we can. A person in cri-sis requires understanding, support and most of all, hope. To believe that deliberately ending a human life is a humane solution to what is considered a problem, is ultimately a counsel of despair. When the circumstances of a pregnancy threaten the life of a mother and therefore of her child, good and ethical medical practice protects the life of the mother, even if this may impact on the survival of the child as

an unavoidable consequence. This is already reflected in the 8th amendment and in best practice in Irish hospitals I do not need reminding that I am a 73 year old man who has never been a parent. Parents are my heroes. I have had the privileged experience of accompanying and ministering to those who have suffered miscarriag-es, still births, cot deaths and carried dead babies. I have had the privilege of celebrating the baptism of children who were diagnosed with what their parents were told were fatal foetal abnormalities, some of whom died shortly afterwards, others lived for a num-ber of months or years and one, I know, graduated from college last year. I have ministered to women and cou-ples who made a decision to end a pregnancy and to friends who helped, all of whom once thought, mistak-enly, they had put it behind them. Many of the posters advocating repeal of the 8th amendment have messages such as yes to women s health that I support but they obscure what is really at stake. What is proposed is not health care for pregnant women but to deny the fundamental and only right of the unborn, the right to life. This is an extreme pro-posal. The most fundamental medical principal is to do no harm Compassion is far more demanding and complex than altering our constitution. So I end as I began. The referendum is a most serious matter of conscience for us all, which we cannot hand over to politicians or anyone else. For Christians it is a matter on which we have to stand before God who judges us on how we treat one another and who will ask, to paraphrase Mt. 25 I was with child and in crisis and what did you do? I was unborn and my right to life was hanging in the balance and what did you do? because as often as you did it to one of the least of these sisters or brothers of mind you did it to me

CHURCH MASS TIMES BALBRIGGAN: Monday-Friday: 10am Holy Days: 9.30am & 11am Saturday: Vigil 6.30pm Sunday: 10am & 12noon BALSCADDEN: Sunday and Holy Days: 8.30am

PARISH TEAM Parish Priest: Fr. Eugene Taaffe

Tel: 0872525196 Curates: Fr. Tony Gill SMA Fr. Donal Toal SMA Pastoral Worker: Niamh Morris Parish Secretary: Anne McNally

PARISH OFFICE Monday –Friday 9.30am-1.00pm

(Closed for Public Holidays ) Phone: 01-8412116

Email: balbrigganparishoffice@gmail.com

Facebook: @ Balbriggan Parish

The Planned Giving Collection for the Weekend of 12th/13th amounted to €1470 Many thanks for your contributions—it is this Collection along with Standing Orders that allow us to meet the day to day running costs of the Parish

We offer our sympathies to

the families of

Mary Ann Race, Late of Pinewood

Tony Finley,

Late of Gormanston Wood NH

whose funerals took place

during the week

There will be Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament on Friday, May 25th after the 10am Mass until the Church closes at 5pm. All are welcome to call in for a few minutes, or maybe longer, to spend some time in the presence of the Lord

Balscadden 10th Annual Tractor Run takes place on Sunday, May 27th. Meet

in the Village at 11am for

departure at 11.45. €20 per tractor

(insurance must be provided). Great

fun for all the family before, during

and after the run—Market Stalls, Face Painting,

We welcome to the Christian Community

those who were baptized recently

Brian Edmond

Ryan David Julia

Luke Thomas Max Patrick

Mass Intentions Weekend of May 19th / 20th

Saturday 6.30pm: Gary Guildea (1st Ann)

Patrick McCarthy: Paddy Mooney

Willie, Stella & William Jnr Lacey

Tony Marcella & William Lee

Brian Lawless:

Balscadden 8.30am: Michael Whelan: Herbie Finn

Balbriggan 10am: Kathleen Coary: Bill & May Tolan

12 noon Frances McAnulla: Bridget Gaffney

Margaret Harford: Anne Darragh

Annette Costello

Weekday Mass Intentions Monday 10am:

Tuesday 10am: —

Wednesday 10am: —

Thursday 10am: —

Friday 10am: —

Weekend of May 26th & 27th Saturday 6.30pm: Patrick Barlow: Liz Sweeney

William Reilly: Catherine, Amelia &

Kathleen Foley: Hugh McKenna

Jack & Rosaleen Hennessy

Sunday

Balscadden 8.30am: —

Balbriggan 10am: John Flynn: Michael, Pat & Kitty Dillon

William, Helena & Patricia Lacey

John & Annie White: James Byrne

12 noon: Augustine(Gussie)Downes(MonthsMind)

Vera Reilly (Months Mind)

Kathleen McGarry: Wayne Walsh

Tom Murray: John (Jeff) Walsh

Kathleen,Michael & jaie Reid

Sean Snr, Donal & Sean Baxter

In remembering those who have died, we pray for their deceased family and friends.

We pray also for those who are grieving the death of a loved one at this time

For your faithful people, Lord, life is changed, not ended

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