The National Eucharistic Congress will take place at Knock Shrine, Co Mayo on Saturday, 26 and Sunday, 27 September 2015.

The theme for the Congress is “Christ, our Hope”  “Críost ár ndóchas” (Col 1:27).  This theme will be reflected in all homilies and presentations given at the Congress. The National Eucharistic Congress, which is free of charge, will have a particular focus on Marriage and the Family as well as the Year of Consecrated Life and the upcoming Jubilee of Mercy.

For detail of the programme click here Eucharistic Congress Knock 26-27 September 2015

You will also find additional information on the congress website

The results of the seventy-third Kildysart Agricultural Show which was held on Saturday 1 August 2015 may be down loaded by clicking here The 2015 Kildysart Show Results

The Administrator of the Diocese Killaloe, Fr Des Hillery had made a series of appointments in the Diocese.

They come into effect on Friday 31 July 2015.

To view the full list please click here Diocesan Appointments 2015

We wish everyone who is beginning a new stage in their ministry every happiness and blessing in their ministry.

The 73rd annual Kildysart Agricultural and Horticultural Show will take on Saturday 1 August, 2015.

The closing date for entries in Friday 24 July, 2015.

Kildysart Show 2015

The financial report for our parish for the year ending 31 December 2014 may be viewed by clicking here Kildysart Parish 2014 Financial Report

You will also find notes regarding this years accounts Notes regarding 2014 Financial Report

In particular the Parish Finance Council wish to thank you for your generous support of the work of the parish during 2014. The Council also wishes to encourage as many members of our parish as possible to use the parish collection envelopes and to j0in the tax refund scheme.

We wish to thank all the members of our parish for their unfailing generosity and our parish finance council for their work.

The members of our parish finance council are

• Gerard Kelly
• Noel McMahon
• Brendan McMahon
• Dan O’Connor
• Mary Keane (Secretary)
• Maureen McMahon
• Fr Albert McDonnell.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

We congratulate the children who received their Frist Holy Communion in St Michael’s Church, Kildysart on Sunday, 10 May 2015. May the Lord always bless and guide them together with their parents, families, teachers and all who form part of their circle of love.

*********************************************

The year will be an important year for the children in our parish who will receives the Lord for the first time in Holy Communion on Sunday 10 May 2015 and for their parents and families.

These final months of preparation will involve the families, our school and parish working together for the good of the children. The parish part of our preparation is based on the ‘Do This in Memory’ programme. Our thanks are due to the group of parents who have kindly volunteered to organise our parish programme.

One Sunday each month, our parish celebration of the Eucharist will focus on our children who are preparing to receive the sacrament and their families. The list of dates, including the children’s first celebration of the sacrament of reconciliation (confession), is as follows:

• Enrolment Mass                       Sunday 12 October 2014 at 11am;
• Preparation Mass                     Sunday 23 November 2014 at 11am;
• Preparation Mass                     Sunday 21 December 2014 at 11am;
• Preparation Mass                     Sunday 15 February 2015 at 11am;
• Preparation Mass                     Sunday 8 March 2015 at 11am;
• Sacrament of Reconciliation  Wesnesday 15 April 2015 at 7.00pm;
• First Holy Communion           Sunday 10 May 2015 at 11am.

A meeting for the parents of children who are preparing to receive Holy Communion for the first time this year will take place in the Community Centre, Kildysart at 8.30pm on Monday 22 September.

We remember in prayer the young people from our parish you are taking the junior or leaving certificate or third level exams this summer. They will be  remembered at Mass in St Michael’s Church on Sunday  17 May during which they will lead us in song and prayer. The Seinn choir will sing and paly during the Mass.

A candle is lit each day during Mass as a symbol of the prayerful support of the parish community.

Prayer in Preparation for exams.

O God of Wisdom,

I thank you for the knowledge gained and experiences of this time. I come to you on this day and ask you to enlighten my mind and heart.

Let your Holy Spirit be with me as I prepare for these exams, guiding my studies, and giving me insight so that I can perform to the best of my ability.

Please grant me the strength to handle the pressure of these days of exams, the confidence to feel secure in my knowledge, and the ability to keep an appropriate perspective through it all.

Help me to keep in mind what is truly important, even as I focus my time and energy on these exams.

Finally, may I sense your peace in knowing that I applied myself to the challenges of this day.

I ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

During May, the month of Our Lady, the rosary is prayed each Wednesday evening at 8pm at the Marian Grotto on the Ennis Road. All welcome.

Diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes

Wednesday 11 February 2015 is the 157^th anniversary of the Apparitions of Our Lady to St. Bernadette in Lourdes. This year’s Diocesan Pilgrimage will leave Shannon on Friday 26 June and will returnon Wednesday 1 July. The cost this year is €687 per person sharing with a €10 discount for online booking at http://www.joewalshtours.ie

Booking forms can be obtained from: Joe Walsh Tours, 143 Lower Baggot Street, Dublin 2. Telephone: (01) 2410810

A limited number of Sick pilgrims will be accommodated in the Sanctuary of Lourdes at a cost of €575 Applications for sick pilgrims only to Fr. Tom Ryan, Pilgrimage Director, SS John & Paul Presbytery, Shannon, Co. Clare. Telephone: (061) 364133

Families or individuals often sponsor a family member, parents, or a friend on the occasion of an anniversary or Jubilee with a visit to Lourdes. Sponsorship for sick people is always welcome. For more details, see poster in Church porch and on the Killaloe Diocese website http://www.killaloediocese.ie

Lourdes poster 2015_Lourdes Pilgrimage poster

Holy Week and Easter in Kildysart

Monday 30 March

Service of Reconciliation 8pm
Holy Thursday, 2 April

Mass of the Lord’s Supper 8.30pm

Good Friday, 3 April,

The Lord’s Passion 4.30pm
Holy Saturday, 4 April.

Easter Vigil 9.30pm

Easter Sunday 5 April

Easter Day Mass 11am

For details of the Holy Week and Easter ceremonies in Coolmeem-Cranny parish please click here

Our current Parish Pastoral Council has come to the end of its term of office. We wish to thank the members of the outgoing pastoral council for their generous contribution to the life of our parish.

You are invited to nominate new council members using this form. Election of Pastoral Parish Council 2015

It is hoped that the pastoral council will be as representative as possible as the various age groups and geographical areas in the parish.

Many of you may have taken an interest in the Extraordinary Synod on the Family which was held in Rome last autumn.  The questions which Pope Francis raised for discussion by our Church leaders were refreshingly honest and pertinent.  What he had to say found its way into our hearts and minds because family is common to us all.  The quality of our lives and the health of our relationships are very closely related to the kind of family life we succeed in making for ourselves.  Whatever damages the family hurts us all and whatever enriches family life is a blessing for us all. Pope Francis is inviting us to help him and all Church leaders in “the task of formulating the pastoral responses to the real situation of family life around the world” as it was expressed at last year’s Extraordinary Synod.

In tackling the questions put before us, we are asked to share our experience of married and family life and to ask ourselves how well or how badly our local Church supports and provides pastoral care for married couples and families. Ideas and reflections are invited from individuals, families, pastoral councils or any other group with an interest in the family. You are welcome to send your reflections by e mail office@killaloediocese.ie or by post to:

Killaloe Diocesan Office, Westbourne, Ennis, Co Clare before 13 March, 2015.

If you wish to read the full document you will find it here

You may find the following questions helpful as you reflect on and discuss the family in today’s world.

1. How are people being helped to see the value of lifelong commitment in marriage?

2.How can people be helped to see how faith in God can help and enrich marriage, and how it brings blessings on marriage and sustains couples in lifelong love?

3. How can couples living together be helped to enter into marriage?

4. How can couples in the early years of marriage be helped and supported?

5. What kinds of families are most in need of help?  How can they best be helped?  How can we remove factors that can make life difficult for families?

6.How can we, the Church best minister to gay people and their families?

7.How can parents be motivated and helped as they seek to hand on the faith to their children?

The sacrament of confirmation was celebrated in St Michael’s Church, Kildysart on Friday 6 February 2015 to administer the sacrament of confirmation . We pray that the gift of the Holy Spirit may fill the hearts of the boys and girls who have received the sacrament. We pray also for their parents, teachers and families and all who accompanied them as they prepare to receive the sacrament.

Our parish preparation for confirmation included the following:

Parents Meeting led by Fr Pat Larkin on Wednesday 24 September at 8.30am;

Enrolment Mass on Sunday 26 October at 11am;

Liturgy of light on Monday 15 December at 7pm.