TO DONATE: Bank of Ireland, Ennistymon, Lisdoonvarna Churches, IBAN: IE40 BOFI 9042 2930 184883

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THANK YOU FOR LAST WEEK’S COLLECTION: €1629

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COMMISERATIONS: to the St. Breckan’s U-15 lads in the County Final. You did your best and your day will come! It is a great achievement to get to a County Final.

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FLOWERS: I would be most grateful for flowers from your gardens please to adorn the altars of the Lord!

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FANORE FESTIVAL OF FAITH: in the camp site from July 8th to 15th, with daily activities for all ages.

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WARM CONGRATULATIONS: to Fr. Ned Crosby who recently celebrated 60 years of service to the Lord and His people as a priest. I would heartily recommend the priestly vocation and can tell you that it’s most fulfilling. And it is anything but lonely! Please spread the word that Jesus is still calling young men to the priesthood and sow the seed when you get the chance by saying to a likely candidate: “I think you have what it takes to be a priest.”

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MARY’S MEALS: I was sincerely honoured to be asked to be the main celebrant at the Mary’s Meals national pilgrimage Mass in Knock Basilica this weekend, by Patricia Friel, a good friend of our parish, and national director of Mary’s Meals. What I like about this charity is that is a “no frills” one, with a very simple aim: one hot meal a day for a school-going child in a developing country, so that they can continue their education and thereby climb out of poverty. The founder of Mary’s Meals is Magnus Macfarlane-Barrow,a Scotsman. In his wonderful book, The Shed that fed 2 million Children, Magnus tells the story of how it all began in Medjugorje, with the conviction that love of God and love of neighbour are the two sides of the same coin, and that faith must be put into action, loving service for the healing of this world, or else it’s just a self-centred comfort-blanket. In Malawi, he met Emma, a dying mother surrounded by her children. Her eldest, 14 year old Edward said, when asked about his hopes and dreams:  “I would like to have enough food to eat  and to be able to go to school one day.” This statement changed Magnus’ life. A simple statement that Magnus repeats throughout the book is that children go hungry not because there’s not enough food in the world, but because they and their parents can’t afford to pay for it; proper, nourishing food: “hunger is caused by poverty and poverty is caused by hunger.  People suffer chronic hunger not because there’s no food, but because they cannot afford to buy it. The world produces considerably more than enough food for everyone.” After meeting Emma and Edward and others like them, Magnus prayed hard for a very long time:“I asked God to have mercy on those children: please, Lord, give them a new life. Let them experience love. Show us what to do please Lord.” The charity was named Mary’s Meals after the mother of Jesus, who herself brought up a child in poverty, and knew what it was to be exiled.  Here’s the most moving line in the book: “faithful,unconditional love can transform even the most hopeless situations.”

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PAUL MCNAMARA 2^ND MEMORIAL WALK (Paul was the late husband of Mina Clancy, Kilfenora): starts this Sunday, July 7, from Newquay Church at 1pm, refreshments provided. All proceeds to the Brain Injury Unit at UCHG.