September 4th 2005 – 23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time

Testing your forgiveness
You don’t have to be a Christian to know that forgiveness is a must. Keeping a grievance, means you’re poisoning the well you drink from. Forgiveness has precious little to do with the other deserving or even expecting it, but it has everything to do with your deserving peace.
Agreed? But are we still a bit like the dog lover who found a pesky mongrel had trotted across his freshly concreted path once too often and promptly shot it. Do we like our forgiveness more in the abstract than in the concrete.
In short, how good are we in the practice of forgiveness – if ‘practice’ we ever did? Well give yourself a short forgiveness test. There are six signs you have genuinely forgiven someone are:
• You do not tell anybody what they did to you (A sly way of trying to punish the one       who hurt you, from the moral high ground of having ‘forgiven’ them.)
• You do not try to intimidate them
• You do not let them feel guilty
• You let them save face
• You accept the matter of total forgiveness as a ‘life sentence’ -you have to keep doing it, indefinitely
• You pray that they will be blessed and let off the hook.
This is one test that we can’t say to the difficult question of forgiveness – ‘pass’.
Fr. Tom Cox

Hurricane Katrina
This weekend we join with churches of every denomination in praying for all the victims of hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and surrounding states.  Our sympathies and condolences to all our friends in the U.S.
 
Farewell Presentation to Fr. John O’Donovan
The farewell presentation to Fr. John will take place in Nemo Rangers Old Pavilion on this Monday 5th Sept.    Time: 8pm.   All are invited – there will be music, crack and a cuppa.  Our thanks to all who have contributed  so generously to the presentation to be made to Fr. John.

Final Lotto Draw.
We ask all promoters to bring their tickets  to the Parish Centre an tomorrow Monday 5th Sept. at their usual times   At 7.45 pm all tickets and the checking team will go to Nemo Rangers Old Pavilion. and the draw will take place.   After 3 draws if no winner emerges all tickets will be put into the drum and 4 tickets will be drawn and the jackpot (€3,600) will divided equally. The farewell presentation to Fr. John will take place after the final Draw.

Weekday Morning Mass
The 8am Morning Mass will not resume until November when a new priest will be appointed
Mass as usual at 10am.

Turners Cross Seniors Social Club
Care Centre Capwell Rd.

Reopening 6th Sept., 7pm to 9pm Speaker 7.30pm
6th Sept. Marino's Exercise Class
13th Sept. Marion Gramophone Society
20th Sept. Life of the Honey Bee, Tom & Mary O’Shea  Sales on the night
27th Sept. Speaker from U.C.C. Granparenting Project.       
All are welcome

Gougane Sunday
There is along tradition of visiting Gougane Barra on the feat of St Finbarr, the monk who is credited with establishing a monastery there. These are the details of the Annual Pilgrimage to Gougane Barra this year:-
Sunday 25th September, 2005. (Feast of St Finbarr)
2.15pm Rosary
2.30pm Concelebrated Mass
Chief Celebrant: Bishop John Buckley.
Preacher: Canon John O’Donovan, PP, Bantry.
Mass is celebrated at the entrance to St Finbarr's Oratory, on the island in Gougane Barra.
The Pilgrimage takes on special significance this year as the city where St. Finbarr is patron celebrates its designation as European Capital of Culture.

Deaths
We remember in our prayers Rose O’Callaghan, St Ann’s Pk. and Essie Crowley, Congress Rd. who died during the week and extend our sympathy to their families.

Lotto Results for 29th August 2005
Numbers drawn:  7, 14, 23, 26.
No Winner of Jackpot 
€35 CASH
A. Peilow, M. Murphy, M. O'Donovan, L. O'Neill
THIS WEEK'S JACKPOT :  €3,600
Last week’s net “take”       €2,233
Last week's second collection  €1,270
Anon. Donations:  €27, €20, €10.
Sponsorship for a Church Seat  €420
Many thanks for supporting the Parish Lotto in aid of the Church Restoration Fund.  The final Lotto Draw will be on this Mon. 5th Sept. 2005 in Nemo Rangers
Old Pavilion