Priest: Fr. John Halton, Parochial House, Tempo.
Telephone : 895 41344.

Christmas Homily: 2009.

I wish all A HAPPY CHRISTMAS

There is a dark spot in our hearts this Christmas as we celebrate the birth of Jesus as a Baby amongst us. God has become one like us in all things in the baby Jesus so that we can become one with God in all things. We thank him for coming to live in us, and with us, and we offer him the manger of our hearts in welcome. Like the shepherds, the angels, and the wise men we give praise and glory to God, and we offer our lives to Jesus yet again, as we gaze into the stable of our hearts within. For Jesus lives with us as our Messiah, and Redeemer. He lives within us, so that we can be united, in his death and resurrection , and so live in the presence of our Father. This Christmas we know, as we may never have known before, that we need Him among us, with us, and in us, in a special way. The Catholic Church to which we belong needs Him in a very special way in our time, as we set out on the path of renewal, and recovery with a new vision which comes from God and not from man. We need the Star of Christmas to point us to the stable of our hearts where Jesus lives, or we will live under the fog of outdated ways, and structures, which have failed to serve Jesus or his family. We need the Star of the Holy Spirit to direct us and guide us for we live in a crisis time in which “if God does not build his Church those who labour will labour in vain”

In the last few days we have allowed the children of the parish to remind us of the Good News in the various carol services, and little sketches in our church, and in each of our schools. We have learned from them the innocence, simplicity, the humility, trust and joy, which should be part of Gospel which we proclaim and want to live. But I must admit that there came a black cloud in my brain and a lump in my throat when I realized as never before that Herod who plotted the destruction of Jesus is still plotting the destruction of the lives of many other children in our time and in our Church. He is very much alive and walks around in our society and Church with the same mission today. He uses the same deception and the same calculating mind in our society and church today as he did in that far away past. He still meets the wise men and tells them with his pious face to let him know when they have found the child Jesus, so that he too can go and offer worship. He can still use the guise of faith and religion to cover up his evil ways. He still may miss the child he plans to destroy, but he will destroy many, many others as his lust for power and control take possession of his life.

This is the dark cloud that haunts me this Christmas as the numbers of children destroyed by paedophiles in the Church has unfolded before us in the last number of months. We cannot celebrate Christmas without praying for such children destroyed by men under the guise of religion who have been exposed in the various recent reports. We pray for these children, for Jesus came among us as a child so that all children could grow up to be fully integrated people emotionally, physically, and spiritually. The plan of Jesus has been ignored and destroyed in many children’s lives, and this is the greatest evil of all. We cannot celebrate Christmas in the sane way now for our sincerity and integrity is on the line. We must renew our Church so this can never happen again. This is an obvious call coming to us during this Christmas in a louder voice than ever before in our history. We need to get back to the early Church, and build our foundations on “ The Word of God”, and on “The Eucharist”. Both of these call for equal and full participation of all baptised people in building up the Body of Christ. All have equal but different ministries, and all have equal responsibilities in the Church. We went down a blind-alley when we equated the Church with bishops and priests. We are still imprisoned in that false alley, and mindset. We need a change of MINDSET now.

Sunday 20th December 2009

4th Sunday of Advent.

Elizabeth said: 'Blessed is she who believed that the promises made to her by the Lord would be fulfilled'. This week we celebrate the wonderful feast of Christmas. Mary is by far the best person to teach us what it is about, as she was very central to the first Christmas. The first thing she teaches us is that Christmas is primarily about Christ. How obvious that should be and yet it is about so many other things for so many people today. The second thing Mary teaches us about Christmas is that it is about God's extreme love for us as we are. Each one of us is so precious in God's eyes that Christmas would have happened even if we were the only person ever to live. It is a time to let go to that love. And the third thing is that it is about family - our love for one another in our homes and being a family together in our parish community.

Preparation for confession - 13th December 2009.

*** Read Sermon from Sunday 6th December 2009***

Sunday Masses:

Tempo: 7.00pm Saturday evening.
11.00am Sunday morning

Cradien: 9.30am Sunday morning.

Christmas Masses:

Tempo:

Mass at 9.00pm Christmas Eve (Thursday) and

11.00am Christmas morning (Friday).

Cradien:

Mass at 7.00pm Christmas Eve (Thursday) and

9.30am Christmas morning (Friday).

Daily Masses:

Tempo: Tuesday 10.00am.

Cradien: Monday 7.00pm.

Eucharistic Ministers

Tempo: Sat 26 Dec Diane Campbell.

Sun 27 Dec Tom McCaffrey & Paul McManus.

Cradien: Sun 27 Dec Thomas McCusker.

Altar Servers

Week Beginning 20th December: Una & Declan McHugh, Kirsty Gallagher & Stephen Fee.

Week Beginning 27th December: Aine McGinn & Chelsea Goodwin.

Anniversaries

Tempo: Sunday 27/12 11.00am Sheila Donnelly
& deceased of Donnelly family, Cullion.

Cradien: Monday 7.00pm James Maguire, Cavanacarragh.
Sunday 27/12 9.30am Joseph Doherty, Breagho.

SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION:

THIS EVENING AT 5.00pm

IN TEMPO CHURCH

Baptism:

We welcome into the Community of Faith; Hugh Anthony McQuaid, Killaculla who was baptised in the Church of the Immaculate Conception on Sunday 13th December 2009. May his home be filled with love, prayer, joy, and happiness?

Happy Christmas

The Parish Pastoral Council wish all in our Parish Community a very happy Christmas. We wish a very happy Christmas to our sick and infirm, and we ask you to continue to pray for the growth of the Kingdom of God in our parish. We wish inner peace to those who have lost a loved one during the year and have a vacant chair in their home for the Christmas dinner this year. We wish joy, happiness, and excitement to our children who brighten up our world, and make the true message of Christmas come alive for us. We wish peace, love, and joy to all Mass Servers who help us celebrate the Eucharist each Sunday.

We thank their parents for having them on the Altar, and coming with them into the Sacristy to help train them, cloth them, and get them ready for Mass. This has been done by parents with great joy, and has added a whole new atmosphere in the Sacristy before Mass which we all appreciate. We wish every success and blessing to all organisations, or teams of people, in the parish who help build up the Parish Community during the year. We wish peace and happiness to all who promote communal singing during Mass, and all who participate in Choirs or Music. We mention in a special way Patricia Rogers which makes singing and music seem so natural.

We remember Gerry McGrail, the Sacristan in Tempo who keeps the Church in immaculate condition, and all the many people who work together in St Joseph’s Cradien who do the same. We mention too all who arrange or donate flowers and give glory to God in a very special way. We remember to all who help and take part in drama, dancing or art. We cannot forget our teachers and staff in St Mary’s, and St Patrick’s Schools who work so hard all during the year to create our schools into places of care and concern which we all experience, and who are so dedicated to the full growth and education of our children. We wish a happy Christmas also to the Team of Workers who insures that we have Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament in both Churches each week.

This is a very noble work which we all appreciate, and which brings many blessings to our parish. The best gift we can give Jesus is our time. And our time in front of the Blessed Sacrament is special. We remember our rosary group in each church, and we wish them every blessing at this time. The Rosary is a meditation on the Word of God. The Community Centre Committee gives a Trojan service to the community, and we wish them also a very happy Christmas. The catering team also have become well known for their dedication, good work and friendly approach to people, especially at vulnerable times in their lives. They always have place in the inn. We cannot mention everyone in our best wishes for Christmas but all are included.

We invite people who have stopped coming to Mass to return. We miss you, and we need you. We end by saying happy Christmas to our youth leaders, youth club, and all involved in the parish. We need your enthusiasm, idealism, openness, and generosity in the church and in the parish. We know that some of you are very angry with priests and bishops at this time for the pain inflicted on children by some paedophile priests, and by the way these scandals were covered up by some bishops. We need you to teach us how to be open. I am a priest myself and I feel very angry, and ashamed. I feel that I have been let down. I need to become more humble. I too must learn in what areas of lives I cover-up also. I pray for openness this Christmas. I pray for openness in myself and in our parish. Happy Christmas!

Bingo: No Bingo on Thursday 24th December

(Christmas Eve).

Annual Collection for Concern Worldwide:

will take place on Main Street Tempo on Christmas Eve 24th December. Please contribute generously to this needy cause.