This weekend (while Carolyn held down the fort with our liturgical responsibilities in Clonard), Patrick, Jessica and I made a special visit to the Adamstown area of County Wexford. Earlier in the year Fr. Jim and some members of the parish’s prayer committee approached us with the idea of having the community come out to experience a weekend of liturgies in their rural parish and hoped that we might be able to organize some sort of day long retreat for the youth of the area. Because of busy schedules we had to set the date of our visit pretty far in advance but we finally made it happen!
Our visit began on Saturday night when we led the Raheen congregation in music at their 7:30pm Vigil Mass. Not used to having any music at that liturgy, the congregation was a bit surprised but extremely appreciative of our presence there. We stayed the night at the beautiful home of Fr. Jim, the parish priest for Raheen, and enjoyed the peace of the gorgeous country scenery around us. On Sunday morning we returned to the parish for the 10am Mass where we were met by a slightly larger congregation. At both liturgies Patrick was asked to speak during the Mass about the mission and work of Teach Bhríde in Clonard as well as spread the word about the youth event that will be taking place in May. It was all very well received by the congregation and we hope to have a large turn out next month!
The day went on with a big lovely lunch at Fr. Jim’s house where we were joined by the rest of the prayer committee and discussed more details about the objectives and logistics of our youth event in May. They were all very enthusiastic about offering something new to the youth, something that would hopefully keep them coming back and interested in their faith. Youth outreach is obviously a huge part of our mission here in Ireland and something that I think we are all pretty passionate about. So needless to say, we are all very excited about designing the program for this day for their youth!
We ended our visit by joining the Adamstown prayer group that meets on Sunday evenings. In addition to providing music throughout the evening, the committee also asked us to speak on why young people like ourselves would be interested in coming to Ireland to serve in a program like Teach Bhríde. We each talked about different aspects of our lives that led us to where we are today. I talked about witnessing gifts and feeling a call to use those gifts to serve others. Patrick talked about the role that several supportive faith communities played throughout his life. And Jessica gave a lovely reflection on the story of the Annunciation and how Mary’s ‘yes’ has been a constant source of inspiration for her own ‘yes’ to ministry. The members of the prayer group had many words of encouragement for us and were all eager to learn more about us and our work.
Overall it was a very successful visit, giving us the opportunity to experience liturgy and parish life in a different setting and enabled us to start building relationships that I’m sure Teach Bhríde communities will continue to nurture in the years to come.
Now back at home it’s a busy week here in Clonard. Both parish schools will be having Confirmation this week so please keep the Confirmation students and their families in your prayers!
