Weekends:
Tourlestrane: Sun 10.30am:
Kilmactigue: Saturday 7pm ( from beginning October to end of April)
Saturday 8pm ( from beginning May to end of September)
Lough Talt: Sun 9.20am
Weekdays:
Tourlestrane: 9.30am on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and 7/8pm on Fridays
Kilmactigue: 9.30am on Mondays, Thursdays
Mass on Saturday morning on arrangement with requestor.
Exposition of Blessed Sacrament:
Tourlestrane: Tuesday 10am - 1pm
Kilmactigue: Monday 10am - 12noon
Confessions:
Tourlestrane: Friday 6pm - 6.30pm (from beginning October to end of April)
Friday 7pm - 7.30pm (from beginning May to end of September)
Anointing of the Sick
Home visitation takes place on the First Friday of the Month and on the Thursday before hand. Contact Fr John if you wish a priest to call.
Baptism: Contact Fr John
Marriage: Contact Fr John. Give at least three months notice.
First Communion: Preparation for children is done through the parish schools each year.
Confirmation: Preparation for candidates is done through the parish schools every two years.
Adults : Preparation for Baptism, First Communion and Confirmation for adults will be done through the OCRA programme in the next few years. Please contact Fr John.
Lent
Ash Wednesday is to be observed as a day of penance in the whole Church, one of both fast and abstinence.
Weekday Mass.
The faithful should try to attend weekday Masses, and where this is not possible they should be encouraged to read the lessons, either with their family or in private. We will celebrate an extra Mass in Kilmactigue church on Wednesdays during Lent at 7pm.
Ashes
On Wednesday, the faithful , thus entering into the time established for the purification of their souls, this sign of penance, a traditionally biblical one, has been preserved among the Church’s customs until the present day. It signifies the human condition of the sinner, who seeks to express his/her guilt before the Lord in an exterior manner, and in so doing, express his/her interior conversion, led by the confident hope that the Lord will be merciful.
The blessing and imposition of ashes will take place from 7pm in Tourlestrane church with Mass at 9.30am. Blessing and imposition of ashes in Kilmactigue church at 7pm.
Penance
The role of the Church in penitential practices is not to be neglected. Encouragement is to be given to pray for sinners The faithful are to be reminded that both according to law and tradition, they should approach the sacrament of penance during this season, so that with purified heart they may participate in the paschal mysteries. It is appropriate that during lent the sacrament of penance be celebrated according to the rite for the reconciliation of several penitents with individual confession and absolution, as given in the Roman Ritual.
Funerals:
Rite of Reception
There is a long-standing tradition of welcoming the body of a deceased parishioner into the Parish Church on the evening before the Funeral Mass. This begins with a short selection of prayers and readings called the “Rite of Reception”, following which those present have the opportunity to offer their condolences to the family of the deceased. This is different in many ways from bringing the body of the deceased to a funeral home.
When the coffin comes to the Church, from the family home or from the funeral home, it remains closed throughout the time in the Church. The focus is on bringing the deceased into the presence of God, in the place where he or she prayed and celebrated the Sacraments, as a member of the parish community. The tradition is that the deceased remains overnight, not alone (as people sometimes say), but in the presence of the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.
Funeral Directors and Priests work very closely together in the service of the bereaved, but their roles are different. The policy of the Dioceses is that the appropriate distinction between the Funeral Home and the Parish Church would be recognised. We are aware that, on occasion, that distinction has been unintentionally overlooked.
Bishop Kevin Doran
