Clonmacnois Parish Newsletter

Sunday 16^th Dec 2012 – 3 Adv C

Tel (090) 9674125.  Email: jimboclonmacnois@gmail.com

Mass times: Shannonbridge: Weekend, 8pm (Sat), & 12 noon, Sun;

Weekdays, 10am.                   Clonfanlough – Sunday, 10.30am

Shannonbridge

Masses: Mon-Thurs. Sat @ 10am: Fri @ 9.30am

Last Sunday's Offertory collection: €446.   Many Thanks

Church Cleaners: M.McManus, C.Slattery, A.Corbett      

Ministers of Holy Communion: Group 2

Readers for next Weekend: Group 1, D.Finnerty, P.Corbett

Altar Servers for this week: Group 1, Andrea, Stephanie, Jennie

Mass on next Sat eve for the late Ciaran, Maryanne & Brian Flannery

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Clonfanlough

Last Sunday's Offertory collection: €147.   Many Thanks

Church Cleaners: M.Guinan, A.Guinan

Readers for next Sunday: N.Kenny

Altar Servers for next Sunday: Group 1

Minister of Holy Communion for next Sunday: D.McEvoy

Penitential Services

Wed 19^th Dec:  Clonfanlough, 7pm; Shannonbridge, 8pm

Night Prayer Vigil in Clonmacnois Prayer Centre

Fri 21^th Dec, beginning with Mass @ 10pm.  Adoration follows and finishes at 3.10am.  All welcome.  Enquiries Dave 085-7746763

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 'Forgiveness is the key that unlocks the door of resentment and the handcuffs of hate.  It is a power that breaks the chains of bitterness and the shackles of selfishness.'                  (A survivor of Auschwitz)

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Pope Benedict XVI Sends out Inaugural Tweet

Pope Benedict XVI sent out his first tweets on Wednesday 12 on Twitter. The Twitter account, @pontifex, which was announced December 3 by the Holy See Press Office, is being used as a way for the Holy Father to communicate with the faithful and answer their questions on faith.

In two hours, the first papal message was re-tweeted, or shared by followers, over 27, 000 times. Currently, Benedict XVI has well over 700,000 followers since the account was opened a little over a week ago.
Shortly after his first tweet, Pope Benedict sent out a second tweet, relaying one of thousands of questions sent by his Twitter followers regarding the Year of Faith. "How can we celebrate the Year of Faith better in our daily lives?" was the question that was posed.
Responding to the question in a third tweet, the Holy Father stated: "By speaking with Jesus in prayer, listening to what he tells you in the Gospel and looking for him in those in need."
Questions people ask

Q. When John the Baptist baptised people, was it the sacrament of Baptism?

A. The sacraments as we know them did not exist before the ministry of Jesus. Baptism originally meant having a bath or a good wash. John was called the Baptiser, the Bath-man, because he used a ceremony of washing by which people might express a moral conversion from the ways of sin. Jesus took this ritual washing to a new level when he told the disciples to baptise ‘in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit’. Christians recognise this as the institution of the sacrament.