Sunday Club begins this Sunday, September 13th. Parents are invited to bring their children to church for 10.30 am. Children will leave to go over to the Parish Centre after approx. 15 minutes. That time in church will include a children’s talk and a hymn suitable for young people. Sunday Club will meet on the second and fourth Sunday of each month during school term time.
St Paul’s Theatre Group are looking for actors, singers, dancers, painters, lighting/sound techs, costume makers, helping hands for their upcoming pantomime “Sinbad the Sailor and the Jewel of Miracles”. The first rehearsal night will be on Monday, September 7th at 8 pm in the Parish Centre. If you would like to be part of the show, either on or off stage, they would love to have you. Any questions please call 087 629 4508 or email theatregroupstpauls@gmail.com
In what is now a parish tradition, we plan to mark the end of summer by worshipping together outdoors in the church grounds on Sunday, August 30th, at the later time of 12 noon, and then eating together at a family barbecue. As many schools will have already started back by then, there is a much greater chance that we will have a fine sunny day! However, the event will go ahead no matter what the weather – even if it means retreating into the Parish Centre.
Parents please note there will also be registration for Sunday Club that morning. Sunday Club resumes on September 13th.
Our parish intern for 2014/15, the Rev Abigail Sines, will be ordained to the priesthood to serve as curate-assistant in the Christchurch Cathedral Group of Parishes in Christ Church Cathedral on Sunday, September 27th at 3.30 pm. All are most welcome to attend. It has been suggested that parishoners travel together by bus from Glenageary to this service.
To help with the planning of this, please sign the list at the back of the church if you are interested in travelling by bus to Abigail’s ordination.
The choir of St Paul’s has been invited to lead the music at the morning and evening services in St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, on Sunday, July 26th. The choir, under its acting director of music Nathan Barrett, will be singing a Schubert setting of the Communion service, along with music by Faure, Stainer and Stanford. Matthew Breen will be playing the organ. The services are at 11.15am and 3.15pm.
Ten years to the day after his service of institution in St Paul’s on June 28th, 2005, the Rev Gary Dowd was surprised at the end of yesterday’s 10.30am service with a presentation by the Select Vestry, on behalf of the parish, to mark his first decade among us.
Rector’s churchwarden Geoff Barry made the presentation, thanking him for his first 10 years of ministry in St Paul’s. He also presented the Rector’s wife, Pamela,with a bouquet of flowers in acknowledgement of her supportive role in the parish.
In thanking the congregation, the Rev Dowd recalled how leaving Carlow after 15 years was a big wrench but the first time he stepped into St Paul’s church, he felt it was the right move. Their two children, Suzanne and Andrew, had grown up here very happily, he added
Since a 2013 change in legislation, PAYE workers and self-assessed tax individuals who donate €250 or more to the church over the whole year can help the parish to benefit further through tax back on these donations.
For instance, if you give €250 over 12 months – that’s €4.81 a week – the parish will get another €112.32 in tax back, bringing the value of your donation up to €362.32.
To be eligible for tax back, the donations need to be made in recorded giving ie through the stewardship envelope scheme, bank standing order or cheque, rather than loose cash on the collection plate. We recently circularised any qualifying subscribers for whom we do not have an ‘in-force’ tax form. If your donation was in 2014 or 2013, we are asking everyone to complete the five-year ‘CHY3 Cert’ that we sent. If your donation was in 2012 or 2011, we are asking only the PAYE taxpayers to complete the one-year ‘CHY2 Cert’. Please return the forms to Evan Roe (2806360), before the end of June if possible.
The “extra curricular” activities of the parish have nearly all wound up for the summer – although Bible Study on Monday evenings continues for the time being, along with pay-as-you-play badminton on Tuesdays (see right). However, the schedule of services remains constant throughout June, July and August,with opportunities to worship at 8.15am.10.30am and 7pm every Sunday and 11am Holy Communion on Wednesdays.
We will mark the end of summer with an outdoor service and parish barbecue on Sunday, August 30th, from 10.30am. Here are some more dates for your diary:
Friday, October 2nd Parish Social Evening, Royal St George Yacht Club, 8pm
Sunday, October 4th Pets Service 10.30 am
Sunday, November 1st Remembrance and Thanksgiving Service for Loved Ones 7 pm
Sunday, November 8th Remembrance Sunday
Sunday, December 20th Service of Nine Lessons with Carols by Candlelight 7 pm
After nine months of ministering amongst us, our first intern deacon, the Rev Abigial Sines, will finish up this Sunday, June 14th. She will preach at the 10.30am service, after which a presentation will be made to her in the Parish Centre over tea and coffee. We wish her well in her new post with the Christ Church Cathedral group of parishes, which she will take up in September, and thank her for all her hard work in St Paul’s. She has left her mark through her creative, cheerful and energetic approach to worship – particularly evident in her stewardship of the monthly Worship & Wedges (at which she is pictured at below).
Join in a different approach to worship at the next Worship and Wedges on Sunday, June 7th, at 6pm in the Parish Centre: music group, craft activity and talk followed by light supper of potato wedges and sausages.
