All Souls’ Day

Fenor 1996 – Diary of a Parish Community

“All Souls’ Day”

2nd November, 1996

On this day all those who had died over the past twelve months were remembered with prayers and visits to the church and the graveyard. It was the custom to light a candle for each member of the family who was dead as well as neighbours and friends who had no one left to pray for them. The candles were lighted during the rosary and were left lighting until they burned out. There was always a great fear of the house going on fire and great care was taken by putting the candles in dishes of sand for fear they would topple over and cause a fire.

[ All Souls’ Day was established by St. Odilo of Cluny, France in 1048 – almost 1,000 years ago. – Comms Team.]

Presentation to Fr. O’Brien

Fenor 1996 – Diary of a Parish Community

“Presentation to Fr. O’Brien”

20th July, 1996

Our Vigil Mass on this day was at 6:30 p.m. Father O’Brien returned to say his goodbyes to his parishioners. Presentations were made to Father O’Brien by Willie Hanley and Paddy (Buck) Power on behalf of the parish. A testimonial to Father O’Brien was read by Rita Byrne. In an emotional final address, Father O’Brien thanked the community and Father Purcell for their kindness to him over the past five years and he promised that he would visit us soon and often

Fr. Robbie Grant

Fenor 1996 – Diary of a Parish Community

“Fr. Robbie Grant”

6th July, 1996.

Father Robbie Grant, our new curate, said his first Mass in Fenor Church today.

EPSON MFP image
Parochial House,
Fenor.

Dear parishioners,
I am delighted to have been given this opportunity to thank you for your warm and generous greeting which you extended to me since my arrival in the Parish of Fenor and Dunhill. It is my intention over the next few weeks to visit all the homes of the parish. I would like to assure all that my house is open to any parishioner who would like to call.

Be assured always of my prayers and support and I ask you to please remember me in your prayers. Sincerely yours,

Fr. Robbie Grant.

Peter’s Pence

Fenor 1996 – Diary of a Parish Community

“Peter’s Pence”

A collection was taken up at all Masses today for St. John’s College in Waterford. In former times this was called the “Peter’s Pence” collection, and the money collected was sent to Rome for the propagation of the faith. Each family was expected to contribute one half-penny (old money) per week, which meant that the contribution to this collection was 2s/2d (two shillings and tuppence) per family – about 11p in new money.

[For the sake of those who have known only the euro currency and know nothing of shillings or old pence and new pence, here are some exchange rates:

1 euro (€1) = 100 cents (100c)
1 punt (IR£) = 100 new pence (100p)
1 punt = 20 shillings (20s) = 240 old pence (240d)
1 euro = 0.787564 punt

So that 2s/2d = 11p = 14c
– Comms Team ]

The Fisherman’s Mass

Fenor 1996 – Diary of a Parish Community

“The Fisherman’s Mass”

6th July, 1996

The annual Fisherman’s Mass was celebrated on 6th July at 11:00 a.m. on the beach in Boatstrand by Fr. Burns and Fr. Crowley. It was attended by a large number of people comprising fishermen, residents, both local and from surrounding areas, holiday makers, owners of pleasure boats and canoes, and the Bunmahon Life Boat and Cliff Rescue teams.

The theme throughout the Mass focused on the wonders and dangers of the sea for all who earn their living from the harvest of it. Prayers were offered up for all those who lost their lives tragically during the year, especially Conor O’Grady. The blessing of the boats and canoes took place immediately after it. It was a joyous and uplifting experience, highlighted by the glorious sunshine and friendly atmosphere of all present. The Mass has been celebrated annually for over one hundred years – in fact, since before Dunabrattin harbour was built.

Sharing our Gifts

Fenor 1996 – Diary of a Parish Community

“Sharing our Gifts”

6th May, 1996

A conference of three hundred delegates from every parish in the Diocese of Waterford and Lismore was held in Clonea on Monday, May 6th, 1996. Delegates from this parish were Fr. Gerard Purcell P.P., Father Stephen O’Brien C.C., Patrick Baldwin, Breda Murphy, and Fidelma Curran. The theme of the conference was “Sharing Our Gifts” and the delegates participated in a day of dialogue and listening.

Reflecting on the proceedings, a number of things stood out for the bishop:

  1. The need to listen and to dialogue to see where people are coming from, what their hopes are, and what their concerns are.
  2. The richness of the contributions today. There is an energy, a talent in our diocese that is wonderful to experience.
  3. The emphasis on prayer, the centrality of the Eucharist and, of course, the central place of Jesus Christ in all our lives.
  4. The need to create communities where all can belong and feel welcome.
  5. The need for prayer and liturgies to speak to and celebrate in a meaningful way the experience of life today, especially for young people.
  6. The need to respond to our youth.
  7. The need to address women’s issues.
  8. The need to create new structures to enable involvement and partnership in parish life.

The bishop committed himself to carry forward the work: “I want to commit myself to carry forward the work of the conference into all parishes of the diocese through some concrete steps”.

  1. The working group which planned the conference, and to which I am so grateful, will be extended to include some participants of the conference.
  2. A report on the conference will be circulated to all priests of the diocese and to all who attended the conference. There will be copies for parishes as well.
  3. Representatives from every parish, who were present at Clonea, should meet to discuss future plans and initiatives.

Mission Memories

Fenor 1996 – Diary of a Parish Community

“Mission Memories”

by ‘De La Rochelle’

21st April, 1996

Today was the start of a week-long mission in the parish given by the Capuchin Fathers, Father Christopher Twomey from Ballyvourney, Co. Cork, and Father Alexis Healy from Skibbereen. Father Christopher, who is based in Carlow, was our missioner for the week, and we grew to love him in that short period of time. Please God he will visit us again soon.

Mission Memories.

Away back in the first half of this century the announcement of a forthcoming mission was greeted and accepted with enthusiasm and was looked forward to by priests and people, perhaps not for the same reason. My first experience of a mission was away back in 1930. The preachers were Fathers Antonine and Cyril from the Franciscans in Waterford. Father Antonine was prior in Waterford at the time. He was a big, fairly stout man who played the organ and sang beautifully but, somehow, his preaching wasn’t considered exceptional. He wasn’t able to command the same attention as his colleague, Father Cyril.

The mission opened in Dunhill and went on for a week there. The exercises consisted of Mass each morning at 7:30 followed by a short instruction on the sacraments. The evening ceremony consisted of rosary, sermon and Benediction on alternate evenings. Although I was very young at the time, that mission left an impression on me that still remains to this day. The preacher used a text such as one of the Commandments or a passage from the Bible or some phrase that would command attention. Indeed, I can recall vividly the text of my first mission sermon as that man, small in stature with closely cropped hair and fringe down almost over his eyes, that was Fr. Cyril, opened his sermon with the text, ‘Mane, Teckle, Faraes’. It had an instant impact on the congregation. From that moment to the close of the mission he had those who were listening in the palm of his hand. He then went on to explain the meaning and origin of these three Latin words taken from the Old Testament. I have spoken of this latterly to clergy and laity and most of them never heard of it. So for the benefit of those, I will try to convey as best I can its meaning and origin.

King Balthasar of one of the Biblical countries, having proclaimed himself beyond the power of God, was mockingly feasting with great joviality and depravity, desecrating the sacred vessels that were used at the offering of sacrifice to God, and also denying the existence of God. When the revelry was at its peak, the fingers of a hand came forth against the wall and wrote, as if on sand, the words ‘Mane, Teckle, Faraes’. The king and his cohort were terrified and mystified as no one present knew their meaning. The king commanded that anyone who could translate their meaning should appear before him, but no one seemed to be able to translate their message. However, a young captive in the land came forward and revealed their meaning, which was that the king was to die and be replaced by one of his most deadly enemies. There was a great poem in the Old Testament of the event and I remember my father reciting it for us the following day. The proof of its impact must surely be that it has never been erased from my memory.
rembrandt-belsazar-big

[ This was the original “writing on the wall” from the Book of Daniel, Ch 5, 1-31. The writing (מנא ,מנא, תקל, ופרסין) is in Hebrew and should be written right to left then top to bottom. In Rembrandt’s picture, the painter mistakenly painted it bottom to top then right to left. Only Daniel could discern the meaning, which was “God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; you have been weighed on the scales and found wanting; your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians”. – Comms Team. ]

Then we had a mission in 1935 but I cannot recall anything about it. We had a mission in 1940 which I find easy to recall and, when it was announced, I remember how those of my age group considered it would interfere with our pursuit of the pleasures that were uppermost in the minds of young manhood and perhaps womanhood also, and some of us were devising ways of escaping from the preaching that might spoil the enjoyment of the pleasures of youth. But it was essential to attend the first night as our absence would be noticed. So, reluctantly, we went along and were hooked under the spell of that preacher. We attended all the exercises and felt edified and enriched by them. It was considered a very successful mission as acrimony between families and neighbours was healed by the sanctifying grace that seemed to encompass the parish and appeared to flow from every spring or well. There was also a sad tragedy that added further emphasis to one text used during the mission, when a man named Pat Power, better known as Pat Carroll, who had been to Mass and Holy Communion that morning, was gored to death by a bull when he went to collect the cows for evening milking. The parish was stunned. The sad occurrence left an impression of that mission never to be erased from the memories of those who were witness to it. I might add here that the text used at the opening of the mission was, ‘Watch ye therefore, for ye know not the day nor the hour’.

That mission was given by the Passionist Fathers. There was a mission in 1950 but, somehow, it doesn’t seem to have left an impression of any significance. Latter-day missions don’t seem to have the appeal of the missions of long ago.

The attendance at missions and their impact seemed to wane after Vatican II. Changes were taking place and the Church was changing its emphasis. The devil was getting less publicity now and was having to take a low profile. It took some of the punch out of preaching, and having no renegade or thief to chastise left the preacher somewhat short-changed and we all liked to see the devil getting hell.

[ The second Vatican Council took place between 1962 and 1965. – Comms Team.]

The mission of 1996 will scarcely have left the same impression or have had the same impact on an eight or nine year old as my first mission had on me at that age. It was a lovely mission but the attendance left a lot to be desired. One was sorry for those who, like those in the parable of the Marriage Feast in the gospel, were too busy to take part in the feast and had other things to attend to. The contrast between the missions of 1940 and 1996 was very marked. In 1940 the mission would be the topic of every conversation for days before and weeks after taking place whereas, in 1996, many parishioners seemed unaware it was taking place.

However, in today’s climate, it would be unwise to judge the depth of people’s faith by attendance at church or religious practices as many of today’s people choose other ways and means to serve their God and find fulfilment.

Golden Jubilee

Fenor 1996 – Diary of a Parish Community

“Golden Jubilee”

6th April, 1996

Fr. Jim Kavanagh

Fifty years ago on this day, Fr. Jim Kavanagh of Ballyleen, Dunhill, was ordained by Dr. John Charles McQuaid at Clonliffe College in Dublin along with twelve other Augustinian Fathers. Father Jim celebrated his first Mass in Dunhill Church on April 7th 1946, assisted by Fr. Daniel Morrissey P.P.
His first appointment was to the Augustinian Church in Limerick City and, in 1948, Fr. Kavanagh was sent to the Australian Mission where he served until 1990. Since his return to Ireland he has spent some time in Callan, Co. Killkenny, and is at present in Wexford. Fr. Kavanagh was son of the late Michael and Brigid Kavanagh and nephew of the late Bill Cullinane.

[ The following obituary is from the Waterford News & Star of Friday, 2nd August, 2002. ]

SYMPATHY TO THE KAVANAGH FAMILY

Three weeks ago, Fr. Jim Kavanagh of Ballyleen passed away in a Dublin hospital. He was the second of twelve Kavanagh children, who was born in 1920 and attended Dunhill National School and later went on to St. Augustine’s College, Dungarvan. He joined the Augustinians and was ordained a priest in 1946. Two years later he was missioned to Queensland, Australia, where he worked for forty years.

Pioneering work in the diocese at this time was extremely difficult, setting out lands for the building of schools, convents etc. In 1989 he returned to Ireland and was once again assigned to the parish of the Dubles Ferry, NY. Subsequently, he was missioned to Callan and later to Grantstown, Co. Wexford. There he was instrumental in building thirteen new homes for the elderly. He had planned to build a further eleven homes but ill-health forced him to leave that work to another.

He then returned to the Augustinian retirement home in Dublin where he passed away about three weeks ago. All one can do is to thank God for men like Fr. Jim. Sincere sympathy to all the Kavanagh families in our locality and to his nieces and nephews. May God have mercy on his soul.

The Stations

Fenor 1996 – Diary of a Parish Community

“The Stations”

[ Note: These Stations are not the Stations of the Cross. – Comms Team.]

“The Stations” were a big part of Irish religious life in earlier times. They are said to go back to the Penal times when Mass was prohibited and priests “on the run” visited a parish once or twice a year. Up to fifty years ago, the stations were held in the houses of each locality. Now they take place in the church. Twice a year, in Lent and October, one house in each townland hosted the stations. Householders took turns so that no house had the stations oftener than every five or six years. The cleaning and whitewashing that went on, inside and out, for weeks beforehand, had to be seen to be believed, and the baking and preparation of food caused many a sleepless night to the woman of the house.

The station Mass was a morning Mass and both priests usually visited as well as a priest’s boy (to lay out the altar). Confessions were heard above in the room (parlour) and Mass was celebrated and Holy Communion received by all. The house would be thronged by all the neighbours, and children of the townland would get the day off school to attend their station. After Mass the head of each household paid the dues or station money to the parish priest and the name and amount was written down by the priest’s “boy” (usually, a man well on in his years). Breakfast was then had by all. The priests and male householders were served in the parlour and the women and children in the kitchen. The fuss and fluster was great and what a relief to the woman of the house when all were fed and happy. When the priest had said his “goodbyes” and gone on his way, a party, or sometimes a house dance, followed the stations.

Ash Wednesday

Fenor 1996 – Diary of a Parish Community

“Ash Wednesday”

19th February, 1996

Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent. In our grandparents’ time it was the beginning of forty days of black fast and abstinence. All over seven years of age and under seventy were obliged to fast and abstain from animal products (milk, butter, meat and eggs). Fish was allowed. Two collations (small meals of black tea and dry bread or porridge and black tea) were allowed each day and for the main meal, potatoes and salt or potatoes and fish with a white sauce were the usual fare. Because milk or buttermilk was prohibited, a barm was made by adding oatmeal to water and allowing it to stand for a day or two. This produced a whitish drink which was also used to whiten the tea.

For people who lived near the strand there was a supply of fish or shell fish. Salt ling or Landers fish (Newfoundlander fish) was bought by the slab. It was dried and salted and was as hard as a board. It had to be soaked overnight before cooking and then boiled with onions. It was very salty. Dances were prohibited during the forty days of Lent, as were card games and all sorts of frivolity. Smoking and alcohol were usually given up for Lent by the men and sweets and sugar by the ladies. By the end of World War II, the black fast was not as rigid as it had been. Milk and eggs were allowed, abstinence from meat was obligatory only on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and children were not obliged to fast.

The one island in this sea of deprivation was St. Patrick’s Day when the fast was suspended and everyone could eat and have their fill. Was it any wonder that people indulged above and beyond the normal on that day?

On Ash Wednesday this year [1996], ashes were blessed and distributed as usual in Fenor Church. The ashes which were used were got from the burning of the blessed palms left over after Palm Sunday the previous year.

[ In many diocese in Ireland it was stipulated that a collation should comprise tea and a biscuit. In the 1950s, bakers in Cork produced giant-sized biscuits to get around this rule. The biscuits were affectionately known as Connie Dodgers after Cornelius Lucey, the bishop of Cork and Ross at the time, who was legendary for his austere interpretations of Catholic teaching.
And do you remember the catechism question about days of abstinence? We were to abstain from meat or soups made from meat on Fridays (unless one fell on a holy day of obligation), the Wednesdays of Lent (unless one fell on a Friday), the Four Vigils (unless one fell on a Sunday) and the Ember Days. And the next question was? – Comms Team.]