🎄 Just a reminder that Sunday 1st February is the next  play & pray Mass. Hope to see you all there.

Newsletter

PARISH OF LISDOONVARNA, KILSHANNY, TOOVAHERA, AND DOOLIN. January 10/11, 2026. Fr Robert Mc Namara PP, 065 7074142, 087 0949030 lisdoonpp@galwaydiocese.ie, Lisdoonvarnaparish.ie

CORPUS CHRISTI, LISDOONVARNA 10am: Lena and Patrick Vaughan, Rooska, and the deceased of the 'O'Brien family, Ballydonohue.

Next week: Thomas and Agnes Flanagan, and Donal and Bea 'O'Grady.

Our recently deceased: Phil Fitzgerald, Smithstown, Kilshanny, and Liscannor. May she rest in peace.

7pm Saturday evening Masses in January:

Kilshanny, January 10th: Diane Mc Mahon, first anniversary. Patrick and Mary Thynne. Andrew and Nora Thynne. Geraldine Kelly, Slievenagry, first anniversary. Mary-Margaret and Martin Doorty and deceased family members. Patrick 'O'Leary, Ballymacraven, 6th anniversary.

Toovahera, January 17th: Anthony O' Donohue, first anniversary, also remembering his brother John and parents Stephen and Eileen.

THANK YOU FOR LAST WEEK'S COLLECTION: €982.

TAP AND GO SYSTEM: we have introduced a tap and go facility for parish offerings. The unit is located in the front porch of Corpus Christi Church, Lisdoonvarna. Thank you very much to the Parish Finance Committee for their hard work on this. There are fixed amounts of €5, €10, €20, and €50, and also the option to choose your own amount. You can also request a receipt via email, which would be helpful if you are availing of the CHY Charitable Rebate Scheme from Revenue. Donations go into the number one Church Maintenance Account, for the heating, lighting, insuring and general upkeep of our four heritage churches.

EVERY BLESSING TO OUR SCHOOL COMMUNITIES as you return after Christmas. Thank you to our school staff and Boards of Management.

YOUNG SCIENTISTS: the best of luck to Mr Sims and the young competitors representing Mary Immaculate Secondary School, Lisdoonvarna.

NO MASS on Wednesday evening, January 28, due to a clergy conference, but Adoration will be held. My apologies for the inconvenience.

THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD: first of all, this celebration reminds us that we have an essential, primary identity by virtue of our Baptism: I am a beloved and delighted-in son or daughter of God, brother or sister of Jesus: "You are my beloved one, in whom my heart delights." These words are said by the Father not just about Jesus at His baptism, but about you and me at ours. Just think about that for a minute. When you know and feel you are delighted-in, beloved, this gives you a great foundation, a great launching pad in life, giving you the confidence to do anything in life. Thanks be to God for the parents who gave us such a foundation. And for those of us who didn't receive such a foundation, the good news of the Gospel is that it's available to all from our loving Father-God at our Baptism. "Think of the love the Father has lavished on us by letting us be called God's children," says St John. Secondly, the very same Holy Spirit that rose Jesus from the dead now lives in each of us because of our Baptism. Do we really believe this and tap into that amazing power? God's Word this weekend also reminds us that Baptism has an ethical dimension; I am called and sent to serve the cause of right, of justice. Now more than ever, our world is calling out for justice. For the Christian, justice is what happens when what we do and say in the church and what we do and say the rest of the time connect up. Baptism is a cleansing too. The waters of Baptism cleanse our souls from the stain of original sin, the tendency to look after number one we all unfortunately suffer from, and fills us with sanctifying grace, supernatural help that can only come from God. Lastly, it would be a good practice to pray for our parents who brought us for Baptism and for the priest who baptised us.