Aughaval Group of Parishes

 What’s on this weekend in the Aughaval Group of Parishes? One of the resources we are using in our Exploring Confirmation sessions  is the Alpha Youth film series. Exploring Confirmation Friday 28 Feb 7.45pm   Exploring Confirmation, Week 3   Preparing for Lent      Sat 1 March, Eve of the Sunday before Lent:      - 7pm   Turlough, Evening Prayer, led by Dr Eamon Smith (TLK Diocesan Reader)           Sunday 2 March, The Sunday before Lent:   - 10am    Christ Church Castlebar, Holy Communion   - 12 noon   Holy Trinity Westport’s Service of Holy Communion, in St Mary’s Church, the Mall, Westport  Special musical event   - 1.30pm    Dublin Choral Union Recital (short concert) in St Mary’s Church, Westport – a welcome  fundraising event for repairs to Holy Trinity Westport, with renowned conductor Dunca...

Invitation for next Tues, Pancake Tuesday, 11am in St Thomas’s Church, Dugort, Achill.  Please spread the word and come along if you can. 

Recently in Christ Church Castlebar we were delighted to host a thoroughly engaging lecture by Dr Michael O’Connor to mark the 200th anniversary of the decision of the Select Vestry to rebuild Christ Church, Castlebar. How glad we — the present congregation and vestry —  are that the parishioners and vestry of that time had the foresight and courage to agree that decision and to follow through on it!  At the end of the lecture there was a short Questions and Answers session which revealed a lively interest in this special church building and its history, and also in the statue which stands within the railings and which gazes steadily across the junction and traffic passing by the Mall and the church. This statue is regularly referred to by at least a few townspeople as ‘Poor George!’ - this on account of the poor state of repair of the statue in his likeness. And it seems that the reason for ‘his’ decline is not so much the likely cost of restoration but the scarcity of stonem...

On the third anniversary of the beginning of the war in Ukraine, members of the Ukrainian community and Westport Welcomes Ukraine gathered in Westport, first at the Octagon, for a peaceful march down James Street and in to St Mary's Church for a Service of Prayer and Remembrance.  The service was notable for its all-age participation, prayers (translated from English to Ukrainian), poetry recitation, and music and song, including hauntingly beautiful pieces by Ensemble Nezlamni ('Unbreakable').  Twenty candles were lit by Fr John Kenny (St Mary's) and Revd Suzanne Cousins (Holy Trinity Westport) and placed by representatives on the sanctuary steps. The children also placed paper cranes in the Ukrainian colours (yellow and blue) on the steps.  After the service the Castle Court Hotel hosted a small reception, with tea/coffee and desert. Sharing lament while holding on to hope and praying for peace,  with Ukrainian friends in Westport, on Sunday 23rd February, with Fr ...

The Table Quiz on 7 Feb raised 835 euros  towards Holy Trinity Westport repairs.   Thanks to all the wise old owls  who supported and took part! “A wise old owl lived in an oak; The more he saw the less he spoke; The less he spoke the more he heard: Why can't we all be like that bird?” Edward Hersey Richards  

Door into the Victorian Garden at Kylemore Abbey You’re welcome! Services this weekend in the Aughaval Group will include an All-age sermon: • Turlough Church - Saturday at 7pm, Holy Communion • Christ Church Castlebar - Sunday at 10am, Morning Prayer followed by tea and coffee • Holy Trinity Westport – services temporarily in St Mary’s, Sunday at 12 noon, Holy Communion, followed by tea and coffee in Carrowbeg House • St Thomas's Dugort, Sunday at 3pm, Evening Prayer • Ecumenical Service of Prayer on 3rd Anniversary of War in Ukraine – Sunday at 2.15pm in St Mary’s Westport

  A few more images taken on Inishbiggle on Sat 15 Feb 2025, thanks mainly to Jim Waters, Westport, and an informative article (2013), below, by Patrick Comerford, on the history of the Church of Ireland on the island.  You can read the full unedited article, with images, here:  http://www.patrickcomerford.com/2013/05/a-history-of-church-of-ireland-on.html .  Shared with thanks to the author.     The freshly decorated interior and beautifully restored pews A history of the Church of Ireland on Inishbiggle  You can read this informative article  by Patrick Comerford,  in full, unedited, with images, here:  http://www.patrickcomerford.com/2013/05/a-history-of-church-of-ireland-on.html From a lecture by  Patrick Comerford  in Holy Trinity Church. Inishbiggle Island, given on Sunday 6 May 2013, as part of a guided walk on Inishbiggle Island led by Sheila McHugh during the ninth Annual Heinrich Böll Memorial Weekend 2013. It wa...