Aughaval Group of Parishes

  We're excited that it's Sunday Club time again, today, 9 March, starting at 12 noon in St Mary's Church, Westport (- Holy Trinity Church services are in St Mary's at this time while the church is closed due to storm damage and awaiting repairs) and moving next door to Carrowbeg House.  All children of school age are welcome. All activities are run in accordance with the Church of Ireland's Child Safeguarding Policy.  For more information please contact us: Email aughaval@tuam.anglican.org  Sunday Club team leaders: Paul, Steffi and Shirley

  Lent, Holy Week and Easter 2025   (Subject to change)   St Patrick’s Day, Monday 17 March  - 10am  Gentle Friendship St Patrick’s Day Walk and Prayers  at the foot of the Croagh Patrick, meeting in Murrisk Carpark at 9.45am. All welcome.     Wed 12, 19 and 26 March 10.30 am   Lenten Holy Communion and Reflection, St Mary’s Westport 8.00 pm      Online Prayer and Bible Reading  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82781900766?pwd=b2YEVeJHqhnprNxoLHjd5sqg492wbn.1   Confirmation Prep Session 4,    Friday 14 March , 7.45pm in the Rectory   Lenten movie night in the Rectory , Friday 21 March, 7.30pm –  Chocolat   with a short study based on the Lent Course ‘Christ and the Chocolaterie’, plus refreshments, before watching the film. For planning purposes, please let Rev. Suzanne know if you plan to attend.   Palm Sunday, 13 April : The Liturgy of the Passion, with ...

    Sunday Club team : Paul, Steffi, Shirley Luke 5:27-32 (NRSV) After this he [Jesus] went out and saw a tax-collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up, left everything, and followed him. Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house; and there was a large crowd of tax-collectors and others sitting at the table  with them.The Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to his disciples, saying, ‘Why do you eat and drink with tax-collectors and sinners?’ Jesus answered, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance.’ Jesus calls Levi by William Hole, early 1900s Public domain   You can find a gentle reflection to start / enrich/ end your day here, with Sacred Space: https://sacredspace.com/daily-prayer/2025-03-08/ This weekend in the Aughaval Parishes: You're welcome! Saturday 8 March, 7pm in Turlough, S...

Come and enjoy a Gentle Friendship Walk and Talk, with Prayers and Reflection at the foot of Croagh Patrick, on Monday 17 March, gathering at 9.45am in Murrisk Carpark (outside the cafe).  Suitable for all ages.  Recommended: warm clothes, sturdy footwear, water and snacks You’re welcome! Info: email aughaval@tuam.anglican.org Beautiful photo: source unknown 

  Matthew 9:14-15 Then the disciples of John came to him [Jesus], saying, ‘Why do we and the Pharisees fast often,  but your disciples do not fast?’  And Jesus said to them, ‘The wedding-guests cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. You can find a gentle reflection to start / enrich/ end your day here, with Sacred Space: https://sacredspace.com/daily-prayer/2025-03-07/ This weekend in the Aughaval Parishes: We'd love to see you. Saturday 8 March, 7pm in Turlough, Service of Holy Communion   Sunday 9 March, The First Sunday in Lent 10am in Christ Church Castlebar, Morning Prayer ( The Mall, Knockaphunta, Castlebar, Co. Mayo ), followed by tea 12 noon, Service of Holy Communion for Holy Trinity Westport, in St Mary's Church, Westport ( South Mall,  F28 FD00 ) f ollowed by tea in Carrowbeg House (next door to the church) 12 noon, Westport Sunday Clu...

  The  gospel reading for the second day of Lent.  Good Friday Walk of Witness in Westport, 2024 Luke 9:22-25 [Jesus said] ‘The Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.’ Then he said to them all,  ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it. What does it profit them if they gain the whole world, but lose or forfeit themselves? From Sacred Space online: "Jesus would have been familiar with the account of the suffering servant in Isaiah 52. Knowing that he was destined to suffer and be killed must have been a heavy burden to carry. We can talk to him about this and ask for some of his courage in facing our own crosses.  A disciple cannot be above his/her Master. As Christ suffered, s...

  The first day of Lent, Ash Wednesday Matthew 6:1-6,16-21 [Jesus said] ‘Beware of practising your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven. ‘So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. ‘And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.  ‘And wheneve...

 What an encouraging time was had at St Thomas’s Dugort, Achill, on Shrove Tuesday. There was a definite international flavour to our time of sharing friendship, food, and some of our personal thoughts, faith stories and experiences, and our expectations of Lent.  The next gathering for worship in St Thomas’s will be on Sunday coming, 9 March, at 3pm, the Service of Evening Prayer. You’re welcome!

  Why not mark the beginning of Lent by joining for a short service of Holy Communion?  Ash Wednesday Services of Holy Communion for the Aughaval Parishes are as follows: Westport-Dugort Parishes: 10.30am in St Mary's Church, Westport (on the Mall) Castlebar and Turlough Parishes: 1pm in Christ Church, Castlebar  All are welcome.

  Letter for Lent to the Aughaval Parishes Dear friends, Lent begins on Wed 5 March, Ash Wednesday. Here in the Aughaval Parishes I am recommending that we make the Gospel of Luke, the Gospel for this year (Year C), our spiritual reading for Lent 2025. The seven-week reading plan below is from Prof. Kieran O’Mahony’s ‘Hearer of the Word’ website and will take us gently through to Easter.   He suggests a 'double reading':    [I]f you can, read the whole Gospel through in one sitting. [We may be] amazed by the cumulative effect of the power of the writing when we read it in one sitting. After this overview, then we can take some chapters and stories each week for reflection and prayer. Faithful readers will find themselves in the hands of a great spiritual writer, a master story teller. It is no accident that in the tradition, Luke was said to have been a painter. His stories somehow lodge in our hearts and minds because Luke is a very painterly writer. My guess is tha...