Aughaval Group of Parishes

  A Special Occasion for Many On Sunday 17 August , Amber Rose was received and welcomed in to the church - the church worldwide as well as local - in the Service and Sacrament of Holy Baptism. This took place outdoors in the beautifully-kept churchyard of St Thomas's Church, Knappagh. It was a joy to welcome Amber, her family and sponsors.  Prior to the service the old eagle lectern was retrieved from inside the church and cleaned up carefully for the occasion.  Knappagh residents Shirley McKittrick and daughter Aine greeted and welcomed attendees and visitors. Lucy Fabby, mum of Rebecca, who was the last person to be baptised at St Thomas's Knappagh while the church building was still open and in use, helped lead the prayers , along with Westport (Holy Trinity) parishioner, Mary Farr.  Our good friend James Kilbane sang two hymns which were appropriate for the occasion -  Because He lives   and   Be not afraid. The final hymn was   Lord...

  What's on on Wednesday? Midweek Holy Communion, 10.30 am in Westport (St Mary's Church, S. Mall), followed by tea/coffee in the Clew Bay Hotel (James Street) Online Prayer and Bible Study, 8pm.  Link on request - email aughaval@tuam.anglican.org.  Please note that these Wednesday services will stop for August and resume in September.   Christ the True Vine, icon Athens, 16th century https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Christ_the_True_Vine_icon_(Athens,_16th_century).jpg Today's gospel      John 15:1-8 ”I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achill_Island#/media/File:Achillsatmap.jpg Prayer 75 years on we remember the departed, ask comfort for those who were bereaved, and give thanks for those who responded to the tragedy at the time. We pray God's mercy, healing, and peace on all who were affected by the disaster. With gratitude to Sean Molloy, What’s On In Achill, who published this account and photo, below, on Monday 16 June, 2025. ( https://www.facebook.com/AchillIslandGuide/posts/pfbid02FQ47r1HF4q9Joo4f3A2bZzhePLwsFehYNG4E1pBSb2hEZmtrP7Ctm5cXDcuB4Dpul ) 𝟕𝟓 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐀𝐠𝐨 𝐓𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲 - 𝐑𝐀𝐅 𝐇𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐚𝐱 𝐂𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝟏𝟗𝟓𝟎 𝐨𝐧 𝐀𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐈𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝 On the afternoon of June 16, 1950, the island of Achill lay wrapped in a thick grey shawl of fog, the kind that rolls in off the Atlantic with little warning and settles low into the mountains like a secret. In the village of Dooagh, 15-year-old John ‘Twin’ McNamara was helping his grandfather, Pat Charlie O’Malley, on the...

  In today's gospel in Lent, the birth of Jesus is foretold.  The Church celebrates this event, the Annunciation, on 25 March, nine months before Christmas Day! The Annunciation  by Fra Angelico, 1433  Public domain. Wikipedia Luke 1:26-38  In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.  And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is with you.’  But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jaco...

  Today's gospel reading, 17 March  Luke 5:1-11 Once while Jesus  was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.  When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.’ Simon answered, ‘Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.’When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. So they signalled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell...

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...