Bhileag (Newsletter) 1st October 2023
WEEKDAY MASSES:
Mon 2nd October……..No Mass
Tue 3rd October………No Mass
Wed 4th October……. No Mass
Thur 5th October…….No Mass
Fri 6th October……….No Mass
Sat 7th October………. No Mass
NEXT WEEKEND’S MASSES
7th & 8th October 2023
27th Sunday of Year A
Vigil (Saturday)…6.00pm CRAIGSTON
Sunday Masses…9.30am NORTHBAY & 11.30am CASTLEBAY
CHURCH NOTICES
Fr. Bernie MacDonald: Fr. Bernie’s Requiem Mass took place last Thursday (28th September) in St. Mary’s Church in Mabou, Cape Breton. We continue to pray for his soul and we pray for his brothers and sisters and all his relatives and many friends at this time. Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord and let perpetual light shine him. May he rest in peace. Amen.
Message from The Family of Donald Allan MacKiggan: “we wish to thank everyone for their kind expressions of sympathy, shown to us following our sad loss of Donald Allan. Thank you for all the cards, messages and telephone calls which we received. Thank you to Canon John Paul MacKinnon for celebrating the Requiem Mass along with Fr. Michael MacDonald and for his prayers and kind words at the graveside. Thank you to all those who travelled to pay their last respects at the Church and at the graveside. Donald Allan loved living on Barra and being part of the community on the island and we wish to thank you all for making him feel so at home there”.
Tea after Northbay Mass: today is the first Sunday of the month and therefore tea after the 9.30am Mass in Northbay Hall. All welcome.
Eoligarry Church 60th Anniversary: Canon John Paul wishes to thank all those who came along to the Mass of Thanksgiving last Wednesday in Eoligarry. Even though the evening was wet and windy it was lovely to see so many in the church. Thank you to those who helped in Eoligarry School with the Teas and home baking. It was a wonderful evening. Moran Taing!
Recent Baptism: we warmly welcome into the family of the Church James Campbell who was baptised last Sunday in Our Lady Star of the Sea. We wish every blessing, health and happiness upon James and every blessing upon his parents and Godparents.
Canon John Paul: will be away this week on the mainland. He will be heading to Schoenstatt retreat centre in Lennoxtown as he will be helping to lead talks for future seminarians for Scotland. Canon John Paul in his role as a Vocations Director is asked at times to go and attend these courses. If you need to contact Canon John Paul you can contact him on his mobile number.
Fr. Joseph Mathew: Next weekend we will have Fr. Joseph Mathew here to look after the weekend Masses while Canon John Paul attends Schoenstatt retreat centre next weekend. Fr. Joseph is a Jesuit Priest based in Glasgow. He is originally from Kerala and he is looking forward to coming to the island for the first time. He will fly in on Saturday morning.
The Month of October: is of course the month of the rosary. It is a wonderful time to pick up our Rosary beads and to pray the holy Rosary. Since there is no weekday Mass this week- take the time to pray the Rosary at the time the Mass would be.
Craigston Vigil Mass Time for Winter???: there is a large number of parishioners who are happy to move the Vigil Mass to the earlier time of 4pm just for the winter months when it gets dark so early. Canon John Paul will look at when this will begin.
Castlebay Church Clock: Recently we had the clock expert from “Smiths of Derby” get the Church clock going again but the engineer did point out there was a lot of “wear and tear” on the main front clock dial which can only be fixed by actually taking the hands off the clock dial. That can only happen when there is scaffolding erected. Sadly now the main clock face is not working properly because of the wear and tear. However the clock face dial which faces East (the Glen side) is working and also the bell is also working. So the clock is actually working and chiming away on the hour, every hour. So if you are looking up at the clock for the right time- look to the “Glen side” clock face or listen out for how many times the bell chimes. Next year when the better weather returns we will look at the possibility of putting up scaffolding and see if we can get the main clock face dial fixed.