Latest news from the Castletown Community
The Barrett Brothers: On 28th October 2023 the Final of the World Cup Rugby took place in Paris between The All Blacks and The Springboks. On that all Black team were three Barrett brothers - Beauden, Jordie and Scott. All three are past pupils of our De La Salle High School, New Plymouth, Taranaki, North Island, New Zealand. The Barretts have had a long association with Ireland and have spent some 16 months on a farm in Co. Meath when they were youngsters.
Stan - Czech Republic: Stan who is now 19 years old spent six weeks last summer here in Castletown in our community. He is a wonderful guy and got to know many of the Brothers during his stay. In a phone call to him recently he told me he is studying medicine to be a medical doctor. He will surely call back soon with his Dad who spent a summer in Castletown not so long ago. We wish Stan all the best in his studies for the next six years.
Halloween Visit: Kho Kia Hul and his wife Rebecca Tan Yong Kin who hail from Borneo arrived in Castletown to take photos of the graves of their former teachers at St. Joseph's Secondary School, Kuching, Sarawak, Borneo. Their teachers were Brothers Columba Gleeson, Mark Blake, Adrian Blake and Albinus O'Flaherty. Their admiration and appreciation for these deceased De La Salle Brothers knew no bounds.
New Parish Priest: On Sunday,5th November, 2023, Fr. Brian Griffin was officially installed as Parish Priest of our Parish here in Castletown by our new Bishop, Dr. Niall Coll who hails from Donegal. The ceremony took place at the 9:30 a.m Sunday Mass followed by tea , refreshments and photo shoot in the Parish Community Hall by The Nore River - just opposite the Old Mill.
Grasta Group: This new group stayed in our Pastoral Centre on 11th/12th Nov. The group was founded in 2022 and it is a marriage encounter get together, where various matters relating to relationships and married life are teased out and reflected upon. The chief organiser of the group is Pat O'Leary, a nephew of the late Br. Charlie O'Leary who spent many years working in Malaysia. Pat himself is now a lecturer at UCC in Cork City. The group is expanding and will be back to us in the near future.
Storm Debbie: Weather forecast on Sunday night 12th November gave Debbie a very bad press. It sounded like Doom's Day on all Channels. She called to Castletown at night and was busy all day Monday 13th. For us in Castletown she was a gentle giant. Without a word, she gathered all the leaves around the High Field into neat piles on the pathway . Since 20th Sept. the leaves are being raked every day. Debbie must have sensed that help was needed. The trees got a real make up and dead bits of twigs were quickly shorn. We had no power outages in Castletown and we hope she makes a return visit next Autumn.
De La Salle Pastoral Centre, Castletown: The Centre is getting busier by the month and week end vacant slots are becoming fewer and fewer. The Community is full square behind Br. Kevin McEvoy who sees after the bookings and a hundred and one other jobs associated with this tremendous undertaking. It really is a team effort and long may it last.
Br. Albert