Castletown Community welcome many visitors
The Community at Castletown have enjoyed many highlights over the past few weeks and Br. Albert O’Driscoll has reflected on some of those event and visitors.
Liam Muldowney:
Liam is Past Pupil of De La Salle Prep School,Churchtown,1976-1982. At that time the Late Brother Pat Byrne was the Headmaster. Liam speaks fondly of Br. Pat and we enjoyed his company a month ago when he joined our Community in Castletown for lunch. He went on to complete his Second Level studies at De La Salle College Churchtown after which he entered University and became a well-known writer.
He is a noted writer at Jitterbooks and among some of his popular publications we find "The townland of Ballinteer". He is a local historical researcher and archivist in the fields of genealogy, local history and fiction. His parents came from Killamuck, Abbeyleix. One of his better known works is "Near Dublin, The Story of Laurel and Hardy".
Brother Kieran O'Callaghan:
A pleasant surprise visit awaited our Community when Kieran arrived at our doorstep from Oxford at midday on 18th April and stayed till 27th April. We marvelled that he undertook the journey on his own, coping with buses, Heathrow Airport and arriving at his old working haunt in Castletown. Most of the folks in Miguel House and the Community here were overjoyed to meet him and hug him. We loved his stay as it was so uplifting for all of us. We look forward to his next unannounced visit to these parts.
Half-door Club Set Dance Festival 2023
This is an annual Festival that has been held in Castletown since 2010 and this year took place from April 28th to May 1st.. Two years were lost from 2020/2021 due to Covid.
Several well-known Bands in the Country were at hand such as : Brian Boru Ceile Band, Abbey Ceile Band, Johnny Reidy Ceile Band and the Tullagh Ceile Band.
During the Festival some 80 guests were housed and fed at our Pastoral Centre and Community. One of the chief organisers of this Annual Dance Festival is Manon Hartsman from the Netherlands.
Do You Know?
Humans are the Ultimate Invasive Species - so says Fr. Peter McVerry.
Just to let you savour a short extract from the author: "The James Webb telescope, high up in space, is receiving light, which, travelling at approximately 18 million kilometres per minute, took 13 billion years to arrive! This vast, vast universe contains billions of galaxies, each with billions of stars. Somewhere in this vast expanse, there is a tiny piece of rock called planet Earth.
This planet has an almost infinite collection of species, insects, vegetation, birds and animals, who have lived for millions of years in interconnected relationships, each species depending on every other species. Occasionally, this harmony was disturbed by an invasive species that caused ecological harm in the new environment in which it found itself.
In Ireland, the grey squirrel, which arrived in 1911, is now the major threat to the endangered red squirrels, as they out-compete them for food and space. The false widow spider came to Ireland from the Canary Islands, and its venom, being far more poisonous than native Irish spiders, will probably wipe them all out. The false widow will then have the country to itself. Other examples are the green crab, killer algae and sea walnut, which also destroy native species.
About 300,000 years ago, human beings came along. Up to 200 years ago we humans have lived in relative peace with all other species. Since then, human beings have become the most destructive invasive species which the planet has ever faced."
The rest of the saga is often highlighted by David Attenborough and other personalities in the media.
Home of the Mother:
This is a new Congregation founded in Spain in 1982 comprising Priests, Brothers, Sisters and lay people. They have stayed with us on two occasions in past six months. The Priests and Sisters wear they full length habits down to the ankles and work in a number of parishes in Ireland, mainly in Cork/Waterford and Limerick. They stay four days and have very traditional Catholic values, such as, silence and reading during meals, adoration, receiving Holy Communion on their knees, Rosary, Confessions etc. The last group that came here was around 50 participants and all are loud in their praise.
Nine a side Hurling Competition:
Sixteen Colleges took part in this round robin competition of four teams in each group. In total, 29 students from De La Salle College Waterford participated and were accompanied by three members of staff including Derek McGrath, former Manager of the Waterford Senior Hurling Team.
On Monday 15th the students had tea that evening and stayed the night before heading off to the tournament venue in Gort, Co. Galway after having an early breakfast. Staying the night in Castletown was a great way of bonding the team members. As it turned out, our boys were in the Final against St. Kieran's College, Kilkenny and were narrowly beaten by three points.
Albert O'Driscoll