2024 General news

VOLUNTEERS – GOD BLESS THEM

 

 

 

Men and Women will be shocked to find

 

When the Day of Judgment nears;

 

That there’s a special place in Heaven set aside for volunteers.

 

Furnished with big recliners, satin couches and footstools.

 

Where there’s no Committee Chairman,

 

No group leaders or car pools.

 

No eager team that needs a coach

 

No bazaar or no cake sale.

 

There will be nothing to staple,

 

Not one thing to fold or mail.

 

Telephone lists will be outlawed

 

But a finger snap will bring Cool drinks and treats fit for a king.

 

You ask “who’ll serve these privileged few and work for all their worth?

 

Why, all those who reaped the benefits and not once volunteered on Earth.

 

 

 

Margaret O’Shea.

 

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he Editors Editorial

 

February 12, 2024

 

 

 

On Feb. 5, in a shocking display of intellectual cowardice, a supposedly impartial medical journal announced that it was withdrawing three studies it had earlier published documenting the medical injuries that occur among women who take the abortion pill.

 

 

 

Why did Sage Publishing, which publishes a host of academic journals, instruct Health Services and Managerial Epidemiology to withdraw publication of these studies? It happened because a single abortion-rights activist complained about one of the three studies, triggering an investigation.

 

 

 

The central “flaw” that he flagged is the fact that the study was conducted by scientific researchers who work for pro-life organizations (as were the other two studies that have now been withdrawn).

 

 

 

The activist, who is a professor of pharmaceutical science, contended that working for a pro-life group somehow constituted a “conflict of interest” that should have disqualified their findings from being published by a scientific journal.

 

https://www.ncregister.com/commentaries/cancel-culture-science-medical-journal-withdraws-studies-that-document-abortion-pill-harm?utm_campaign=NCR&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=293759685&utm_content=293759685&utm_source=hs_email

 

 

 

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Medical Journal Retracts Major Studies Critical Of Abortion Pill Ahead Of Supreme Court Clash

 

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The researchers were not informed of any issues with the articles until June 28, 2023, when they were informed of the complaint from the reader. They responded to the concerns on July 13, and an expression of concern was placed on the article dated July 25.

 

 

 

After months of back and forth with the journal, on November 13, Sage told the researchers that they would be retracting the three studies. The next day, Studnicki was kicked off the editorial board of the Health Services Research and Managerial Epidemiology journal, months before the retractions actually took place.

 

https://www.dailywire.com/news/completely-unjustified-medical-journal-retracts-major-studies-critical-of-abortion-pill-ahead-of-supreme-court-clash

 

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Concerns about President Joe Biden‘s age while he seeks re-election appear to be escalating with the release of a new survey that followed a special counsel report that found the commander-in-chief had memory problems.

 

 

 

Eighty-six percent of adults said Biden, who is 81, is too old to serve a second term in the White House, according to an Ipsos poll unveiled on Sunday.

 

https://www.dailywire.com/news/86-of-americans-say-biden-too-old-for-another-term-poll

 

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  Patrick O'Hearn: Our Lady of Sorrows

 

"She's able to see our pain," said Patrick O'Hearn of Our Lady. Patrick is a devout Catholic, husband and father. He is an author, literary consultant, speaker and a freelance editor. He spent close to three years in a Benedictine Monastery before discerning the call to marriage. He graduated with a master's in education from Franciscan University of Steubenville and a bachelor's in marketing from St. Ambrose University. In his new book, "Our Lady of Sorrows, Patrick helps his young readers enter into the mystery of sorrows.

 

https://respectliferadio.podbean.com/e/patrick-ohearn-our-lady-of-sorrows/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=catholic_news_cancel_culture_science_medical_journal_withdraws_studies_that_document_abortion_pill_harm&utm_term=2024-02-12

 

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Saint Apollonia’s Story

 

 

 

The persecution of Christians began in Alexandria during the reign of the Emperor Philip. The first victim of the pagan mob was an old man named Metrius, who was tortured and then stoned to death. The second person who refused to worship their false idols was a Christian woman named Quinta. Her words infuriated the mob and she was scourged and stoned.

 

https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-apollonia/?utm_medium=email&_hsmi=293787169&utm_content=293787169&utm_source=hs_email

 

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Though some of the signatory nations had previously made claims on the land in Antarctica, the Treaty makes it impossible for any of these claims to be recognised, and instead Antarctica is a region which belongs to none but is for the furtherment of scientific knowledge for all. The Irish played a significant role in developing our early knowledge of Antarctica. Let us look back at the legacy of three men from Cork who aided in the discovery and exploration of the vast Antarctic region.

 

https://tintean.org.au/2024/02/10/three-cork-born-explorers-of-antarctica/

 

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    Nicholas O’Donnell’s Autobiography is a gem of family and social history. Born in 1862 at Bullengarook in central Victoria, O’Donnell graduated in medicine, married New Zealand-born Molly Bruen and for many years, based in West Melbourne, they were community leaders and prominent campaigners for Irish Home Rule. Nicholas was was a Gaelic scholar and one of the founders of the Celtic Club.

 

 

 

    Before the arrival of the internet, he researched his and his wife’s parents and scores of others who migrated from Ireland, especially Limerick. Although O’Donnell died in 1920 before publishing his findings, his descendants cared for his manuscript.

 

https://tintean.org.au/2017/02/14/odonnels-autobiography-book-launch/

 

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Bus Eireann tells drivers on some of Cork's busiest city routes to skip stops and drive past waiting passengers if they are running behind schedule.

 

 

 

The company has confirmed to Cork Beo that when a service is running behind, drivers can be told by the Bus Eireann control centre to pass one or more stops, even if passengers are standing and waiting.

https://www.corkbeo.ie/news/local-news/bus-eireann-tells-cork-drivers-28253523

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FORUM Connemara CLG

 

FORUM Connemara Farm Health & Safety EIP was delighted to have been involved in the recent  conference  “Cultivating Mental Wellbeing in Rural Ireland” that took place in the Midlands Park Hotel, Portlaoise on Monday

 

20th November.

 

The opening address was made by Mr Martin Heydon T.D., Minister of State with responsibility for Farm Safety.

 

Topics included “Perspectives on Mental Health in the Farming Community” this panel discussion chaired by Minister Martin Heydon  T.D. included

 

• Dr Noel Richardson, Director of healthCORE, South-Eastern Technical University

 

• Dr Anna Donnla O’Hagan, Assistant Professor in the School of Health & Human Performance at Dublin City University

 

• Dr David Meredith, Senior Research Officer, Teagasc

 

• Mr Peter Hynes, Cork dairy farmer and founder of Ag Mental Health Week.

 

A second panel discussion took place on “Promoting and Supporting Farmers Health and Wellbeing”. Chaired by Ms. Biddy O’Neill, National Policy Lead, Health and Wellbeing, Department of Health the panel included

 

• Mr Fergal Fox, Head of Stakeholder Engagement and Communications, HSE Health & Wellbeing, Strategy and Research, Healthcare Strategy

 

• Mr. Eddie Mullins CEO, Merchants Quay Ireland and former Governor of Mountjoy Prison

 

• Ms Josephine Rigney, Suicide Resource Officer, HSE

 

• Mr John Keane, young farmer and former President of Macra

 

• Ms Finola Colgan, Mental Health Ireland, National Lead on Farmer Wellbeing.

 

The closing Address was made by Mr Bill Callanan Chief Inspector, Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

 

https://www.facebook.com/FORUMConnemaraFarmHS

 

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GREENWAY: Approximately €63 million of greenway funding has been allocated for 2023 which will see development of the 70 ongoing projects in Ireland. The funding will aid in completing several of the projects in 2023.

 

https://www.agriland.ie/farming-news/e17m-of-greenway-funding-unspent-in-2023/

 

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Should Readers Trust “Inaccuracy” in Memoirs about Genocide?

 

To what extent do errors undermine life writing? The question is an urgent one when that writing is testimony to the genocidal actions of the Khmer Rouge. ---------------------------------------

 

 

 

However, he highlights how the memoir is told from the point of view of a very young girl—a strategic narrative choice, in which “Ung consciously places the assumed innocence of the child in contrast to the brutal experience of life under the Khmer Rouge regime.” The inaccuracies in the text “result from her filtering facts through emotion and trauma; they serve as markers of the psychological effects on survivors of the Khmer Rouge terrorism.”

 

 

 

 

 

https://daily.jstor.org/should-readers-trust-inaccuracy-in-memoirs-about-genocide/?utm_term=Should%20Readers%20Trust%20201CInaccuracy201D%20in%20Memoirs%20about%20Genocide&utm_campaign=jstordaily_10122023&utm_content=email&utm_source=Act-On+Software&utm_medium=email

 

 

 

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DUMP: Goshutes major players in the nuclear-waste storage business grew out of someone else’s urgent need to clean up a big mess. Three years ago, Bear signed a multimillion-dollar contract with Private Fuel Storage (PFS), a consortium of eight utility companies whose 19 nuclear power plants in Ohio, New York, California, New Jersey, Illinois, Minnesota, Alabama, and Wisconsin are running out of space to store their spent fuel rods. If the Goshutes and PFS are granted a license by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which is currently reviewing their 1,211-page application, construction on a site that will hold more than ten million spent fuel rods with a radioactive half-life of 10,000 years will begin as early as fall 2001—right about the time Salt Lake City will be gearing up to host the February 2002 Winter Olympics.

 

https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/environment/valley-shadow/

 

 

 

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A free guided tour of St John’s Churchyard, Limerick in conjunction with Dance Limerick, led by Paddy Waldron and myself. All are welcome. Sat 28 Oct at 2pm.

 

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Door  one of the oldest doors in the world located in the Pantheon in Rome, it was built in 118-126 AD, during the time of Emperor Adrian. The gate consists of two wings, each wing is made of solid bronze and weighs 8.5 tonnes, is 7.6 meters high and 2.3 meters wide. Although the wings are extremely heavy, they are so balanced that they can be easily opened and closed by a single person. It’s also one of the few doors in the world whose lock, dating back almost 2000 years ago, still works.

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Timor-Leste, a small nation occupying one half of the Southeast Asian island of Timor, is one of the region’s most vibrant democracies, with high voter participation, a committed free press and, at least since Ramos-Horta was shot in 2008, a relatively peaceful political climate. The majority-Catholic country has a petroleum-reliant economy and a youthful population of 1.4 million. Its governing institutions are also young, having emerged just two decades ago from the ashes of Indonesia’s brutal 24-year occupation, which followed a declaration of independence from Portugal in 1975. Ramos-Horta spent the occupation in exile, lobbying for independence. His 1996 Nobel Peace Prize, jointly received with Timorese bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, led to a resurgence of global attention for Timor-Leste and helped bring about Ramos-Horta’s lifelong goal in 2002: the establishment of his homeland as a sovereign nation.

 

https://monocle.com/magazine/issues/166/in-the-driving-seat/?utm_source=pocket-newtab-en-gb

 

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Listowel Races 1988

 

https://www.facebook.com/charlie.nolan.18/videos/3478058618897740

 

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Reflect

 

 

 

 

 

By Peter Pinedo

 

 

 

CNA Staff, Sep 21, 2023 / 18:08 pm

 

 

 

The “destruction” of an enclave of 120,000 Armenian Christians in the Nagorno-Karabakh region is imminent, warns Siobhan Nash-Marshall, a U.S.-based human rights advocate.

 

“The impact of the recent attacks and subsequent disarmament will almost certainly result in the destruction of the people of Artsakh,” Nash-Marshall told CNA.

 

In 2011, Nash-Marshall founded the Christians in Need Foundation (CINF) to help Armenian Christians in the region and in 2020 she started a school for children and adults in Nagorno-Karabakh.

 

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255446/destruction-of-ethnic-armenians-is-imminent-warn-experts?utm_campaign=CNA%20Daily&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=275353774&utm_content=275353774&utm_source=hs_email

 

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DEAR TRAVEL TROUBLESHOOTER: Last year, I reserved a tour through Paddywagon, an Irish tour operator. I prepaid $1,219 for a two-day Wild Atlantic Way tour of the Irish countryside.

 

Christopher Elliott, the Travel Troubleshooter

 

 

 

We could not go because of the pandemic. I sent an email canceling the tour in May, more than 28 days before the tour started. Under the terms of the tour, we qualified for a full refund.

 

https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/09/27/travel-troubleshooter-am-i-out-of-luck-on-this-irish-tour-refund/

 

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Courtesy of the Gervolino Family

 

IRELAND: The Gervolino family — Janet, Sam, Joe, Rachel and Lou — went to Ireland this summer. The Danville family traveled more than 1,100 kilometers around the southern portion of Ireland, saw the Ring of Kerry (pictured) and visited “several great cities — Dublin, Cork, Killarney and Galway,” Lou says. “We also visited Trinity College and saw the Book of Kells and, of course, Blarney Castle. Great times traveling with my wife and three children!”

 

Travel tips: “Get full coverage if you rent a car. I knocked the mirror off and it cost me 700 euro!”

 

Courtesy of the Warren Family

 

https://www.mercurynews.com/2015/10/05/wish-you-were-here-vacation-tips-from-fellow-travelers-39/

 

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By: Katrina Gulliver

June 16, 2023

 

Some newborn infants can’t cope with baby formula. They need human breast milk. If their mother is unable to produce it, she has to turn to another source. Enter the milk bank, a supply house of breast milk donated by other mothers.

 

Milk banks aren’t new, but they’ve waxed and waned in popularity. Research by scholars Mathilde Cohen and Hannah Ryan demonstrates the development, disappearance, and resurgence of milk banks in New York over the past century. By studying the records of milk banks in the first half of the twentieth century, they discovered that lactation has been both commodified and industrialized. The milk bank represented a continuity in the long human history of wet nursing, yet it’s not a widely discussed subject. As Cohen and Ryan note, “The practices of giving, selling, exchanging, and transporting human milk have a long, yet often unknown, history, and are now making a positive return.”

https://daily.jstor.org/the-milk-banks-of-new-york/?utm_term=The%20Milk%20Banks%20of%20New%20York&utm_campaign=jstordaily_06222023&utm_content=email&utm_source=Act-On+Software&utm_medium=email

 

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http://durrushistory.com/2023/06/21/1909-co-cork-egg-distribution-stations-co-cork-mostly-women/

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Ballylongford Mill

 

Welcome to our Ballylongford Mill Facebook page!

Starting with some history of the site...construction of the Mill was started in about 1846 by William Blair of Co. Clare and ceased during The Famine, we think he got as far as the stonework for the ground floor.

Building recommenced in about 1850 and the structure appears on an 1851 map of Ballylongford, and was fully completed by 1852.

The Mill was originally built as a grain drying store, a unique agricultural building for drying bags of green oats which were later shipped down the river in sailing barges and on to a Corn Mill in Limerick for milling.

This was at a time when most local tenant farmers lived in shocking poverty and didn't have their own barns to dry the crops.

It also explains the extremely heavy timbers used in construction to carry the weight of bags of green oats and the narrow width of the building and the numerous casement windows on both sides; the windows were used to control cross flow draughts to dry the oats.

William Blair got into some financial trouble and sold the building to Ryan's from Kilrush, who then sold it to the Bannatyne family who had a large Corn Mill in Limerick which is still standing.

There's then a big gap in details about the use of the building and it's owners between the 1850's and when O'Sullivan’s converted it into an electric mill for milling stock feed in the 1930's.

If anyone has any information, or particularly photographs, of the Mill or associated buildings we'd love to hear from you!

Photo courtesy of Helen Lane and historical information courtesy of Padraig O Concubhair.

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid02pLZC753BTzQrpYosPzdqionHcup1mR24C1hKTagaECrHqLCE2RMPH93A6aTkkJYl&id=102643785218211

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Her hypothesis is that since ultra-processed foods are rich in easily available calories, they induce a potent reward response in our brains that keeps us coming back for more.

 

DiFeliceantonio’s work draws parallels between junk food and the tobacco industry. In an editorial for the journal Addiction, DiFeliceantonio and her colleague Ashley Geardhardt argue that highly processed foods should be considered addictive substances if we measure them against the standards set for tobacco products. But until we really understand the science behind how ultra-processed food impacts our bodies, policy will always lag behind. “We saw big shifts in things like tobacco policy and policy for opioids when we had really solid, scientific, biological data,” says DiFeliceantonio.

https://www.wired.com/story/ultra-processed-foods/?utm_source=pocket-newtab-global-en-GB

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The US Copyright Office has reconsidered the copyright protection it granted last fall to Kristina Kashtanova for her comic book Zarya of the Dawn, reports Reuters. It featured pictures created by feeding text prompts to Midjourney, an artificial intelligence image generator.

https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/22/23611278/midjourney-ai-copyright-office-kristina-kashtanova?utm_medium=email

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On Monday morning, Twitter users logged on to find a thicket of connected issues. Clicking on links would no longer open them; instead, users would see a mysterious error message reporting that “your current API plan does not include access to this endpoint.” Images stopped loading as well. Other users reported that they could not access TweetDeck, the Twitter-owned client for professional users.

https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/6/23627875/twitter-outage-how-it-happened-engineer-api-shut-down

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WIND: Alberta also saw low levels of wind ranging between 3 kilometres per hour to 5 kilometres per hour in some regions.

 

Out of Alberta’s 36 wind farms, only 11 megawatts of electricity was being produced. A vast majority – 31 turbines – were not operational at all.

 

As noted by the Twitter account Reliable AB Energy, at that time Alberta’s electrical grid was relying on fossil fuels with 91.3% of the energy produced being attributed to that source.

https://tnc.news/2023/02/26/wind-power/

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New data highlights just how deadly U.S. prisons became during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Across the U.S., prison deaths spiked by -- almost 50 percent in 2020, jumping to 6,182 deaths from 4,240 the year before. ------------------------------

The 2020 spike in prison deaths came "even as the country's prison population declined to about 1.3 million from more than 1.4 million," noted the The New York Times.

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgzGrcrmdfGnfrzZwcDdQJBshtZdH

 

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Will increasing insulation help?

While boosting insulation will reduce the amount of cold surfaces for water vapour to condense on, and help keep your home warmer, it can also decrease airflow and trap water in the home. David Prince, a damp specialist at Abbott Property Care, recently encountered a bungalow that didn’t have a damp problem until a government grant enabled the owners to install extra loft insulation. Soon after its installation, water started dripping from the ceiling. The new layer, he says, “stopped the breathability of the building and condensation was occurring between the new insulation laid on top of old insulation.” The motto when retrofitting energy-saving measures, says Aktas, is “no insulation without ventilation. Air tightness is important when trying to improve the energy efficiency of our homes – we don’t want the air exchange between indoors and outdoors to be very high because then you have to heat fresh air constantly.”

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/feb/27/mouldy-britain-a-foolproof-guide-to-rescuing-your-home-from-damp?utm_source=pocket-newtab-global-en-GB

 

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By: May Wang- March 3, 2023

 

Why the sky is blue is an ever-popular existential question on the nature of nature, but in the early modern era, the question of the water cycle was the one that “exercised the pens of many learned writers,” as the English polymath Robert Hooke put it. According to historian of science Francesco Luzzini, the lively debate over the water cycle offers glimpses of early versions of the “scientific method” and also encapsulates early modern debates over uniformitarianism, or the “uniformity of natural laws across time and space,” that we take for granted now.

 

Hooke, for his own part, proposed a theory that sounds remarkably like the mantra of evaporation, condensation, and precipitation now found in primary school classrooms—and, importantly for Hooke, was consistent with the Holy Scriptures.

https://daily.jstor.org/where-does-water-come-from/?utm_term=Where%20Does%20Water%20Come%20From&utm_campaign=jstordaily_03092023&utm_content=email&utm_source=Act-On+Software&utm_medium=email

 

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For Cork Magistrates, click here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iEOKEJwc_qDwTGnI_CgQcU77JzwWrJFeL-_7PN2G1zU/edit?pli=1

 

1799 Gentry and Magistrates  Supporters of the Act of Union Between Ireland and Great Britain

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But the reality of wilderness survival isn’t so rosy. Few people know that better than Jim Baird. Jim and his brother won the fourth season of Alone, a reality show that’s actually real, and leaves contestants in the wild to face the elements and live off the land. Today on the podcast, Jim shares his experiences surviving on Northern Vancouver Island for 75 days, and what he learned from them as to what’s true about survival and what’s simply a myth.

https://www.artofmanliness.com/skills/outdoor-survival/podcast-869-the-survival-myths-that-can-get-you-killed/?mc_cid=828196b2bd&mc_eid=8bc7642aac

 

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Enhanced landfill mining is also relevant for municipal solid waste. In this case landfill mining separates waste into directly recyclable materials (glass, plastic, metals, aggregates) and a refuse-derived fuel fraction, which is further converted into high-added-value products. Using the new plasma gasification technology, it is possible to transform this refuse-derived fuel fraction into hydrogen and a mineral residue fraction that is then upcycled into a green, low-carbon cement.

 

The enhanced landfill mining approach is currently being demonstrated in two flagship projects funded by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 Programme, ETN NEW-MINE (for municipal solid waste) and METGROW+ (for industrial waste).

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/06/landfill-mining-recycling-eurelco/

 

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Cropland, which takes up 10% of the Earth’s land, is a major target for soil-based carbon sequestration. Farmers can add more carbon to agricultural soils by planting certain kinds of crops. For example, perennial crops, which do not die off every year, grow deep roots that help soils store more carbon. “Cover crops” like clover, beans and peas, planted after the main crop is harvested, help soils take in carbon year-round, and can be plowed under the ground as “green manure” that adds more carbon to the soil. Farmers can also do less intensive tilling. By breaking up the soil, tilling prepares land for new crops and helps control weeds, but also releases a lot of stored carbon.

https://climate.mit.edu/explainers/soil-based-carbon-sequestration

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FUNDRAISING WALK: David Egan a native of Carrigkerry now lives in Amsterdam and he is embarking on his third fundraising walk which he calls 1K  by Father’s Day. The idea is to walk from his present home to his native parish and Ardagh a distance of 1,104km from February 1, to Father’s Day in June and he will contribute a Euro per km walked and hopefully other people will donate as well. In previous years David has raised money for the Mid West Simon Community in Limerick and the Blood Bike South in Cork. This year the money raised will go towards the St. Kieran’s GAA Club new pitch project: gofund.me/d0f4f06e David attended Carrigkerry national school, St. Ita’s, Newcastle West and UL. He left Ireland in 1991 and attended graduate school in the US, for 12 years in New York and San Diego. David moved to Amsterdam in 2003 where he now runs a software company. His family members have been involved with the parish hurling and football club in the past. We wish David well in his walk and fundraising endeavours for his native club. Go David go.

 

Weekly Newsletter

Third Sunday after the Epiphany

22nd January  2023

Dear Friends of Sacred Heart Church,

 

We are now on the Third Sunday after Epiphany where the liturgy begins to shift its focus on the miracles and teachings of Christ instead on the chronology of His Life. It is to be reminded that we are still very much within the theme of the Epiphany and as you can see, Our Lord is manifested to us today as Saviour and Divine Physician.

 

We meet a man inflicted with leprosy, a most terrible of bodily disease. It first appears as a tiny white spot, and spreads rapidly, until the whole body is covered with it, and becomes quite corpse-like. In this diseased flesh there are formed swelling tumours, which in due time burst, and become hideous running sores. The hair and the extremities of the fingers and the toes fall off.

 

The body of the poor leper in the today's Gospel carries this ghastly sight and he is shunned by the people... perhaps by those who themseves carry the same ugliness beneath their skin. To the eyes of God and of His Angels, their soul presents a spectacle as revolting and as hideous as the running sores and gaping wounds of these leprous outcasts presented to the eyes of their contemporaries.

 

The liturgy uses this disease to represent the ugly sin of impurity which always starts out small and soon takes over the entire soul. What must you do if you wish to escape this horrible leprosy of uncleanness? There is but one physician who is able to, purge the impure taint from your blood, and that is Jesus Christ—‘Lord, if Thou willest, Thou canst make me clean.’ The remedy which He will give is not the mere contact of His sacred Hand, nor the miraculous power of His efficacious Word. It is His own most Precious Body and Blood.

 

Next Sunday will be the Feast of our Patron Saint, Francis de Sales, whose spirituality we live and impart to the faithful of the Sacred Heart Church. Those assisting at Mass will receive Plenary Indulgence under the usual conditions. Please remember that there will be daily sermon online for the preparatory Novena which had already commenced on 20th.

 

On this day, we will be graced with two more priests: Canons João Almeida from Portugal and Martin Henry from France. Canon Lebocq will be taking four volunteers to assist at the beautiful ordination ceremony in Italy where some of them will be received into the Society of the Sacred Heart.

 

We are looking for altar boys for Sunday Masses. It is a very great blessing to serve at the Lord’s altar to assist the priest during the Sacrifice of the Mass. There are many benefits to altar serving during the formative age: the love of God and all things sacred, Latin, discipline, cognitive judgment, sense of responsibility, prudence and perseverance. In short, all the virtues to be a good Catholic man either as a priest or a father. Many vocations to the priesthood have come from young men serving at the altar.

 

Speaking of which, don’t forget to pray for our altar boy Szymon this Saturday on his 14th birthday!

 

Wishing you a blessed week,

Canon Lebocq

Prior of Sacred Heart Church

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Reflection

 

 

 

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I will seek you in the morning

And I will learn to walk in your ways

And step by step you'll lead me

And I will follow you all of my days

 

So thankful for the wonderful words that Rich Mullins wrote for this timeless song, and we're so thankful that we get to sing these truths with our kids. Step by step You'll lead us, and we'll follow You all of our days!!

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Sometimes By Step | Songs From Home

https://youtu.be/NK0JAWKh9Ig

 

 

Healing and Forgiveness

Even with abortion, there is hope for healing and forgiveness, because Christ himself died to atone for all sins. Through him, each person can be cleansed and purified. Today, the Church asks you to make a sacrifice for the sake of the unborn.

 

Walk by the Light

What does it mean to be led by the light of Jesus? Amidst the world's chaos and brokenness, Christ brings God's light to all who have experienced darkness. Experience that light today.

 

“ When you wake up in the morning, remind yourself how blessed you are that you get another  chance to live another day and the opportunity to continue moving forward on your incredible journey.”  Roger Lee.

 

 

The Potency of Jesus' Blood

In the Baptism, you are baptized into Jesus' death on the cross. Every time you go to Confession or participate in the Eucharist, you take part in the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. Today, reflect on how you are cleansed of your sins through the blood of Christ

 

Listen to Your Heart

While the old law was written on stone tablets, the new law is written on your heart. The Holy Spirit dwells within your heart through the New Covenant and invites you into an intimate relationship with him.

 

In "Indescribable Compassion," Episode 6 of The Chosen, the healing of the leper and the paralytic is beautifully recounted. Join Dr. Michael Barber and Dr. Scott Hefelfinger as they comment on this episode, highlighting the parts they found incredibly touching and the questions for self-reflection that this episode raised for them.

https://watch.formed.org/catholic-commentary-on-the-chosen/season:1/videos/episode-6-catholic-commentary-on-the-chosen-season-1?ajs_uid=35dd2704-0a5e-4124-8a03-7c622ceebc0c&utm_campaign=FORMED+-+Ep+6+The+Chosen+Commentary&utm_content=Catholic+Commentary+on+The+Chosen&utm_medium=email&utm_source=customer.io

 

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Some may find it difficult to grasp the depth of grief animal lovers experience upon the loss of a pet. We have all tasted the bitterness, pain and emptiness death brings. Even a child knows the gut-wrenching sadness of having to let go of a beloved toy. When we love, we suffer from the loss of the beloved.

 

My personal foundation for belief in Chloe's eternal life in God's kingdom are the lessons she taught me. After she died, for the rest of my retreat I felt an intuitive sense of her presence and an assurance that she was enjoying a transformed life. She completed her mission in my life; with gratitude to her and to God for the blessing of Chloe, I would like to share those lessons with you.

https://www.globalsistersreport.org/spirituality/life-lessons-my-dog-chloe

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