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Human Edited Web Directory Submit Web Link General Directory ArtCliff Internet Directory As Above Arklow Parish Pastoral Council, Arklow, Co. Wicklow, Ireland in the Archdiocese of Dublin.






(Click on image above to
see a poster of this event)



The mission of the Arklow Parish Council is seen as an outreach to all, being sensitive and responding to the needs of all in a spirit of prayer with the commitment to everyday action, living the gospel so that our beliefs and hopes may be expressed reasonably and be achievable, in the service of the people of God in our parish.



(Click in image above to see photo)
June 2009
Awards Day at St. Mary¹s College, Arklow There was a huge buzz about St. Mary¹s College for the annual Awards Day on Tuesday May19th, which saw students from each year recognised for their achievements over the past school year. It is a special day in the school calendar set aside to honour and recognise achievements in the academic, cultural and sporting areas. School principal, Sr. Síor and deputy principal, Mrs. Brenda Byrne presided over the ceremony.

Form 6 student Aisling Murray was this year¹s Student of the Year. She proved to be a very popular choice judging by the reception she received from her peers and teachers. Meanwhile, Claire Cosgrave was the recipient of the Mercy Award. This award reflects the sprit of St. Mary¹s. The Sportsperson of the year went to Sarah Dunne. Sarah has been involved in playing and promoting sport at St. Mary¹s during all her time in the school.
Class 1 Áine secured the coveted Lions Club plaque for being the most environmentally aware group in the school.

At the Transition Year awards Ms. Jenny Blake from the Irish Heart Foundation was special guest of honour . Mr Jim Furlong represented the local branch of this organisation. Ms. Blake complemented the students on the enormous amount of fundraising undertaken recently for this worthwhile cause. She highlighted the importance of CPR training, which the girls
completed as part of a TY module. She went on to present   each student with
a certificate of achievement. Ellen O¹ Shaughnessy emerged as the overall Student of the Year. Law Awards were presented by Ms. Maria Byrne of C.J.
Louth solicitors to Diewerke DeZwarte, Ciara Healy and Caoimhe Duignan. The ceremony concluded with the students forming into a very striking heart shape and releasing red balloons into the night sky.

Student of the Class
Form 1: ­ Corey Burke, Melanie O¹ Donovan, Aoife Ferris, Yasmin Yau, Emma Synott, Asia Doyle, Holly O¹ Brien, Rachel Douglas, Eimear Russell, Ashley Woodbyrne, Eimear Donoghue and Nadine Murphy.

Form 2: Meghan O¹ Connor, Jade Saila, Kathleen Holden, Alice Murphy, Michelle Forde, Rebecca Cunningham, Katie Smullen, Aoife Byrne, Gráinne Mellon, Jennie O¹ Loughlin, Patricia Doyle, Áine Walsh.

Form 3: Ella Brennan, Deniz Ugurlu, Karen Nash, Maeve McCloskey, Catherine Weadick, Tonya Swayne, Lauren Vickers, Clara Jacob, Amy Thompson, Amy Synott, Nadine Charalambous, Rebecca Condren.

Form 4: Diewerke DeZwarte, Jennifer Murphy, Ellen O¹ Shaughnessy, Aisling Byrne, Síofra Ní Dhubhghaill, Rachel O¹ Brien, Vanessa Whelan, Shannon O¹ Neill, Kim Sweeney. Form

5: Eva Baker, Seona Nolan, Rachel Bothwell, Hope O¹ Connor, Stacey Tobin, Hazel Burke, Claire Kavanagh, Grace Steadman, Eimear O¹ Grady, Aislinn Mythen, Nikki Ravenscroft, Áine O¹ Sullivan.

Form 6: Theresa Slattery, Áine Smullen, Ciara McLean, Aisling Murray, Áine Brennan, Emer Flannery, Claire Cosgrave, Suzanne Carey, Emma Kavanagh.

Arklow Parish Pastoral Council
Thank you for taking the time to visit. It is hoped that through this website we will be able to provide information on the ongoing work of the Arklow Parish Pastoral Council (est. 2000).
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There is a comprehensive amount of information in this website so feel free to visit as often as you wish and if you have any questions please contact us.
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This page was last updated on: 10 June, 2009
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Gaelcholaiste na Mara
March 2009
Comhghairdeas do chór na scoile agus don chumann dramaíochta a ghlac páirt i bhFeis Ceoil an Inbhir Mhóir.   Bhuaigh ár ndráma “Gregory’s Girl” an  céad duais sa chomórtas, bhuamar freisin an duais don léirtheoir is fearr, an t-aisteoir is fearr, an bainisteoir is fearr agus teastas ghradam speisialta. Dé Domhnaigh tháinig an cór sa dara háit sa chomórtas faoi 14 agus sa dara háit freisin sa chomórtas “Ceol Eaglaise”. Bhuaigh bliain 1 an céad duais sa chomórtas Coral Verse agus bhíodar lán sásta  an  corn bronnta ag  Ó Loughlin Opticians a thabhairt ar ais arís do Ghaelcholáiste na Mara.
Congratulations to the School Choir and Drama Club who participated in the Arklow Music Festival. Our play “Gregory’s Girl won first prize in their section. Gaelcholáiste na Mara also won prizes for best director (Oide Roisín), best actor and best actress.  Bliain 1 won first prize in the Coral Verse competition and  were delighted to return the Cup presented by Ó Loughlin Opticians  to Gaelcholáiste na Mara

Seachtain na Gaeilge
Ceiliúradh Seachtain na Gaeilge sa scoil chaite le himeachtaí difriúla ar an gclár chuile lá. Bhain gach éinne lán taitneamh as an gceilí Dé Luain, Tráth na gCeist Dé Máirt, Scannán Gaeilge, Díospóireacht agus go háirithe as an Seó Tailinne ar an Aoine. Bhí Scéim na Gaeilge faoi lán seol agus pointí dúbailte á fáil ar iarrachtaí chun gaeilge a labhairt.
Seachtain na Gaeilge was celebrated in Gaelcholáiste na Mara with different events organized each day. Everyone enjoyed the ceilí on Monday, the Table-Quiz on Tuesday, the debate, Irish film and of course the Talent Show on Friday. Scéim na Gaeilge was in full swing  with double points being awarded for genuine effort.

Scrudú Iontrála
Beidh an scrudú iontrála ar siúl sa scoil Dé Sathairn 21ú Márta ó 10.30 go 12.30 i.n. Beidh oíche eolais do thuismitheoirí agus do na daltaí nua Dé Máirt 24ú Márta ag 8.00i.n.
The Entrance test will take place in Gaelcholáiste na Mara from 10.30 –12.30 p.m. on Saturday 21st March. An information evening will be held for parents and incoming students on Tuesday 24th March at 8.00 pm.


The Arklow Parish Child Protection Policy is now available on this website. Click here to view this policy.
Notes from the
Arklow Parish Liturgy Group Meeting April 2009

The Liturgical Celebrations which ran over the Easter season were very successful with many parishioners attending the various events.
The Stations of the Cross and the Passion on Good Friday saw a packed church, as did most of the Easter Masses and Cermonies.

Ecumenical Service on Easter Sunday.

At 6.15 am SonRise Ecumenical Service on the South Beach in Arklow was attended by about 300 people,( at least twice as many as was original thought might brave the early morning excursion in the dark!) It was a very foggy morning but around the time of the sunrise the crescent of a blood red orb emerged behind the clouds  and slowly the sun rose and filled the sky with a sea of red to the east. Everybody cheered. This took place just as the Ecumenical Service was about coming to a close. In attendance were Fr Martin, Rev Sherwood and Rev Michael Anderson and the Pascal Fire was also lit.

Afterwards the crowds made their way to Arus Lorcain for breakfast of tea and coffee, homemade brown bread, sausage butties and scones. It truly was a day of Renewal for Arklow and already people are hoping that next year the SonRise service will take place again.

The Liturgy group is hoping to attend courses for it’s development in the future. We aim to meet once a month with our next meeting on Wednesday 29th April @ 8.15pm. The group consists of Fr Paul O’Driscoll CC, Fr Martin Cosgrove PP, Fr Tom Clowe, S.D.B: Denise Rowlands, Chair: Liz O’Sullivan, Secretary: April Harden, Hilary Sharpe, Una Tunny, Caroline Byrne, Liz Condron and Eileen Ellis.




The Arklow Parish Pastoral Council are pleased to announce that their very popular website www.ArklowParishCouncil.homestead.com has been renamed to a much more simpler and user-friendly form www.ArklowParish.com
Both these web addresses will remain active so it does not matter which one you log on to as you will still get to the same destination.
Since the Parish Council started publishing regular monthly news items on the website in January of this year traffic to the website has increased by 30%.
There is also a quarterly Parish Newsletter that is printed and distributed to every home in the Parish and also published on the website.
All the Parish Groups and Schools have dedicated pages on the website and it also give details on the priests of the parish and on Mass and other parish ceremonies.
The Parish Council would appreciate any feedback on the website for any of its visitors and this can be done by hitting the relevant link that is on many of the website pages.
      
The Revival Gospel Choir will partake in Mass in SS Mary and Peter Church, Main Street, Arklow on the second and forth Sunday of every month at 7.00 p.m. 
Arklow CBS School News
May  2009
Under 13 Soccer
Our first year team played Coláiste Bhríde, Carnew on Friday 3rd April in Arklow Celtic grounds. Coláiste Bhríde started better and went in at half time leading 1 - 0.  The CBS lads came back very strong in the second half with Kyle Hilliard getting an equaliser in the first 5 minutes and Sean Hurley put a second in the goal form the corner spot. Yet again, Carnew fought back and got their second to equalise. Hurley scored a second from the corner spot to put the CBS ahead again.  Carnew found the net in the dying minutes salvaging a draw. The CBS Team was Andrew Tancred, Michael Walker, Enda Dempsey, Sean Byrne, Jamie Cullen, Joseph Dunne, Paul Nolan, Kyle Jordan, Cormac Breslin, Sean Hurley, Kyle Hilliard, Cormac Byrne and Shane Harris
Barcelona Trip
Eleven Transition Year students including myself - Richard Clune and five 5th Year students, along with Principal Mr. Somers and Vice Principal Mr. Sheehy, went to Barcelona for a school trip from 4th to the 8th April. 
           Arriving at the hotel late Saturday night the students and teachers had some strange encounters with the local people.  The next morning a guided bus tour was arranged which took in Parc Guell, a famous Gaudi designed cathedral and the Marina.  That afternoon the aquarium was visited by students and teachers although the shopping centre nearby was of more interest for at least a few students.
           On Monday morning a visit to the cities soccer stadia was taken.  The Nou Camp, Europe’s largest stadium and home to Barcelona F.C., and the Olympia Stadium, home to Espanyol, were of great interest to our soccer loving students.  A trip across the city took pupils and teachers to a bowling alley and arcade centre that evening and this was thoroughly enjoyed by all. The following day, Tuesday, was the most enjoyable day by far.  An hour and half train journey took the students and teachers from Barcelona to Solo for Port Aventura theme park.  Although it was raining and quite wet many were only wearing shorts for the day but this didn’t stop people from enjoying the day enormously.  Memories of queuing up for Dragon Khan and the Rapids will live long in the mind of many students. On Wednesday, the last day, the Picasso Museum was visited by students and teachers and later that day we spent our final hours in Barcelona in the aforementioned shopping centre near the aquarium and nearby La Rambla. 
           The trip to Barcelona will live long in the memories of the students and teachers who went and all students would like to give their thanks to Mr. Somers and Mr. Sheehy for taking us to Barcelona and to Cian O Sullivan for arranging the whole tour.  
Student Liaison Training
We held a graduation ceremony for our senior students who completed our Leadership training course. These students will play a very important role in Arklow CBS in the future and will be given specific responsibilities relating to a number of junior students from September 2009. Our Liaison students are Nathan McGrath, Andre Coetzee, Edward Doyle, Luke Flynn, Aaron Hanna, Robert Kinsella, Kevin Dempsey, Keith Holt, Peter Kearns, Garreth Bradshaw, Dan Hirst, Dean McCormack, Jason Earls, Cian Fennell, Cian O’Sullivan, Aonghus O’Briain, Josh Wade, Richard Clune and John Coyne.
Special Olympics National Collection
On Friday 24th April a number of our TY students volunteered to help out with the national collection. The students manned the collection point outside of Tesco supermarket from 09:30 until 15:30.  They raised a lot of cash for this very worthy charity.

Girl Guides Celebrate 70 years
Arklow Girl Guides are celebrating the 70th Anniversary of their formation this year.
A special Mass is being celebrated in the Arklow Parish Church to mark this event on Wednesday 17th June 2009 @ 7.30 p.m.
Chief Concelebrant will be Archbishop Diramuid Martin.
All are welcome especially past members and their families.