03 October 2017

Rathkeale parish notes in
‘Newslink’ October 2017

Fiona Noonan-Taylor and Claire Noonan recently graduated on the same day at the University of Limerick with degrees of Master of Science in Advanced Healthcare Practice

Rathkeale and Kilnaughtin Group of Parishes

Rathkeale, Askeaton, Kilcornan and Kilnaughtin

Priest-in-Charge: Revd Canon Patrick Comerford,
The Rectory, Askeaton, Co Limerick.

Sunday Services in October:

1 October: 9.30, Saint Mary’s Church, Askeaton (Holy Communion); 11.30, Saint Brendan’s Church, Kilnaughtin (Morning Prayer).

8 October: 9.30, Castletown Church, Kilcornan, Pallaskenry (Holy Communion); 11.30, Holy Trinity Church, Rathkeale (Morning Prayer).

15 October: 9.30, Saint Mary’s Church, Askeaton (Morning Prayer); 11.30, Saint Brendan’s Church, Kilnaughtin (Holy Communion).

22 October: 9.30, Castletown (Morning Prayer); 11.30, Holy Trinity, Rathkeale (Holy Communion).

29 October: 11 a.m., Holy Trinity, Rathkeale (Holy Communion).

Harvest Thanksgiving Services:

Friday 6 October: 8 p.m., The Harvest Thanksgiving Service in this Group of Parishes takes place in Saint Mary’s Church, Askeaton. This year’s preacher is the Revd Father Seán Ó Longaigh, Parish Priest of Askeaton and Ballysteen. Father Seán brings a wealth of experience in ministry, including chaplaincy and counselling and four years of mission experience in West Africa.

Monday 9 October: 8 p.m. has been invited to preach at the Harvest Service in Ballingrane Methodist Church; preacher: Canon Patrick Comerford.

Select Vestry Meetings:

Sunday 1 Occtober, Tarbert vestry, after Morning Prayer in Saint Brendan’s Church, Kilnaughtin;
Tuesday 17 October, 7.30 p.m., Askeaton and Castletown vestries, the Rectory;
Thursday 19 October, 7.30 p.m., Rathkeale vestry, the Rectory.

Congratulations:

Congratulations to Amy and Damian Shorten on the birth of baby Arthur James Shorten on 12 September 2017, weighing 7 lb 4 oz. He and Amy are doing well.

And congratulations too to Fiona Noonan-Taylor and Claire Noonan from the West Limerick Physio Clinic in Newcastle West who recently graduated on the same day at the University of Limerick with degrees of Master of Science in Advanced Healthcare Practice.

Tarbert Historical Society:

Patrick Comerford has been invited to speak at monthly lecture at Tarbert Historical and Heritage Society on Saturday 14 October. He is speaking at 7.30 p.m. in the Bridewell, Tarbert, on ‘The Revd Sir William Augustus Wolseley (1865-1950), an exceptional curate in Kilnaughtin and Aughavallin.’

Recent hospital visitors:

A number of parishioners have been in hospital; please pray for their health and for those who care for them.

Diocesan Clergy Conference:

Patrick is taking part in the annual clergy conference in Galway on 11-13 October.

This is an edited version of the parish notes in the Rathkeale and Kilnaughtin Group of Parishes in the October 2017 edition of ‘Newslink,’ the Diocesan Magazine of the United Diocese of Limerick, Killaloe and Ardfert.

Three quay-side
sculptures mark
different aspects
of life in Limerick

The Dockers’ Monument on Spokane Walk … part of the variety in public art in the heart of Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Patrick Comerford

Limerick has a rich collection of modern sculptures commemorating the cultural, sporting and economic life of the city.

Three of these monuments came to my notice last week as I walked along the Quays in the rain: the bronze statue of Sir Terry Wogan at the ‘Poor Man’s Kilkee,’ the Dockers’ Monument on Spokane Walk and the Seamen’s Memorial on Bishop’s Quay.

The bronze statue of Terry Wogan was unveiled earlier this year (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

The bronze statue of the Limerick-born broadcaster Sir Terry Wogan (1938-2016) was unveiled earlier this year [24 June 2017]. It is close to Sarsfield Bridge, beside ‘Poor Man’s Kilkee’ on the Shannon quayside.

Terry Wogan was a freeman of Limerick, and frequently spoke his affection for Limerick. The sculpture is the work of the sculptor Rory Breslin, and depicts the BBC broadcaster sitting on a chair, microphone at the ready and a book in hand.

Local critics had wits have called the Wogan sculpture the ‘father of Ronaldo’ because of its supposed resemblance to a much-derided bust of the Real Madrid and Portuguese footballer. That statue at Madeira airport is said to resemble a clay model of Ronaldo left out in the rain for a week, but it too has become a tourist attraction.

The Dockers’ Monument on Spokane Walk (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

The Dockers’ Monument on Spokane Walk, opposite Bishop’s Quay, is a permanent tribute to the Limerick dockers, who dockers performed one of the most difficult and challenging ways to earn a living in the city.

This life-size bronze sculpture is the work of the Limerick-born artist Michael Duhan, whose father was a docker and worked on ships. In this work, he reflects with honesty and integrity the physical work and the camaraderie that existed among the dockers.

This sculpture, erected in 2010, was commissioned by Limerick City Council and funded by The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government under the Limerick Main Drainage Percent for Art Scheme. The monument was first proposed in 2005 and commissioned after of five years of campaigning by the people who had ties to the docks.

The monument cost about €100,000, but work was delayed because financial support was difficult to guarantee. The council wanted to include the names of dockers who had worked on the docks and family members were requested to bring proof of employment on behalf of those who had died.

The sculptor Mike Duhan was born in Limerick 1956 he attended the Limerick School of Art and Design (1972-1974). He is currently a member of Temple Bar Gallery and Studios Dublin and has worked at the National College of Art and Design(NCAD), Dublin, since 1982.

Because Limerick’s quays were in the centre of Limerick City, they were used constantly, maximising wealth and profit. In recent years, Harvey’s Quay has been redesigned and redeveloped.

Spokane Walk, a boardwalk stretching along Bishop’s Quay, Howley’s Quay and Harvey’s Quay, is named after Limerick’s twinned city Spokane in Washington state. The boardwalk was upgraded in 2013 at an overall cost of €5 million.

The Limerick Seamen’s Memorial on Bishop’s Quay (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

The Limerick Seamen’s Memorial on Bishop’s Quay commemorates the men from Limerick and Co Clare who died at sea during World War II on board three Irish merchant ships, the SS Kerry Head, the SS Irish Pine and the SS Clonlara.

The original proposal was to commemorate the fishermen who lost their lives at sea and were from around the Shannon Estuary. The monument has its back is to the River Shannon and it stands beside the Shannon Bridge, across from the Glasshouse Restaurant.

The SS Kerry Head was four miles east of the Old Head of Kinsale, carrying coal and some tinplate, when she was attacked by a German bomber on 1 August 1940. Germany apologised and offered to pay compensation. But on 22 October 1940, the SS Kerry Head was sunk during an air attack by the Luftwaffe, after a warning to cease exports. This resulted in the deaths of her 12 crew members died. No bodies were ever recovered, and Germany refused to accept liability.

On 22 August 1941, the SS Clonlara was sunk by torpedo from the U-564 in the North Atlantic. Only the six uninjured crew members returned home.

On 15 November 1942, the SS Irish Pine was sunk in the Atlantic by a single torpedo from U-608, which had followed the ship for about eight hours. The ship sank within two minutes, all 33 crew members drowned, and no wreckage or bodies were ever found.

The main section of the memorial is in the shape of an anchor. A base rock outlines and draws emphasis to the anchor itself. At the base of the statue, a list of men who died at sea in World War II was added in 2004.