Fr Frank McManus PP Tel: 028 686 31315
email: culmaine@clogherparishes.ie
Parish Office Tel: 028 686 29062
SAINT VINCENT DE PAUL: Helpline no 07864726536
(All information will be handled in a strictly confidential manner)
22nd February 2026
1st Sunday of Lent
Liturgical Year A
If you are remaining at home you can join in at the times outlined below on Livestream or listen on Parish Radio CB Channel 37 if you are local.
ST VINCENT DE PAUL HELPLINE 07864726536
All information will be handled in a strictly confidential manner
CELIACS: Gluten Free Holy Communion is available. Please let the priest or sacristan know before mass.
MONTIAGH: FEBRUARY NOTES:
Reader- Damien Monaghan
Collectors- Dinny Gallagher and Mickey Dan Doonan
Adoration: Wednesday nights: 7-8pm. All are welcome.
LITURGY GROUP MEETING: Monday @ 8pm in the Parish Centre.
LENT
The Holy Season of Lent is inspired by the story of Jesus’ fasting for forty days in the wilderness in preparation for his ministry. It was for him a time of internal purification. The main thing for him was rejecting any kind of earthly power or glory and instead accepting the model of God’s suffering servant in the Book of the Prophet Isaiah. In this he totally embraces the weaknesses and the struggles that are part of being human. Lent is a time for internal renewal. Here are some suggestions provided by our local Church to help us with this interior renewal.
LENTEN PRACTISES: Prayer, fasting or self-denial, and almsgiving.
PRAYER: You are welcome to join us in any of our parish masses in St Joseph’s or in St Patrick’s, Montiagh. You are welcome to join in any of the Parish devotional practices, such as the rosary and Divine Mercy chaplet every evening @ 6.30pm in St Joseph’s or Exposition 7-8pm in Montiagh on Wednesdays or on Thursday in St Joseph’s. Regarding personal prayer and meditation both Churches are open from 9am until 7.30pm each day. Or simply use your own home or go for a walk and pray while you walk. Online there are prayer websites and apps such as Universalis, which provides with the prayer and masses of the Church each day or the excellent Sacred Space, provided by the Irish Jesuits
FASTING OR SELF- DENIAL: Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are two days of Fast and Abstinence. This means only one main meal and two very small meals. Some people choose one day during the week throughout Lent, such as Friday for fasting. Also, many people choose to abstain from activities such as drinking alcohol or in the case of children, from sweets or other confectionary.
ALMS GIVING: Lent is a good time to support charities and worthy causes.
TROCAIRE: Trocaire (meaning Mercy) is the Official Irish Catholic Third World Relief and Development Agency. Their Lenten campaign is their chief fundraiser. Trocaire packages, which includes Trocaire Collection Boxes are available in both Churches. These times are very difficult for many poor and vulnerable people since we have the catastrophic reality of some of the wealthiest countries in the world cutting back or even cancelling overseas aid in order that defense budgets be increased. The so-called ‘New World Order’, to some degree inspired by the abomination of so-called ‘Christian Nationalism’ seems to have very little pity on the poor. So, it is only right and just to support Trocaire and other similar agencies this Lent.
SUGGESTIONS: Our Catholic Tradition has many different forms of prayer, meditation and contemplation that are available for all Catholics, other Christians and people of goodwill to try. Here are a few suggestions that are available online.
Sacred Space: Created several years ago by the Irish Jesuits, this offers daily prayer and reflection based on the daily readings at mass and using some of the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius of Loyola.
Lectio Divina: A very old and yet simple meditation practice that the Benedictine monks have used over the centuries. Again, the instructions are available online.
Universalis Prayer App: This provides with the official daily prayer hours of the Church commonly used by clergy, but now available to all of God’s people. As well as giving the hours of the Divine Office and Mass readings and prayers, it also includes traditional devotion practice such as the Rosary and the Angelus.
Parishioners who wish to take a short-term pledge for Lent are invited to visit www.pioneers.ie or to speak to a Pioneer in the parish.
NEW EUCHARISTIC MINISTERS: Best wishes and congratulations to our new Eucharistic Ministers who were commissioned during last Friday’s evening mass. The new ministers are Lily McDonagh; Daithi McLaughlin; Sarah Monaghan; Aimie Lee Gallagher; Jamie Moss; Sorcha McCauley and Conal McGrath. All of these are currently taking part in the St John Paull II Awards in the parish. We thank them for volunteering to serve in the parish.
BAPTISMS: Ederney on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of each month @ 12noon. There can be more than one family for baptism ceremonies. At least one weeks’ notice is required when booking a baptism.
WEDDINGS IN ST JOSEPH’S: Couples are welcome to celebrate their wedding in St Joseph’s. To book please contact Fr McManus by phone or email. Couples who come from outside the parish will have to bring their own priest. All weddings must be in accordance with the law of the State, the Canon Law and the Rites of the Catholic Church and Diocesan Norms. Among these are that couples must complete a Catholic Approved Pre-Marriage Programme.
HOSPITAL & CARE HOME VISITS: Please contact Fr McManus to let him know if anyone is in hospital. Since Hospitals and Care Homes now operate rigid data protection policies this is the only way that parish clergy can know about a person being in a hospital or Care-Home.
BOOKING MONTHS MINDS & ANNIVERSARIES: This can be done in two ways.
1. By using the diary that is on the altar rails in front of the Baptism/ St Joseph’s to the right of the altar. Please write the name(s) of those whom you want remembered in the mass on the day and date that you want. Please note that there are no masses on Thursdays and Saturdays. When entering the name(s) of the person please write down a telephone number so that you can be contacted if any issues should arise.
2. By emailing the name(s) of those you want remembered and the date to the parish office.
MEDJUGORJE: 1ST - 8TH JULY 2026 VIA DUBLIN. Seven nights’ accommodation with breakfast and dinner for £695 PPS. £50 discount if £200 deposit paid before 30th January '26. Contact John Calgie 02868631177/07736336262.
LOURDES 2026 – Thinking of travelling to Lourdes 2026? Then why not give your loved one a Lourdes Gift voucher for Christmas. Available in £50, £100 or £200 vouchers. Contact Pilgrimage Secretary – John Hueston – 028 67724329 or at 62 Crom Road, Macknagh, Lisnaskea, Co Fermanagh, BT92 0BD. Email treasurer.lourdes@clogherparishes.ie
PARISH COLLECTIONS:
15th February
Weekly £980.
A special thank you to all who facilitated our Gift Aid contribution. Forms for Gift Aid are available in the Churches for anyone who would like to contribute that way. Parishioners can also make donations by direct debit. Envelopes and contributions can also be made through the letterbox of the Parish Centre. This is quite safe because the Parish Centre has both an alarm that is always active when there is no-one in the building and CCTV cameras covering all approaches to the Centre, especially the front door. The basket attached inside of the letterbox is regularly checked and all donations are moved to the safe where they are kept until they are counted and banked. Please do not leave any contributions in the Church outside of Mass times or in the Priest’s House. Please consider a contribution to the upkeep of our parish, whether once off, weekly or monthly.
STANDING ORDER FORMS: Please consider a contribution to the upkeep of our parish, whether once off, weekly or monthly. Standing Order Forms are available in both our Churches and accessible on the link below.
GIFT AID: We strongly urge people to use the parish envelopes/standing orders and sign up for Gift Aid. In doing so you will be increasing your contribution by 20% without any extra cost or inconvenience to yourself, or your family or your business. This would be of immense benefit to the parish.
You may have heard of Gift Aid before but not really understood what it is or how it could benefit you or your Parish. Simply put, Gift Aid is a form of tax relief that allows our parish to receive up to 25% more income than a donation made by you. Once a donation has been made, we can then claim back the basic rate of tax from it from the government. The charity will reclaim 25p of tax on every £1 that you have given them. Donating through Gift Aid means we can claim an extra 25p for every £1 you give to our parish. It will not cost you any extra.
If you have not submitted a Gift Aid Form to the Parish and would like to do so, forms are available at on the tables near the doors of the Church. PLEASE TAKE ONE and leave it through the Letter Box of the Parish Office. If you are already on Gift Aid, there is no need to reapply.
You can also download and complete a Gift Aid Form below. If you prefer, you can email your completed form to culmaine@clogherparishes.ie
Please be assured that there is absolutely no danger regarding confidentiality in regard to your financial and tax affairs. Our parish benefits greatly from gift aid and we are very grateful to all who have submitted a form so far.
FINANCE COMMITTEE: PARISH ENVELOPES: The new Parish Envelope List is being drawn up for the beginning of the parish financial year which begins on 1st April 2026.
The Finance Committee acknowledges and thanks all who contribute financially to the upkeep and development of the parish. It is looking at ways in which we can increase parish income and reduce costs. As part of measures to reduce costs the Finance Committee has decided to reduce the number of boxes of Parish Envelopes that it distributes. Many parishioners do not contribute through their envelopes. Those who have contributed through their envelopes over the past two years will still receive their envelopes as usual at the end of March. If anyone who has not been contributing through their parish envelope and would like to still receive a box of envelopes, please contact Fr McManus or Ann or Marie McKervey. If anyone who is new in the parish or did not receive a box of envelopes last year and would like to receive a box of envelopes, again, please contact Fr McManus, or Ann or Marie.
You are also welcome to contribute through Direct Debit or by Credit Card or Phone on the Dona Credit Card machine in the Church.
THE WORLD DAY OF PRAYER is a women-led global ecumenical movement. Within our local Christian Churches, we take turns to host this annual event. This year Cul Maine Parish are hosting this special prayer service in St Joseph’s Church on Friday 6th March at 7:30pm. Everyone is most welcome.
There will be a rehearsal of the hymns for the service at the Parish Centre on Wednesday 25th February at 7:30pm, again everyone is most welcome to attend.
EDERNEY DOCTOR’S SURGERY:
(Important Announcement)
We must install a new system as our previous IT provider has gone into administration. We apologise in advance for the inconvenience this may cause our patients’ waiting times for services will take longer as staff are trained on the new system and get used to the new systems.
We are changing our computer systems from 6/3/2026 - 11/3/2026 - we have only 1 computer for a GP to use and we have therefore made the decision to close Newtownstewart and Ederney Surgeries on 6 and 9 of March. We will provide an emergency service from Castlederg Site on an urgent case basis only. Patients who are previously registered for online services such as repeat prescriptions will also be impacted and will be sent new registration instructions when we are up and running. For those on regular medications we have pre-ordered the repeat medications due in March so that patients will be able to collect these without having to order in advance. Patients can continue to contact us as normal if they need an appointment, although they may experience a longer wait. This may cause some anxiety, but we must operate as safely as we can while the system changes from 5-10 March.
It would be appreciated if you could advise your constituents to please be patient with our staff during this time. This is a huge upheaval, and we will do everything we can to mitigate the impact on our patients but there will inevitably be some disruption. For more information about our new computer system, please see https://online.hscni.net/our-work/gps/ni-gp-clinical-system-change/
SOAS –“BRINGING SWAH TO STORMONT” Monday 23rd February at 10:30AM.If you would like to be part of this vital day in our campaign please contact, leaving your name and a contact mobile number, by either method: Save our Acute Services Facebook page by DM or by email: carmelmageesoas@gmail.com. Buses will bring those who need transport or make your own way and meet us at the Stormont gates at 10:30AM. Please spread the word and encourage any friends and family living near Belfast to also join us on the day.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS: (A.A.) You are not alone. Drink problem- we get it… Telephone. 028 90351222 or +353 1 8420700, Website: www.alcoholicsanonymous.ie or email geo@alcoholicsanonymous.ie
NARCOTICS ANONYMOUS: Every Monday & Thursday evenings @ 7.00pm in Fermanagh House. New members are always welcome. No prior appointment needed.
AL-ANON – Struggling with Alcohol Addiction? For further information contact the confidential Al-Anon helpline on 0800 0086 811 or email helpline@al-anonuk.org.uk alternatively contact Belfast at 02890682368.
EDERNEY GAA:
Fundamentals Football for kids aged 6 and under at 10am Sunday.
Westmeath v Fermanagh 2pm Mullingar.
Lotto jackpot is £15,000 play online or in local shops.
Irish language classes Wednesday at 7.15pm in clubroom.
EDERNEY RUNNING GROUP: meet twice weekly, Wednesday at 6:15pm and Saturday at 9am at the GAA training pitch.
A DISCERNMENT RETREAT FOR DIOCESAN PRIESTHOOD will take place in Drumalis Retreat House, Larne, from 6th - 8th March 2026. For more information or to book a place, email Fr Raymond: frraymonddonnelly@clogherparishes.ie
OMAGH CHARISMATIC GROUP: invite you to the Life in the Holy Spirit Seminars. The seminars will take place on Thursdays in conjunction with 7.30pm Mass in Sacred Heart Church, Omagh, Co Tyrone.
MARRIAGE ENRICHMENT WEEKEND: Catholic Marriage Encounter in Ireland will hold a Marriage Enrichment Weekend from 20th to 22nd March 2026 in St Mary’s, Knock, Co Mayo. A Weekend like no other. For further details please visit www.marriageencounter.ie
CATHOLIC COUPLES — DATE NIGHT - Join us for an unforgettable evening with Mark & Anne O’Leary — inspiring talks, laughter, faith, and a gorgeous 4‑course meal! Sat 18 April • 7pm • Armagh City Hotel • Fun prizes • Great atmosphere • A perfect night out together! For more information or to book contact: info@catholicmothers.ie
Journey through Christ’s Passion: Join Clogher don Óige over 5 weeks during Lent to journey through Christ’s Passion. Starting Thursday 26th February 2026 from 7.30-9pm at St. Joseph`s Pastoral Centre, Monaghan. A great way to meet up with other young people and to try something different for Lent. Anyone completing their JP2 award this year, this can be used as a parish activity. Open to ages 16+ young adults. Please register before Monday 16th February to secure your place as places will be limited. For more details visit www.clogherdonoige.org. If you have any questions, please contact the office on 04772784 or email jp2award@clogherdonoige.org
Monaghan Charismatic Prayer Group are organising a bus to The Divine Mercy Conference in RDS on Saturday 28thFebruary. Bus leaving Monaghan at 7am via Clontibret, Castleblayney, Carrickmacross. Tickets will be issued on the bus. Bus fare and Tickets €50. Booking essential by contacting 087 9717447.
Trócaire School Volunteers: Are you a retired teacher or someone who has experience presenting to groups of school children? Do you have a passion for making this world a better place, especially for the most vulnerable? Trócaire is looking for volunteers to support our School Talks Programme for Lent 2026 in the Clogher Diocese. If you think you have the right skills and experience and will have time to volunteer during Lent, then we would love to hear from you! Full training and support will be provided. For more information call Fionnuala on 028 9080 8033 or email: fionnuala.mcguinness@trocaire.org
THE WAY.ie is a new digital platform set up by the Irish Bishops Conference dedicated to sharing the “Good News” and the witness of the Catholic Church in Ireland. It is intended to help people discover the faith, live the faith and pass on the faith. It is for both seekers and followers. www.theway.ie
RADIO MARIA IRELAND is an Irish-run Catholic Talk-Radio Station who enjoy commercial free broadcasting – Prayer, Catechesis, Uplifting music, Talks, Interviews and Testimonies. Visit www.radiomaria.ie for more information and how you can listen.
Enniskillen Parish Lending Library: Enniskillen Parish are pleased to announce their Parish Library is now up and running. So far, parishioners and visitors have been delighted to see such a wide variety of books available to borrow or to read in the Library along with a welcome cup of tea or coffee.
This resource is open to all Parishes in the area. The Lending Library is located above the Parish Shop in Hall’s Lane, Enniskillen and is open Mon - Sat 10.30am — 1.30pm. There are also copies of books available for borrowing at the back of St. Michael’s Church. Everyone is welcome!
ACCORD: If you feel your relationship is in crisis or need a little guidance and feel that you and your partner could benefit from Counselling either face to face or online call us on 02890233002
DIOCESE JUSTICE, PEACE, AND INTEGRITY OF CREATION GROUP: New Members Wanted - An appeal to parishioners in the Diocese of Clogher. If you are interested, please call 077 54494425 (Fr Joe) or contact your Parish Priest.
CONNECT FERMANAGH: Don’t feel alone we are here to talk. Phone Connect Fermanagh and we can provide a friendly chat & information /help to link you to the right support & services in your area. We also welcome volunteers from all backgrounds. Calls can be made from the comfort of your own home. Please call 02866320230; info@connectfermnagh.org; www. Connectfermanagh.org
IRISH CATHOLIC: If you are buying the Irish Catholic or any other publication in the Church, please leave the money in the Candle Shrines in front of either St Joseph’s or Our Lady’s Altars. Please do not leave money on the tables.
COMMUNITY HALL:
Ederney Community Development Trust (ECDT) has launched its fundraising plan recently in St Joseph’s GAA Meeting Rooms. The plan is to provide an all-purpose modern Community Hall. This is a very ambitious project which will be of enormous benefit to all ages in our community for generations to come.
The funding of this is planned in a three pronged strategy:
1. Community Fundraising;
2. Donations from grants from local Wind Farms;
3. The establishing of a loan facility, plus interest to build over a ten year period.
Information leaflets are available at all exits of the Churches.
On behalf of all in the parish we wish them well with this project.
SAFEGUARDING
If you wish to report a child safeguarding concern, please contact
Martha Smyth 0044 777 5507445,
Brendan Kelly 00353 42 9741383,
or Anne Molloy 0044 787941 3855 or
An Garda Síochána 00353 1 66343
PSNI 028 90650222
TUSLA 00353 47 30475
Western Health and Social Care Trust 028 7131 4090.
WITH YOU’ has launched an OVER 50s ALCOHOL HELPLINE which provides advice and support to individuals aged over 50, concerned others and professionals who are worried about their own or someone else’s drinking. Furthermore, our over 50s Alcohol Helpline continues to offer an enhanced service for individuals who are considering makingchanges to their alcohol use. Our enhanced service provision offers callers up to 4 additional appointments during which Helpline alcohol advisors use evidenced based interventions to support callers to achieve their goals. This service is available 7 days a week. The Helpline is open Monday to Friday 12pm-8pm and 10am to 4pm atweekends. The freephone number to call is 0808 801 0750. To make an online booking for a phone call or video chat, over 50’s, concerned others and professionals can access appointments slots by visiting the With You website.
