After a wonderful Christmas break I found myself in Co. Donegal at the beautiful Capuchin Friary in Ards. This was the site of our January Training. We spent about a week up there getting ourselves readjusted to the NET life and making a game plan for the second half of the year. We heard some great talks and had great craic. The friary was right on the coast with a beach just a 10 minutes walk away. The last day we were at Ards we went down to the beach to play sport and after jumped in the frigid ocean. It was absolutely freezing but so much fun. Being soaking wet I didn't want to put my shoes on since I didn't want them to get wet and unwearable for the next day so we made that 10 minute walk back barefoot. It definitely took more than 10 minutes and was quite painful as the path was not exactly paved. We made it though and it is well worth it!
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| Sport right before we jumped in the freezing ocean! |
We returned to our house on January 7th to find it just as we had left it, minus the temperature which was significantly lower. Although we haven't been here long we have already had many adventures and are enjoying our time back so far. For our senior youth group we had a scavenger hunt around the town which had the youth performing all sorts of crazy tasks, including singing happy birthday to our parish priest Fr. Seamus. It was a cold night but running around kept us warm and we now have some great stories to tell.
Our first Saturday back we drove into Mullingar and saw Les Miserable. I had been counting down the days until the movie came out so I was incredibly grateful to my team for the chance to see it. It was amazing and the rest of my team enjoyed it as well which made it that much better. It was a wonderful way to spend a Saturday afternoon.
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| The keep at Trim Castle |
This last Saturday we had a day off that we spent as a team. We started the day by heading to Trim Castle. Trim Castle is the same castle that can be found in the movie Braveheart. Every castle shown in the movie was filmed at Trim Castle. We even saw the piece of wood Mel Gibson was tortured on in front of the castle. It was a bitterly cold morning that left my toes numb but I had wellies so at least they were dry, if cold. That was more than others on my team could say.
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| Hill of Slane |
After a cold but good morning at Trim Castle we drove up to Slane where we accidentally visited Slane Castle and intentionally visited the Hill of Slane. We just came upon the castle and tried to get in but the doors were locked, despite Becca and Marie's best efforts to open the door. After that slight detour we drove to the hill. The Hill of Slane is where St. Patrick lit the pascal fire that angered the pagan king sitting on the Hill of Tara when he saw it. There are ruins of a castle that was really fun to climb around on and a ruined church and cemetery. It was pretty incredible to stand on a place with such history and think about all that had happened there.
After immersing ourselves in events of the past we stepped forward in time to make history! That same night the pro-life movement here in Ireland was holding a pro-life rally called Unite For Life in Dublin. Over 30,000 people gathered at Marrion Square to send a message to the Irish government. I've talked before about the issue of abortion here in Ireland before and the battle continues. The situation is beginning to look bleak for the pro-life side. So, the pro-life movement organized this rally to let the government know where people stand and show them they should not make the choice to allow abortion in the country. It was absolutely incredible to stand among a crowd of over 30,000 people all fighting for the same cause. It was a blessing to be a part of history in the making in this country. We also got to see all the other teams and staff from NET as they all were present.
Ministry is still slow right now but we have many things we are looking forward to in the next few months that will keep us plenty busy. We are holding a rally for our youth groups and youth groups in the neighboring area that will be a lot of work but should be wonderful. We also have a lot to plan with Lent coming us as it is such a big liturgical season. Along with all those things we have our usual 3 youth groups, school sessions and retreats, youth masses, weekly jam sessions, and other random events to plan for. All a days work for a NET team. We will definitely not be bored in the next few months!
Oh yeah, and we had our first snow Wednesday!!!! It made my day!!!
After a wonderful Christmas break I found myself in Co. Donegal at the beautiful Capuchin Friary in Ards. This was the site of our January Training. We spent about a week up there getting ourselves readjusted to the NET life and making a game plan for the second half of the year. We heard some great talks and had great craic. The friary was right on the coast with a beach just a 10 minutes walk away. The last day we were at Ards we went down to the beach to play sport and after jumped in the frigid ocean. It was absolutely freezing but so much fun. Being soaking wet I didn't want to put my shoes on since I didn't want them to get wet and unwearable for the next day so we made that 10 minute walk back barefoot. It definitely took more than 10 minutes and was quite painful as the path was not exactly paved. We made it though and it is well worth it!
This last Saturday we had a day off that we spent as a team. We started the day by heading to Trim Castle. Trim Castle is the same castle that can be found in the movie Braveheart. Every castle shown in the movie was filmed at Trim Castle. We even saw the piece of wood Mel Gibson was tortured on in front of the castle. It was a bitterly cold morning that left my toes numb but I had wellies so at least they were dry, if cold. That was more than others on my team could say. 
After a cold but good morning at Trim Castle we drove up to Slane where we accidentally visited Slane Castle and intentionally visited the Hill of Slane. We just came upon the castle and tried to get in but the doors were locked, despite Becca and Marie's best efforts to open the door. After that slight detour we drove to the hill. The Hill of Slane is where St. Patrick lit the pascal fire that angered the pagan king sitting on the Hill of Tara when he saw it. There are ruins of a castle that was really fun to climb around on and a ruined church and cemetery. It was pretty incredible to stand on a place with such history and think about all that had happened there. 
After immersing ourselves in events of the past we stepped forward in time to make history! That same night the pro-life movement here in Ireland was holding a pro-life rally called Unite For Life in Dublin. Over 30,000 people gathered at Marrion Square to send a message to the Irish government. I've talked before about the issue of abortion here in Ireland before and the battle continues. The situation is beginning to look bleak for the pro-life side. So, the pro-life movement organized this rally to let the government know where people stand and show them they should not make the choice to allow abortion in the country. It was absolutely incredible to stand among a crowd of over 30,000 people all fighting for the same cause. It was a blessing to be a part of history in the making in this country. We also got to see all the other teams and staff from NET as they all were present. 
Oh yeah, and we had our first snow Wednesday!!!! It made my day!!!
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