Parish Notes – April 2026
Spring is now well under way. It is a season of new life and re-creation in the natural world around us. The birds are singing and nesting, long dormant bulbs are appearing from the ground as the cold, damp earth finally starts to warm up and the trees are bursting into blossom and leaf.
Likewise, in the Church calendar, Easter is not just a day, but a whole season. It lasts fifty days from Easter Sunday to Pentecost Sunday, reflecting the pattern of the Jewish calendar, when the days from the festival of Passover to the festival of Shavuot (Pentecost) are counted.
Like Spring, the season of Easter is also one that reminds of us new life, hope and the re-creation of the entire cosmos that began to bud and blossom through Jesus’ resurrection.
John points to this in his gospel account of the first Easter Sunday. In chapter 20, he tells us that it was ‘Early on the first day of the week while it was still dark’, that he appeared to Mary Magdalene and the other disciples. When Jesus first appeared to Mary, she thought he was a gardener. In addition, when he appeared to the disciples in the locked room on the evening of the first day, John 20:22 says that Jesus “breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.””
In all this, John is subtly reminding us of the account of creation in Genesis. There, God began his creation on the first day of the week. It was dark, and God spoke and there was light. When he created the first man, he breathed his Spirit into him and Adam came to life. And then he places Adam in Eden as it’s gardener.
John wants to show us that Jesus hasn’t just come back to life, like his friend Lazarus. No, he has broken through death and come out the other side, to begin a totally new type of life – re-created, eternal life. He is a second Adam (Romans 5: 17 & 1 Corinthians 15: 47). Just as death came into the world through Adam, so life has come into the world through Christ.
John wants to tell us that Christ’s bodily resurrection means that the clock has been reset – creation has begun again! The new creation has started to break into the old!
And that is what we celebrate in this in-between season between Easter Sunday and Pentecost. The chocolate eggs may be all eaten, but we continue to rejoice as Easter people, for Christ’s resurrection is not just about Christ being brough back to life – it is a story about the new creation, in which we are all invited to participate.
As American theologian Jaroslav Pelikan has said of the resurrection: ‘If Jesus was not raised from the dead, nothing else matters, if Jesus was raised from the dead, nothing else matters.’
GFS Planning Meeting
We are hoping to restart the Girls Friendly Society (GFS) in the parish, on a monthly basis, but we need volunteers willing to help! A planning meeting will be held on Monday 27th April at 8pm in Cootehill church hall. If you feel you would be able to help out and can volunteer a little of your time to help young girls have fun together and learn more about God, please do come along.
Flower Arrangement Demonstration
There will be a fund-raising flower arranging demonstration evening with Julie Magee in Cootehill church hall on Thursday 21st May at 8pm. Tickets are €20 and are available from Pricewise, Cootehill or Maudabawn Creamery Shop. Proceeds will go to All Saints Cootehill and Dernakesh church repair funds.
St. Patrick’s Day
There was a great turn out for the refreshments before the service in All Saint’s Cootehill on St. Patrick’s Day. The parade in the afternoon was a credit to the town, with colourful floats, lively music and even Brazilian carnival dancers! Mercifully, the rain even stayed away until after the parade was over!
Michael & Liz on the Cootehill St. Patrick’s Day review stand with Fr. John Cooney
Drum Big Breakfast
Congratulations to our neighbours in Drum Parish who organised a fantastic fundraising breakfast on Saturday 28th March which was well attended. There was a vibrant sense of community at the event and the Cootehill curate even picked up some great plant bargains for his garden, courtesy of Sharon Lancashire!
Parish Prayers
We continue keep the following parishioners and friends of the parish who have been unwell in our prayers as they recover from illness. We are thankful that Patricia Smyth continues to regain strength following her illness at Christmas. We are also delighted that Susan Deacon, is back home and making progress following hospitalisation and rehabilitation for a fractured ankle. We also continue to keep the following parishioners in our prayers: Roy Grindle who has been unwell in Brabazon Home, Sandymount. Kate Donnelly as she settles in Lurgan. Norman Foster’s brother, Ivan, recovering from a stroke, and his sister Ruby, following a major operation. May the Lord bless them all with his comfort and healing touch.