CORE Newslink

Next Sunday at CORE

AM Service: Kingdom Servants – Sam Moore

PM Service: No service

Gift Day – Sunday 22nd May

No! It’s not Christmas, but it is the season for giving to support the ministries of CORE @ St. Catherine’s. This year we have a very real need to raise our finances above a deficit level and to encourage all of us to consider ways we can increase the value of our giving to CORE. On Sunday 22nd we will give you some details on our financial shortcomings and our requirement to finance the growth we are planning over the next year. SO PLEASE CONSIDER GIVING A ONCE OFF CAPITAL SUM OR INCREASING YOUR Direct Debit/ envelope tithe.

CHY2 - Tax Refund Forms

As most of you know we can claim back a percentage of the tax paid on tithes that are given through direct debit or our envelope scheme. If you have received a CHY2 form in the post from the church in the last few weeks could you please check it’s accurate, sign it and send it back to the office. If you would like to start giving in a way that allows us to claim back some of your tax or have any queries about CHY2 please contact James (james@corechurch.ie or 01 4735100).

Room Request

Hi, my name is Jon, and my wife Whitney and I are moving to Dublin on June 18. I have a job with Ernst & Young in their audit department. We are from San Jose, California. I am 25 and Whitney is 23, and we will only have a suitcase and backpack each when we arrive. I heard about your church from Jason Post, a pastor from Galway City Church. I wanted to inquire to see if your church has anyone who would be willing to host us for a week, or rent a room to us, when we first arrive. We plan on finding an apartment as soon as possible when we arrive.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Kindly, Jon
If you have a spare room or can help in any way contact Amy (pa.corechurch@gmail.com)

Clowns for Haiti – Container Delivered!!

Well an action packed journey of many highs and lows has finally come to an end, Amen! I will try and encapsulate the journey in all its many shades. In Sept. last year a germ of an idea dropped into my head – could we send a container of school supplies to the School of Miracles? Before we had much time to discuss it, a door opened in the form of St. Brigids School, Cork St. where I was cleaning windows. I mentioned to the caretaker Danny a dream I had to supply the school with furniture and he said, “I’ve a disused building next door to our school full of furniture, you can have it all!” On Jan. 6th we started loading a 40ft container with the school furniture and transported it to CBS Lucan where much more supplies were waiting.

On the 12th Jan. (the anniversary of the earthquake) our container packed to the gills headed off to Haiti filled with, amongst other things – Jelly Beans, Crown paint, Tipperary water dispensers, clothes and Christmas shoe boxes for next year! We were told it may take 3 months, a year or never be seen again! On March 30th we were informed that it had arrived and a few days later Brian Beardsley and I travelled to Haiti to plan the distribution. On landing we entered into a hornets nest over ownership of container and much acrimony, which really upset everyone connected to the project. We really had to TRUST and keep looking only to God because what we were in the midst of was not what God would have wanted. We prayed together for a way to move on, apologise for all our misunderstandings and get on with our relationship as friends and fellow workers with Christ. That 20 minute prayer time changed everything and I suppose that was the real miracle of our trip – reconciliation.

The rest of that week was dedicated to going around schools distributing school furniture and performing little Fun Clown Shows to 1000s of Kids in schools and Red Cross Camps (Paddy, you trained me well)! Mostly what we did was empathise and walk a few miles in their moccasins. We travelled by ‘TapTap’ open cars filled with Haitians going about their day, never once meeting a white person, that amazed me, the total disconnect between them and us. We went to Churches and Schools and everywhere we encountered love and warmth and amidst the abject poverty were happy smiling kids. It made me wonder who really are ‘the poor’. They are rich in much that we will never have.

I know I speak for many who have helped with this ‘drop in the ocean’ effort, that they have received far more than they ever gave there is no doubt. I thank God for the journey he has allowed me to go on and the divine lights that shone on the runway as I travelled directing my path. The School of Miracles and many more schools have been helped by the tenacity of many, (too many to mention) but Haiti and actually Ireland is in a better place for reaching out across the water to a small sister island not dissimilar to our own. I would like to close by thanking all my brothers and sisters in CORE Church for their continual unswerving, unwavering encouragement through all so far, it’s not over, but praise God we’ve finished well! – Pete and Schools of Miracles Haiti Committee

Prayer Requests and Thanksgivings

• Give thanks for the distribution of the container in Haiti and for all who gave generously towards it. Pray for the schools and churches who received from it, as they continue to rebuild and recover from the earthquake.
• Continue to pray for all involved in appointing a new minister, pray that the right person be chosen and for wisdom and discernment for the trustees at this time.
• Pray for the finances in the church, pray that God will continue to provide for all our needs, and pray for wisdom and creativity in fundraising.
• Pray for Solas after-schools project (Salla, Anne, Graham and the children) this week as they adapt to some changes. They are now meeting in the church to facilitate a larger group with the addition of 5 boys to the existing group of 12 girls.

Dates for your Diaries

Thursday 12th May Clock Pub Music Session 8pm

Sunday 22nd May GIFT DAY!

Monday 23rd May Prayer Walk in the Community 7.30pm

Wednesday 25th May AGM at 7.30pm