Ashbourne-Donaghmore Parish is delighted to launch it’s ‘Noah’s Ark Programme’.  It is a ten week peer-support programme which supports young people who have experienced loss through bereavement, separation or divorce in their family.

The Noah’s Ark Programme is a support group that helps children put their feelings into words, work through their grief, build a stronger sense of self-esteem, and begin to adapt to the changes that have taken place in the family.  It is a safe, confidential setting where children can share their feelings with each other and with trained facilitators.  Children are grouped with others of a similar age experiencing a similar loss.

The programme will run on Wednesdays from 4pm to 5pm in Ashbourne Parish Hall (new building beside church) from mid November 2015 to February 2016.

Application forms, will be available from the parish schools.

COLUMBARIUM

The Parish Pastoral Council (PPC) are currently considering the installation of a Columbarium in Ashbourne Cemetery as a pastoral service for families who wish to have the ashes of loved respectfully interred within church-grounds.

A Columbarium is a free-standing structure designed with individual, private compartments/niches into which urns containing ashes are placed.  Each niche can accommodate 2-3 urns (depending on size).  Once the urn has been interred in the columbarium, a marble plaque identifying the family-niche seals the compartment until additional family interments necessitate re-opening.

As well as providing a less costly alternative to traditional interment, the Columbarium ensures the cremated ashes of loved ones are retained on consecrated ground.  Catholic burial practice calls for cremated remains to be interred in a plot on consecrated ground or placed inside a columbarium/mausoleum, showing reverence for the body as a place where the soul has resided.

Before making the initial investment, the PPC would like to receive some feedback to determine the desirability and need for such a facility.  Feedback can be submitted to Fr. Derek or a member of the PPC.