‘Miscellany Sunday’ shifts focus
Regular readers and local people will be aware that Phena Bermingham has hosted an annual fundraiser for most of the past 12 years at the family home in Mooretown, Kilcullen, writes Roy Thompson.
The format is that local musicians, singers, poets, play-actors, writers etc perform their party pieces for the throngs of local people who come and traipse through the Bermingham’s home, while eating mince pies, and drinking tea and mulled wine!
The beneficiary on each previous occasion has been the Michael Garry House Hostel for the Homeless in Newbridge. On average, well over €6,000 was raised each year. A remarkable achievement for a small community and a testament to the ability of Phena to “sell” an idea to people ready to hear, and willing to help, and her inability to turn her back on people who need some assistance. Indeed, a lifetime of voluntary work has been given for the benefit of many in need; quietly working in the background, shining a little light.
It seems this desire to shine a little light into the darkness runs in the family.
Fr John Bermingham is a Redemptorist Priest, and son of Phena, and the late Tom Bermingham. In May of this year he returned, along with Fr Brian Holmes from Cork, to Mozambique to begin the new Redemptorist Mission in that country.
Mozambique is in a phase of transition, moving from a country ravaged by war to economic growth and capacity building of its people and infrastructure, and while the country has experienced impressive economic growth rates in recent years, it is coming from such a low base that vast tracts of areas and populations remain stuck in repeated cycles of disadvantage and poverty.
The Redemptorists are committed to working through a model of perpetual partnership with the people of Africa and are helping to meet the needs of the poorest people in Mozambique through its much admired Water for All project and various other pastoral initiatives.
This mission area is approximately 200km from Tete city and is based in the District of Macanga. Furancungo is home to a population of 75,000 people spread over 7,430 km sq. The project area is defined by a geographical area that covers a 10,000 km sq, where there are currently 47 Christian communities with some of the communities being over 130 km from the designated central base at Furancungo.
While visiting and serving the 47 ecclesial communities across the district is obviously a core function of the Mission, formulating a Development Programme that tackles the root causes of poverty in the district; delivering training programmes to local leadership, and building infrastructure such as multi-purpose community centres, chapels, etc. are priorities, in order that all aspects of people’s lives are enriched.
More information on the work of the Redemptorists can be found at: www.africaredemptorists.com
Obviously, these objectives cannot be achieved without moral and financial support. And so, Phena has decided to support her son’s work in a tangible way by holding this year’s Miscellany Sunday as a fundraiser for the Mission.
So, please put it in your diary and come along to Bermingham’s, Mooretown, Kilcullen on Sunday December 2nd from 2pm to 6pm for an afternoon of eclectic entertainment in a most relaxed atmosphere, and support the continuing efforts of the Bermingham family to make a difference. More details from Phena, herself, at 045 485232.
