WELCOME
Welcome to the Cashel, Ferns, Ossory Mothers' Union website. The website will carry news, articles and photographs of Mothers' Union events throughout the United Diocese and also All-Ireland news.
The website will be regularly updated and if any Branch wishes to have an event, article or photograph published on the website please forward it to our Diocesan Secretary, Cecily Jones. Email: cfomothersunion@gmail.com
Please ensure that you have permission from any person who is going to be named in a photograph before sending it in to appear on the website.
All photographs and articles will remain copyright of the website and may not be copied. (See the Data Protection statement at the bottom of the Home Page)
Also please join our facebook page for all the latest news and daily reflections.
CONTACT DETAILS
Cashel, Ferns, Ossory
For further information please contact:
Diocesan Secretary: Kathleen Rothwell
News Updates
The Rolling Spinner below can be used to advertise events and meetings in your Area or Branch.
Holding your mouse over the spinner will stop it
If you would like to advertise an event on the Spinner please contact The Diocesan Secretary, Cecily Jones.
(Contact details are available on the home page)
Click on Symbol to Access Our BLOG 
Latest News
Theme for 2025 - 2027
Join us and Join in!
Songs of Praise
St. Colman's Church, Templeshanbo
Y21 XR76
25th May @ 3.00p.m.
Everyone Wecome
Refreshments will be served in the hall after the service
The collection will be divided between Parish Funds
&
Cahel, Ferns, Ossory Mothers' Union Projects
Congratulations to Linda Ward who has just been announced as the new Diocesan President for cashel Ferns and Ossory.
Linda is a member of Castlecomer Branch and we wish her every blessing as she takes on this new role in Mothers' Union.
Theme for 2025 ~ Join us and Join in!
A Brief article about the New Diocesan President
Linda Ward
From: Linda Ward, Diocesan President
I hope everyone is enjoying the summer weather with time to enjoy the longer days. Many MU branches will be having outings or day trips which is a great opportunity to invite friends, share the work of Mothers Union and encourage each other.
Congratulations to Cashel MU branch who have received their Bronze Rise Up award joining Kilkenny branch who received their award last month.
I know many other branches within the diocese are doing everything needed to achieve their award too. To get the award for your branch, contact me if you have done the following –
• Put a Rise up poster raising awareness about domestic abuse in a public place such as• churches, toilets, community halls etc.• Commit to pray for those affected by domestic abuse• Make a connection with your local domestic abuse support centre.
On Monday June 23rd we mark International Widow’s day. This prayer remembers them. “Loving God, we come before you on International Widows Day, to lift up widows in our hearts and minds. We pray for those who are grieving the loss of their loved ones, and for those who are struggling with the many challenges that widowhood brings.
Grant them your strength and peace, that they may find comfort in your unwavering love. Give them wisdom to navigate the complexities of their new lives, and help them to find joy in the many ways you continue to provide for them. Lord, we also pray for those who are facing discrimination and injustice. We ask for your justice and righteousness to be made known, that all widows may be treated with dignity and respect.
May your Holy Spirit fill the lives of widows with hope and resilience. May they find your presence in their lives, and may your light shine brightly upon them, even in the darkest of times. We pray that through your love, widows may find healing and restoration, and that they may experience your peace that passes all understanding.
We ask all this in Jesus name. Amen.”
Love,
Linda
For a list of all of the new Officers to serve in Cashel, Ferns, Ossory Mothers' Union, please click HERE
Our grateful thanks to all of the outgoing Officers for all of the time, energy and commitment they put into their roles in Mothers' Union in the Diocese.
Click on the image above to download
the June Newsletter
Click on the image above to bring you to
the All-Ireland website to read all about
The Triennial All-Ireland Mothers'
Union Conference 2023
Click on the image above to view a video of the work
of Mothers' Union in Ireland created for
The Annual Gathering in Belfast 2022
Mothers' Union Video
Click on the Mothers' Union emblem below to see the video highlighting the work of Mothers' Union which was filmed at the Triennial Conference in Termonfeckin in March 2017
The video features members of Mothers' Union from around Ireland telling all about the organisation and the many different projects supported by Mothers' Union both here at home and in Third World Countries.
One of the clips features our very own Joan Blake who can be seen knitting a matinee jacket and talking about the Mothers' Union Knitting Project
Below also is a link to the main Mothers' Union
Facebook Page
The All-Ireland Facebook Pages
Click on the image above to download the
Booking form for 2025
Click on the image below to bring you to the
All-Ireland You Tube Channel
SPIN AUTUMN 2024
The latest edition of Spin is now available
to download.
Click on the image below
Christmas Cards
Occasional Cards & Gifts
Available from
* MU Enterprise *
Sadly Naomi has had to step down from her role as
MU Enterprise Representative
We are very grateful to Elizabeth Johnston who has agreed to take over the role
Click on the image to download a Quiz in aid of CFO Mothers' Union
Wednesday Morning Services
St. Mary's Church, Bunclody
@ 10.15a.m.
We are very grateful to Revd. Canon Trevor Sargent, who is the Unit Coordinator for Faith & Policy for giving Mothers' Union access to this service which you are very welcome to attend in person or join in via ZOOM
Please see the zoom link below:
The meeting ID is 841 3200 6958. Passcode: 700678. This is a recurring link.
The Mothers' Union Harvest Service Portlaoise took place in Saint Peter's Church, Grattan Street, Portlaoise, Co. Laois on Sunday 5th November.
Click on the image above to view a video of the service
Click on the image above to view a video of the service
Click on the image to read all about the 2024
Getaway Weekend
All Ireland Holy Communion Services
2025
Mothers’ Union Holy Communion Service
JUNE 2025
Thursday 5th JuneinDerry & Raphoe DioceseSt. Eunan's CathedralRaphoe, Co. Donegal F93 YK40@ 7.30p.m.
Cashel, Ferns & Ossory Festival Service 2025
A special occasion for Mothers’ Union in the Diocese took place on Thursday 1st May when Linda Ward, from Castlecomer Branch of Mothers’ Union, was commissioned as Diocesan President for Cashel, Ferns and Ossory at the Annual Festival Service. A large congregation of Mothers’ Union members, friends and family gathered in St. Canice’s Cathedral in Kilkenny for this wonderful and uplifting service.
Linda was commissioned by the Bishop, the Right Revd. Adrian Wilkinson who also commissioned the newly elected members of the Trustee Board:
- Diocesan Secretary ~ Kathleen Rothwell
- Diocesan Treasurer ~ Joan Jackson
- VP Fundraising & Communication ~ Phyllis Grothier
- VP Action & Outreach + PRO ~ Margaret Jacob
- Unit Coordinator Action & Outreach ~ Claudia Kidd
- Young Families Representative ~ Jackie Neale
- Worldwide Representative ~ Lilia Harper
- Safeguarding Officer ~ Brigid Barrett
- MU Enterprise Representative ~ Elizabeth Johnston
It was lovely to welcome representatives of the Boy’s Brigade and Girls Friendly Society to the service and it was a privilege also to have the All Ireland President of Mothers’ Union, Kay Clarke, present at the service. Five former Diocesan Presidents were also able to attend ~ Irene Murray, Hazel Sherlock, Phyllis Grothier, Revd. Margaret Sykes and Lesley Bayley who as the immediate past President handed over the badge of office to Linda.
The Trustee Board of CFO Mothers’ Union is very grateful to everyone who contributed in making this service such a special occasion ~ Revd. Ger James, the Diocesan Chaplain, for putting the service together, the Dean of the Cathedral, the Very Revd. Stephen Farrell for arranging use of the Cathedral and the Cathedral organist, Dr Harry Meehan, for the wonderful music.
A special word of thanks for the Kilkenny Branch of Mothers’ Union who coordinated the refreshments for after the service which gave everyone a chance to chat and renew friendships.
Click on the image above to view a
recording of the Festival Service
(Apologies recording only begins half way
through the first hymn)
courtesy of the DCO, Shane Reynolds
Getting to know our Founder In Ireland
Annabella Hayes
1847 – 1921
Mothers’ Union was founded in Raheny, Dublin in 1887 by Mrs Annabella Hayes. As we celebrate the 100th Anniversary of her death, let’s learn a little more about our founder.
Canon and Mrs Hayes liked to travel and visited Norway, Switzerland and Canada. After their daughter Marie's untimely death in Delhi in 1908 aged 33, they travelled to Delhi to visit the hospital where Marie had worked for the previous three years and to meet people she had worked with. Later Annabella edited and published letters which Marie had written to home. Marie's final letter, sadly, arrived some weeks after the fateful telegram giving news of her death had been received in Raheny. The Hayes memorial cross in Raheny village was erected some years later.
Annabella was born in Dublin in 1847, the daughter of Thomas Edkins Willson of Upper Mount Street. In December 1866 she married the Reverend Francis Carlile Hayes who was then curate in Sandford Parish Church. She was nineteen years old and he was twenty-eight.
In 1867 he was appointed curate of St. Andrew's Church, Suffolk Street, and their first child, Ernest William Carlile Hayes, was born in February 1868. In 1873, Sir Arthur Edward Guinness (later Lord Ardilaun) appointed him Rector of Raheny Parish and he and Annabella moved to the Glebe House where they were to remain for the next forty-five years.
Their second child, Marie Elizabeth (always known as May) was born in May1874, and in April 1878 her sister Ethel Clara Ridley was born. A boy, Maurice, was born in 1886 but sadly died in infancy. Ernest went to school at St.Columba's and an English governess, Connie Gibbs of Willesden, was appointed to look after the education of the two girls.
In 1887 Annabella Hayes set up the first branch of the Mothers' Union in Raheny, inspired by what Mary Sumner had done in England eleven years before. Little did either of them know that in the twenty-first century world-wide membership of M.U would have grown to over four million.
Francis and Annabella were still in the Raheny Rectory when they celebrated their Golden Wedding in 1916. Canon Hayes retired in 1918 and he and Annabella moved to 12 Northbrook Road which was apparently owned by Francis since his days at St. Andrew's. Annabella survived a bad bout of 'flu shortly after they moved, but was taken ill again about a year later. She was diagnosed with liver cancer and died at home on the 7th February 1921.
Annabella was buried in St. Fintan's Cemetery in Sutton and her headstone (and that of Francis) stands at the highest point of the Cemetery. It is, however, not made of stone but of wood - teak, and despite its having stood there for 100 years there is absolutely no sign of decay in the timber. Mothers’ Union in Ireland had planned to do some restorative work to her gravesite during 2021 but has been put on hold because of Covid 19 restrictions.
Annabella was 74 when she died on 7th February 1921 and Francis was 94 when he died on 12th December 1931.
Click on the photograph of Annabella to bring you to a dedicated page
on the All-Ireland Website covering the centenary celebrations.
PRAYER FOR MULOA
We pray that our God will make us fit for what he’s called us to be,
that he’ll fill our good ideas and acts of faith with his own energy
so that it all amounts to something.
As our lives honour the name of Jesus,
may he honour us, by his grace; our God giving himself freely,
the Master, Jesus Christ, giving himself freely. Amen
Based on 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12 (The Message)
MULOA is a new initiative from Mothers' Union
which aims to look at Mothers' Union going forward.
You will be hearing a lot about it at Branch Level in the coming months.
Click on the MULOA symbol to see a short video about this initiative.
Mothers' Union Theme 2025-27
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Charity Number:
Republic of Ireland:
Mothers’ Union in Ireland is recognised as a Charity by the Revenue Commissioners, 5161.
Mothers’ Union in Ireland is recognised as a Charity by the Revenue Commissioners, 5161.
Registered Charity Number - 20007331 (Charities Regulatory Authority).
Data Privacy Statement
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Cashel, Ferns, Ossory Mothers' Union
