AS I WAS SAYING......
"I am not at all religious myself, but....." This apologetic refrain peppers every discussion that touches on religion today. "I am not religious myself Father, but...." Why is it that people find it necessary to apologise for, or even deny, any residual religious sentiments? Even those whom we know to be deeply religious feel compelled to jump through this apologetic hoop. I am not talking now about the fellow in the pub whose religious interests rise in inverse proportion to his sinking pints. I am talking about the individual who finds it necessary to shed his religious identity before he expresses his deeply-held convictions. His fears are obvious: if his convictions are yoked to his religion, they will be drained of all credibility. And I am talking about ‘normal’ people, regular Mass-goers. This practice will become very obvious in the months ahead, when this Abortion Referendum gathers momentum. Just watch out for it, and draw your own conclusions.
So what is so inherently embarrassing in the religion of the ‘regular guy’? What forces him to apologise almost reflexively? Or is the problem a social one? Has religion become so socially unacceptable that the practitioner finds it necessary to preface all his remarks with a sort of ‘government health warning!?
It’s a complex matter because the issues involved are rooted in our history. We live now in a very diffident Church, a Church that has had humility foisted upon it. But we still labour under the arrogance of our predecessors. It is so embarrassing now to read the Bishops’ Lenten Pastorals of the 1950s, for example. (As one who dabbles in History, I am fully aware that it is a great mistake to judge the practice of the past by the standards of the present. But most do, and that’s what matters.) Joe Lee, Professor of Economic History in UCC, is a perceptive and fair-minded commentator. He has summed up well the burden of our history:
"The rhetoric of morality concentrated heavily on the soft, sexual option. A morbid preoccupation with occasions of sin dominated pastoral pronouncements. This amounted in practice of issuing a blank moral cheque to other types of behaviour that wouldn’t be found out. The obsession with sex permitted a blind eye to be turned towards the social scars that disfigured the face of Ireland. The number of agricultural labourers fell from 300,000 in 1911 to 150,000 in 1936. There was no room at the Irish inn for those who showed their deplorable lack of breeding by being born into a labourer’s cottage. The clergy, strong farmers in cassocks, largely voiced the concern of their most influential constituents, whose values they instinctively shared and universalised as ‘Christian.’"
That history is now experienced as a burden. But, in our eagerness to shed the arrogance of the past, we risk of losing our confidence in the validity of the Gospel for today. "I am not very religious myself, Father, but..." Spare me!
-D.L.
SOME RECOMMENDATIONS An Interior Designer and Colour Consultant was recently invited to inspect the Augustinian church in Galway. She was asked to forward her observations and recommendations. Her very comprehensive report contains the following: More appropriate places could be found for many of the sacred figures. Seating: whether to retain existing seats, sand and revarnish, or whether to look at a more flexible seating arrangement, one that would allow a variety of liturgical celebration to take place. (Similar to the one introduced recently into the Augustinian church in Limerick.)
- The flooring is in poor condition.
- Lighting everywhere needs to be looked at.
- The present Sacred Heart space has possibilities as a Chapel of Adoration.
- A more welcoming reconciliation area should be investigated, rather than the present Confession Boxes.
- There are two main areas in the Church where there is a very definite conflict of functions and energies:
- Our Lady's shrine versus the constant flow of traffic accessing the Priory Office. The image of the Virgin Mary expresses her singular place in Liturgy and, as such, requires a special location that allows for personal devotion. To have people cutting across this sacred space to and from the office, with voices being overheard, goes against the idea of people trying to pray in silence.
- St. Jude: From what I have observed, St. Jude is a much loved and important figure in the lives of the congregation in St. Augustines. This space needs to be one of welcome. It needs to be a space that does not compete with people talking and reading magazines, and so on. I would also consider the Book of Petitions placed on the table at the entrance to be far too public and vulnerable for people who may already be in distress. Perhaps a more appropriate solution would be to provide envelopes that could accommodate both petitions and donations.
- Entrance porch needs to be looked at. First and foremost, it should be a place of welcome and invitation.
QUOTABLE QUOTES
"Is it progress if a cannibal uses a knife and a fork?" -Stanislaw Lec.
"It is a sad woman who buys her own perfume." -Lena Jeger.
"If you resolve to give up smoking, drinking and loving, you don’t actually live longer. It just seems longer." -Clement Freud.
"A woman who is very anxious to have children always reads ‘storks’ instead of ‘stocks’." -Sigmund Freud.
"There is one difference between a tax collector and a taxidermist: the taxidermist leaves the hide." -Mortimer Caplan.
"...God, from whose territory I had withdrawn my ambassadors at the age of fifteen. It had become obvious that he was never going to do a thing I said." -Quintin Crisp.