EVENTS THIS WEEK
- CHRISTMAS MEETING: Thanks to all who attended the 'Working Meetings' in the Priory on both Monday and Thursday night last. The Church was prepared for Advent on Monday night and the presents for the Giving Tree (see below) were organised on Thursday night. That was a tedious operation, but it was accomplished in a relatively short time. Thanks again to all involved.
- SUNDAY, 15TH: MASS OF GIVING: From today, Sunday December 1st, you will find labels hanging on the Giving Tree just outside the Sanctuary. Each label specifies a particular gift. We have done our research with four particular charitable organisations: (a) The Women's' Refuge in Westside; (b) the Refugee's Friendship Club, based in Victoria Place; (c) No. 4 Augustine Street, a befriending service for the marginalised, and (d) assorted individuals and families in need. We have been around to all four groups and, in discussion with them, we have drawn up a list of 'useful presents'. Among these are items as mundane as Vouchers for Roches' Stores, for Dunnes. If you wish to participate in this project, simply take a label home with you, purchase the item specified there, wrap it up, attach the label to it and bring the gift along to the Mass of Giving on December 15th. You may also just leave it into the Priory at your own convenience. Thank you very much.
- JESSE TREE: We will begin this exercise today, and continue on for the four Sundays of Advent. It should work very well. (If more adults would volunteer their names as Supervisors for the coming Sundays, it would be much appreciated).
AS I WAS SAYING...
RTE applied to for a Licence Fees hike this week. Perhaps a modified increase will be granted. While it does raise revenue from advertising, it goes nowhere near meeting costs. Since it is a Public Broadcasting Service rather than a commercial venture, it must go back to the public to pay the wages!
The next question is rather obvious: What's in it for the public? Not a lot, most will say, and say rather loudly! RTE has been a popular 'whipping-boy' with the said public for many, many years. The staff are viewed as seriously under-productive and grossly overpaid. Admittedly, a few of the very public faces and voices take home a bag-full every week. But, where the general staff is concerned, it is a different story. They are paid no higher than other civil servants. And, given the comparatively paltry annual budget involved (a small fraction of the amount available to rival stations), I would argue that, generally speaking, RTE does a very good job indeed.
We saw two very different examples of Public Service Broadcasting at its best this week: True Lives on Tuesday night, and Prime Time on Thursday. The former looked to the past with a quirkish and amusing pride, while the latter looked to the future through a glass darkly! The former programme was a tribute to 'Ireland's Own' on its 100th birthday. Its tone was uncritical and nostalgic, as befitted the occasion. (The editor made a charming confession that he had no interest whatsoever in contemporary happenings!) Nevertheless RTE did a fine job, and 'Ireland's Own' deserved its 40 minutes in the sun! The public was well served indeed.
A very different Ireland was brought into focus (if that's the right word) by Thursday's Prime Time, "Saturday Night, Sunday Morning". It examined the drinking habits of young Irish people in three major cities (Dublin, Cork, Galway) and some towns on one particular Saturday night in November, 2002. The scene was viewed through the eyes of some very seasoned observers: The Gardai, Ambulance Personnel, Accident and Emergency staff at the various hospitals, and, finally, through the brushes and shovels of the Corporation men. To these fell the task of sweeping the vomit from the streets.
We knew binge drinking was a problem. But Prime Time did us a service by confronting us with the sheer extent of this problem. Pleasant viewing it was not! By midnight one Dublin hospital had 15 admissions. All 15 were alcohol related, and all 15 were young women! Meanwhile, those males who remained standing slugged it out with one another, or, even worse, lashed out violently at innocent strangers! Ireland has moved from 12th to 2nd place in the world ranking for alcohol consumption.
I lived in Rome for six years. I return there on a regular basis. I never once saw an Italian -young or old- out of control on the streets because of alcohol. The problem seems to be uniquely Irish, and it is not new! But what is new is the tender age of the consumer and the amount consumed. And this problem could get real big. As Brenda O'Brien wrote in the Irish Times on Saturday,
"The real solution may emerge when we begin to look at the hole in the soul which we vainly attempt to fill with alcohol."This is bigger than our children!
-Dick Lyng.
Handel's Messiah
Handel's Messiah will be performed in the Augustinian Church on Saturday December 7th at 8.00pm by the Galway Choral Association and the Kerry Chamber Orchestra. Tickets at €15 (€10 concessions) available in Mulligan's. You would be well advised to secure your tickets early for this one. For further information, contact Maureen Rabbitt at 087-2308860.
Congratulations.....!
Congratulations to Ciara Ó h-Icí and Colm Holmes who were married here in the Augustinian on Saturday. Ciara's parents, Peadar and Mary, are Readers and Eucharistic Ministers in our Church. We wish Ciara and Colm long life and great happiness together.
50 Years of Music
The Galway Patrician Musical Society will present a Christmas Concert called '50 Years of Music' in the Taibhdhearc Theatre on December 4th, 5th and 6th, nightly. The Musical Director is Pat Lillis. Tickets (€15) available at the Theatre Box Office.
Any jobs out there?
A young, sparkling, bright Italian lady is looking for a job. She has one already but is bored to tears with it. She speaks German, French, English and -of course- Italian fluently. She would like a position that would bring her into daily contact with people. She works today in splendid isolation (see poem below!). So, if your know of any position going, please inform the Augustinian Office.
SOLARIUM
i own a solarium
and when it's cold
i simmer in artificial; gold.
i keep away
from mornings grey
my private sun
smiles down all day.
i pity those
whose flesh is white
as bronzed i sleep
alone at night.
-Roger McGough.
Table Quiz for Noel Hession
So Tuesday night next is the night for the Parish Outing and for the Table Quiz in the Ardilaun House Hotel at 8.00pm. The money raised will go towards financing a Parish Centre in Noel Hession's parish in Chone, Ecuador. Thanks to Michael O'Hare and Peter Cunnane for drawing all the various elements of this event together. If you could organise a table among your friends, it would be great. Raffles and Spot Prizes galore! Table of 4: €25.
Christmas Concert
The "Galway Gospel Choir" will present an evening of Gospel Songs and Christmas Carols in the Augustinian Church on Friday, December 13th at 8.00pm. No tickets necessary. But a contribution will be welcome at the door on the night.
"Quote, Unquote........ "
- "Politicians are the same everywhere. They promise to build bridges even where there are no rivers." -Nikita Khrushchev.
- "In Germany, the Nazis came for the Communists and I didn't speak up because I was not a Communist. Then they came for the Jews and I didn't speak up because I was not a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists and I didn't speak up because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics and I was a Protestant, so I didn't speak up. Then they came for me....By that time there was no one to speak up for anyone. " -Martin Niemoller, German Pastor.
- "I chose my wife, as she did her wedding gown, not for a fine glossy surface, but for such qualities as would wear very well." -Oliver Goldsmith.
- "You only have power over people so long as you don't take everything away from them. But when you've robbed a man of everything,, he's no longer in your power - he's free again." -Alexander Solzhenitsyn.
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