Masses Today

6.30: Kimberley, Anne & Francis Kenney, (Anniv)
9.00: Bertie & Eileen Giblin, (Anniv)
11.00 Gabriel Glynn, (Anniv)
12.15 Vincent Mitchell, (Anniv)
6.30 Michael O'Connor, (Anniv)

AS I WAS SAYING...

You probably didn't notice, but last Sunday was Church Unity Sunday. Or was it? Actually, it no longer merits mention in the official Liturgical Calendar of the Church. Have we called off the search? Have we settled down with our comforting certainties, leaving the search for Christian integrity to more adventuring spirits?

Archbishop Michael Ramsey forecast in the early 1970s that the Anglican and Catholic Churches would have achieved full union within ten years. He had the good fortune to be dead before his deadline transpired. His optimism proved to be naive. The movement soon lost its original impetus and enthusiasm. The conferences and seminars soon fizzled out. Letters to The Irish Times on the subject dried up, in both senses! The annual prayer gathering for Christian unity receded to tokenism. Now motley crews of bloodied but unbowed enthusiasts huddle in cold Churches on a weeknight in January, the only bit of colour provided by the gaudy gear of the fur-lined vicars and bishops. Tea and biscuits helps to wash it all down very gently!

Presumably, in the days following, the local bishop sits at his desk and reports the gathering to Rome, the sub-text being: "We have once more done our bit for Christian unity." Some bureaucrat in the Vatican will enter this in a log, and, when all the reports had come in, the universal picture will look rosy indeed. It matters little that real ecumenism is dead in the water for all practical purposes. To the mind of the bureaucrat and the book-keeper, ecumenism is still alive and kicking gloriously.

But this bleak picture is a generalisation. Ecumenism has fared better in other places. In Britain, Northern Europe and the United States, inter-church relations have gone beyond the stage of politeness to a meaningful exchange of services and, in the case of hospital chaplains for example, to one of mutual supply. Significantly, ecumenism seems to fare better where the Roman Catholic Church is the minority church. And a generosity given from a position of strength is far more impressive than a generosity extracted from a position of weakness.

Church Unity Week this year yielded one solitary letter to The Irish Times, written by a priest in his early 30s, one David O'Hanlon. It was as breath taking in its arrogance as it was withering in its mean-mindedness. He left very few parties 'un-insulted'! He judged Ecumenism to be a 'dead duck' because:

(a) The vast majority of Irish lay Catholics are profoundly ignorant of what the Church actually stands for. These favour ecumenism for socio-political rather than religions reasons.

(b) Ecumenism can only ultimately mean substantial conversion to Catholicism.

(c) Anglicanism is in ideological meltdown, incapable of sincere dialogue with a Church it seems to envy, and yet despise.

In his student days, apparently, O'Hanlon affected the pose of an exotic gadfly, remaining afloat only through the fevered flapping of an overactive right wing. He landed only to sting, specialising in soft targets. Today, targets don't come much softer than Ecumenism. Opportunist that he is, he saw his chance, and pounced. The fact that there was no reaction from the victims can mean one of two things: either they have thrown in the towel, or they recognise that gadflies are irritating rather than dangerous. With no great confidence, I pray that the latter is the case.

-Dick Lyng.

EVENTS THIS WEEK

  1. The Ecuador Mission Account: €978.00
  2. Steering Committee Account: €3,691.00
  3. Augustinian Parish Account: €5,072.00
  4. Forthill Cemetery Account: €5,577.00
  5. Parish Priest's Private account: Undisclosed!
  6. Church Building Account: €64,736.02
CHURCH BUILDING ACCOUNT
The Church Finance Committee collected: £108,897.51.

Clancy & Partners (Limerick) contracted to complete the external phase of the work for £22,162.50. In the course of their work, it was found that storm glazing was required for the windows on the west wall, and lead flashing barges had to be replaced. The extra costs incurred (+VAT) accounts for the final costs overrunning the original contract by £6,751.25. VAT (at 12.5%) on the overall costs amounted to £3,614.21.

Cost of work completed on Church to date:
Front Wall: £12,150.00
Side Wall: £7,550.00
Storm-glazing £2,900.00
Special Lead Flashing Barges £2,000.00
Total: £24,600.00
VAT @ 12.5% £3075.00
£27,675.00
Retention Fee: £1,230.00
VAT @ 12.5% on same: £153.75
(£1,238.75)
Grand Total: £28,913.75
FORTHILL
Expenditure on restoration of Forthill: £29,000.00
Expenditure to date (Forthill+Church): £57,913.75
Balance in Books £50,983.76
Balance in Bank: £50,983.76
(€64,736.02)
A note from your webmaster: I just type these figures in - I don't vouch for their accuracy!

LITTLE REMINDERS

BIRTHDAY GREETINGS

Mary Kearney (nee Forde), left St. Brendan's Avenue, Woodquay 75 years ago, in 1927. She is celebrating her 96th birthday today in San Francisco. (Her parents are buried in Forthill.) I know that she is an avid fan of this Newsletter, which she reads electronically every week. Mary, your nephews and nieces in Galway and Athlone send their fond greetings and wish you many more years of good health and contentment.

UNCLE MALCOLM

Uncle Malcolm
put the shot
for Scotland.

When he retired
he collected shots
as a hobby.

At the time
of his death
he had nearly 200.

In accordance
with his last wishes
they were buried with him
at St. Giles Cemetery in Perth.
Uncle Mal is now at rest
somewhere near the centre of the earth.

-Roger McGough

QUOTABLE QUOTES

THE END JUSTIFIES THE MEANS....!

A Columbian priest has appeared in court to face criminal charges arising from his conviction that the end of the world was nigh. Fr. Luis Vallego told his parishioners that the world would end sometime in July. A few days before the allotted tryst with fate, he led 200 of them to farm outside Florencia and told them to wait there for the Second Coming. Because property was an obstacle to salvation, he informed them, they should sell it, or place it under the protection of the Church. Only after the farmer asked the police to clear believers off his land did they learn the priest had taken the money and run. He now stands accused of theft, fraud, kidnapping, organising a mass trespass, and obtaining funds under false pretences. For good measure, the police added a supplementary charge: of failing to provide sanitary facilities while awaiting the Big Bang!

-The Tablet, January 26, 2002.



Home