AS I WAS SAYING...
During the week John Paul II celebrated World Youth Day with an estimated 800,000 young people in Toronto, Canada. The most striking aspect of the event was the frightening frailty of the 82 year old Pope. His once strong frame has contracted radically; disease has frozen his face into a rigid stare. His voice, once noted for its strength and accented clarity, is at times slurred and incoherent.
As I have stated here before, I believe the Pope should be allowed retire. He has given the office over twenty years of unstinting service. He has brought the papacy to the people in a way that no predecessor of his could have imagined. Under his stewardship, the Papacy became primarily a 'Teaching Office', a welcome return to its original function. Given his present frailty, there is very little more he can do. A younger man would be expected to bring fresh thinking and new vision.
The Swiss theologian, Hans Kung, in a book published in recent weeks, has taken a very dim view of John Paul II's pontificate. It would be strange indeed if Kung's views of the Pope were not coloured by the fact that Kung lost his licence to teach Catholic theology early in John Paul's reign. Kung is still smarting from that perceived injustice, and he makes no attempt to conceal his deep anger at what he sees as Rome's arrogance.
Yet, when Kung allows personalities and his own personal agenda to recede into the background, when he concentrates on issues rather than personalities, he does make a lot of sense. Kung argues that the reign of John Paul II has represented a betrayal of Vatican II. Roman legalism, clericalism and triumphalism, so vigorously criticised by that council, have all returned with a vengeance, but cosmetically rejuvenated in modern dress! "This pontificate is one of restoration, not of renewal," according to Kung. "The 'restorationists' view the medieval Rome-centred Church as the ideal, the 'renewal school' takes its bearing from the early Church outlined in the scriptures. The former operates a hierarchical model, the latter a collegial model. From day one, John Paul II set his face firmly against the latter. In that decision the Council was betrayed."
Many of Kung's criticisms ring true. But, unfortunately, Kung is at his best when in critical mode. He is at his most perceptive when identifying weaknesses. But when it comes to outlining an alternative vision, Kung becomes vague indeed. A couple of sentences will give a flavour of that vagueness:
The Catholic Church should support: (a) a social order: a society in which human beings have equal rights, live in solidarity with one another, and in which the ever-widening gulf between rich and poor is bridged. (b) a plural world order: a reconciled diversity of cultures, traditions and peoples in Europe, in which there is no place for anti-Semitism and xenophobia. (c) a society which is friendly to nature: a fellowship of human beings with all creatures, in which their rights and integrity are also observed.Sounds like an interview with a Rose of Tralee contestant! Long live John Paul and his infuriating certainties!
-Dick Lyng.
THE WEEK AHEAD
- DRAMATIC PHOTOGRAPHS: I hope you like the photographs on display this morning. They do manage to capture and convey the excitement, the madness, and the great fun that was the The Gobán Saor! The stage sets came out particularly well, the reversed and inscribed election posters conveying the effect of a massive monastic scriptorium. If you wish to have photographs, please let me know and I will see what I can do.
- QUESTIONS: A few questions need to be asked regarding our drama productions: Is Arts Week the best week to stage a play in the Church? A few obvious reasons suggest that it is. (a) There are more people in the city at that time. (b) Schools are on holidays (and children have been central to all our productions to date). (c) It sits best into the 'arts atmosphere' and the church is seen to participate in a significant communal event. But there are disadvantages too: (a) Those fully involved in our production miss out on Arts Week. (b) There are too many alternative attractions on that week. (c) Too many of our people are away on holidays.
- REVIEW MEETING: It had been our intention to hold a Review Meeting in the immediate aftermath of the play itself. At that meeting, questions such as those above would be addressed. But Race Week is not the best week to hold such a meeting. I guess it would be a rather lonely experience! So we will hold one this week if at all possible. Perhaps Monday night at 8.00? We can decide after Mass today. Ideally, those connected with the production in any way would be present: cast, musicians, stage helpers, set painters, special effecters, sound, lighting, and so on. Again, it won't be very easy to get a quorum at this time. But we will see.
SEAN WYNNE, R.I.P.
The Augustinian lost a great friend during the week. The picture of Seán Wynne printed in the newsletter was taken eight years ago, just before he began treatment for cancer. The ravages of the disease -and its treatment- altered his appearance substantially. The Seán of recent years was more gaunt and more follicley challenged!
Seán died last Sunday, aged 56, and was buried in Dublin. He was a regular face at the 11.00 Mass, even after moving to Dublin some three years ago. His contact with the Augustinians go back to his school days in Good Counsel College, New Ross in the 1950s. God only knows why his loyalty to Ross of the 1950s persisted, because it was then a notoriously Spartan, regimental, and often cruel establishment. However, loyalty was his strong suite, and -almost inexplicably- he felt deeply indebted to the Augustinians for the rest of his life. On his frequent visits to the city in recent years, he always made a point of dropping in for a chat.
The reasons Seán arrived in New Ross are not hard to find. His father was a very successful building contractor in Galway in the 1950s and 1960. Seán's mother died when the family was very young. They lived a sort of nomadic life, moving to wherever the work was to be found, often living in a caravan on the building site in progress. As luck would have it, the boarding school atmosphere suited Seán's gregarious and optimistic personality. He was also academically very gifted. That always helped in boarding schools!
After New Ross he went to UCG where he qualified as an Engineer and followed his father into the construction business. Sean life too was to follow the nomadic pattern closely. His work took him to Zimbabwe, to South Africa, to East and West Africa, to Saudi Arabia, to Germany, among other places. He met Pat in Zimbabwe in the early 1970s. They were married 30 years ago last week. Pat's first husband had died in an air crash and through Pat, Sean inherited a ready-made family, the two girls Michelle and Suzie. Pat and Sean would later have two sons together, Brian and Paul.
Seán would argue with his toe nails. He was one of the last men I knew to carry a missal to Mass. He had no time whatsoever for the corner-cutting that was not unknown in his trade. He was as straight as a die and expected everyone else to be equally honest. The fact that reality did not always measure up to his expectations was a source of great frustration to him. All houses should be built on rock in Sean's book. He was an extremely gifted man and he rose to the top in his profession. At the time of his death he was Senior Engineer on the Liffey Tunnel Project. But he also had an extremely generous and charitable heart. He had enormous admiration for Ned Crosby and personally sponsored many of Ned's pet engineering projects in a shanty town outside Lima in Peru. I happened to visit that shanty town to witness first hand Sean's generosity coming to fruition in the form of a water supply to that town.
"His good deeds shall not be forgotten."
FEMME FATALE
In the Sunday Newsletter of August 5, 2001, I wrote the following 'hard luck' story:
A final 'hard luck' story from Race Week. From the point of view of a card-carrying celibate, Ladies' Day at the races can be a nightmare. If you attend unaccompanied on that day, you are something of an anomaly, distinct shades of the ass at the Horse Show. So to militate against such unpleasant sensations, I prevailed upon an elegant young friend of long standing to accompany me. Her interest in horses was every bit as intense as my interest in female fashion. But she arrived to collect me draped in gravity-defying apparel. The only problem was that her car could accurately be called a 'Banger' and I was not at all confident that it was equal to the challenge of the slope from the Tuam Road to the racecourse. I politely suggested that we take my car, so she took the wheel. As we were climbing that notorious slope, the car began to belch black smoke, and gave off a smell akin to an unhygienic knacker's yard. It promptly died on the spot. Have you ever endured the humiliation of pushing a clapped-out car containing an elegantly dressed lady into a ditch on the Ballybrit slope? Don't do it! It's not a nice sensation!Well, on Ladies' Day, August 1st, 2002, four elegantly dressed ladies collected me at my monastic cell to transport me to Ballybrit. After the experience last year, I did not dare offer the services of my own car. Well, as the car climbed up the Ballybrit slope, a pungent, acrid smell enveloped all...smoke belched.....yes, you've guessed. Afire again! And I discovered that there is something worse than 'pushing a clapped out car containing an elegantly dressed lady into a ditch on the Ballybrit slope', and that is, pushing a clapped out car containing FOUR elegantly dressed ladies into a ditch on the Ballybrit slope!
Will we ever learn? I just hope not!
MEMORABLE QUOTES
- "Moral indignation is in most cases 2 percent moral, 48 percent indignation, and 50 percent envy." -V. De Sica.
- "By yesterday morning, British troops were patrolling the streets of Belfast. I fear that once Catholics and Protestants get used to our presence, they will hate us more than they hate each other."-Richard Crossman (British Labour politician in August, 1969)
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