AS I WAS SAYING...
Vandalism was emerging as a 'hot' election issue until Jim McDaid's infamous 'suicide note'. But it had already emerged in the Augustinian as live issue. As we informed you on Sunday last, the church had been vandalised on the two previous Sundays. (I'm sure Oscar Wilde would have had something to say about that!).
We called a meeting after Mass last Sunday in connection with the issue. A very good crowd attended. Four options were explored.
- Close the church on Sunday afternoons;
- Simply empty the collection boxes and shrines, leave them open and obviously empty. In that way the monetary attraction would be eliminated.
- Employ a Security firm for the afternoon. This is already a practice in churches in other large cities;
- Provide our own voluntary security rota.
The simplest solution was to close the church after the 12.15 Mass and to open it again in time for the 6.30 Mass. This proposal met with rather stern resistance. Some regarded it as defeatist, conceding victory to the vandals. Besides, almost all the city centre churches are already closed on Sunday afternoons. Some made the point that a lot of people tend to wander the streets on Sunday afternoons, and many do make a habit of dropping into the Augustinian. It would be a great pity if these 'wandering souls' were deprived of this facility.
A number of people drew up a rota and volunteered to take turns in 'keep watch' for the afternoon in the church. The observation period would be from 1.00pm until 5.00pm, in shifts of one hour. They would maintain a discrete presence in the choir loft and observe the 'comings and goings' of the afternoon. After this 'session of intense information gathering', we would be in a better position to come to a decision regarding afternoon Sunday closure.
Their findings were both interesting and surprising. In the course of the afternoon, 93 people visited the church for prayer. Only two 'dodgy' characters presented themselves. One of these tried to light a cigarette but was forcibly prevented from doing so by a pious lady! The church was busy right up to 4.30. Apart from this 30 minute 'gap', the patrons seemed to be a self-regulating group -those who failed to toe the line were quickly brought to heel, so to speak (as the man with the cigarette discovered).
Yet, if a couple of hardened vandals decided to 'do' the shrines and boxes on Sunday afternoon last, they would have met token resistance only, in all probability. So the security problem still remains. But one thing has emerged: with so many people visiting, the closure for the afternoon is hardly a realistic option.
So we are back to the other three avenues:
- empty the shrines. (The main objection to this was that they would vandalise the shrines in their frustration;)
- Provide paid security. (The main objection here of course was the costs involved; the costs will be investigated and communicated);
- Provide our own voluntary security. (Given the nature of the job, all sorts of problems here: insurance, injured volunteers, dead vandals - who pays? These sort of minor difficulties!!)
However, now that we've raised the hare we'll chase it. We will meet again today after the 11.00 Mass. Thanks to those who 'kept watch' so diligently last Sunday. You had great patience.
-Dick Lyng.
MATTERS OF INTEREST
- RECENT COLLECTIONS: We decided to wind down the Trócaire and the Easter Dues collections during the week. Trócaire amounted to €1,001.23 while the Easter Dues arrived at the handsome sum of €4,395.00. The former was sent to the bishop, the latter I consigned to my own trouser pocket.
- CHURCH RENOVATION: We are now in the process of inviting relevant experts to our Tuesday evening meetings and inviting them to offer suggestions and ideas on the planned renovations. We invited a Plumbing and Heating engineer on Tuesday evening last. We listened to his suggestions on how our heating system (both in the church and house) could be improved. He also had some very interesting observations to make on the manner in which the radiators are located in the church. The may circulate heat effectively, but they prevent the circulation of people more effectively still. This, he said, is not necessary. We are meeting with a couple of Stonemasons on Tuesday evening next at 5.30. There is a rumour abroad that the church pillars were originally (and are still) marble. For some reason or other, they were plastered over at some time. Those men should be in a position to confirm or deny that rumour.
- ALZHEIMER SOCIETY: The congregation at the 11.00 Mass on Thursday last participated in the Alzheimer National Tea Day in the Priory. They raised €253.86 in the process. Thanks very much to all who helped with the organisation and of course to those who gave and drank generously!
CIRCLING THE WAGONS
"I do not think Jesus came to create a religious tribe. I think Jesus is a universal message of powerlessness and true power that all religions and all people need. I do not think Jesus came so we priests could dress up and Rome could feel good about itself. I think Jesus came so that all people could 'dress down' and universal communitas could be possible. I do not think Jesus came so that people could be pious and separatist, but so that all human beings could start trusting the nakedness and the vulnerability that he had to trust unto the very end. How else will communion ever happen? When has quick self-assurance, ready-made answers, and dogmatic truth -dogmatically presented- ever united anything? It only circles the wagons of those already in the circle. This is not evangelisation in the way Jesus and Paul practiced it."
-Fr. Richard Rohr.
Memorable Quotes
- "Do you know what's surprising, the amount of people that ask about orthodontics. That's coming up again and again. You could go a full day without being asked about a national issue, but orthodontics? Same story everywhere, child, waiting list, can't get orthodontic treatment. It costs an arm and a leg. Ten years ago, it was an optional extra. Now it's regarded as neglect of your child if you don't get that. Its uppermost on people's minds." -Michael Noonan, Fine Gael leader.
- "Politicians can forgive almost anything in the way of abuse; they can forgive subversion, revolution, being contradicted, exposed as liars, even ridiculed, but they can never forgive being ignored." -Auberon Waugh.
- "The art of medicine consists of amusing the patient while Nature curse the disease. " -Voltaire.
- "I have come to regard the law courts not as a cathedral, but rather as a casino." -Richard Ingrams.
- "Illness is the night-side of life, a more onerous citizenship. Everyone who is born holds dual citizenship, in the kingdom of the well and the kingdom of the sick. Although we all prefer to use only the good passport, sooner or later each of us is obliged, at least for a spell, to identify ourselves as citizens of that other place." -Susan Sontag
- "If you live long enough , the venerability factor creeps in. You get accused of things you never did and praised for virtues you never had." -I. F. Stone.
- "I sometimes wonder which would be nicer: an opera without an interval, or an interval without an opera." -Ernest Newman.
UNCLE 'ENRY
Uncle 'enry
whose career in the ring
spanned almost two rounds
was a boxer of many parts.
He had:nerves of steelalas!
a will of iron
a heart of gold
a jaw of glass
-Roger McGough.
AUGUSTINIAN PLAYACTORS' GUILD
This lively group had a first reading last Tuesday of their new play to be presented during the Galway Arts Festival next July. As all proceeds from the play go to the Church Renovation Fund it is appropriate that the action of the play concerns the building of a monastery. The star of the play is the Gobán Saor.
The Gobán of the old stories was a master builder who frequently had to rely on his tongue to escape from the clutches of greedy patrons who wanted to keep his skills for their own projects. Nowadays, dodgy builders are sometimes referred to as gobáns but the original Gobán was the master builder. The play is a comic retelling of the Gobán's efforts to escape the clutches of the evil Abbott Flattery and his conniving Prior Snímhín.
We are looking for helpers of all sorts. Naturally, we need actors, but we also need people to help out in building props, making costumes, backstage people to move scenery, front of house people to help on performance nights. Wherever your gifts lie you will enjoy being involved in this project.
If you'd like to get involved in any way, Contact the Priory office or Gerry Ferguson (Writer, Director and principal Gobán ). Don't forget: next rehearsal: tomorrow night, Monday May 6th at 8.00pm in the Priory.
Love to see you all there!
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