EVENTS OF SOME INTEREST
- NEW MINISTERS OF THE EUCHARIST: We are in need of new Ministers of the Eucharist. On 8.00pm on Thursday night next, we will begin a Course of Instructions for new ministers in the Priory. If you would like to help your community in this way, please come along. We can then discuss (and negotiate) the shape and duration our course should take. I would be delighted to see a good group of people there. Please remember that the Ministry is open to all who have received the Sacrament of Confirmation.
- MEETING WITH AUGUSTINIAN PROVINCIAL: Those who have been involved in drafting the Charter and Church Renovations will meet with Desmond Foley, Irish Augustinian Provincial, tomorrow, Monday night at 8.00 in the Priory Dining Room. The meeting will take the form of a 'Presentation of Proposals for Church Renovations'.
- HUNGER WALK: As you will see from the Church notice board, Geraldine McDermott (Phone 555132) is organising a Hunger Walk on behalf of the Debt and Development Coalition of Ireland. It is a completely non-political, non-partisan operation. It simply aims to raise awareness of hunger and its causes. If you are interested, contact Geraldine at the number above.
AS I WAS SAYING...
The past returned to haunt us this week, quite literally. Difficult to get away from the Twin Towers and those two cargoes of death. We all remember where we were when we first saw/heard the awful news. 'Defining moment' it certainly was! 'Defining' in the sense that all contemporary events and circumstances will forever be viewed through this particular prism. As when (for the elderly among us now!) President Kennedy was assassinated, or (for the younger readers) the morning we awoke to the news that Princess Diana had been killed in a crash. In both cases, the 'Where were you when....?' would probably be answered positively by most people. Yet there is something grossly obscene in elevating all three events -as many commentators have done- to the same tragic status. Even if Kennedy had been an outstanding President (he was anything but!), or if the Princess had made some significant contribution to humanity (she did anything but!), it would still be a gross error of judgement to equate both tragedies with 11th of September, 2001. Yet, with the help of some media commentators, that is the very trick our minds have played on us! We mention the three events in the one breath. Yet if we examine the events separately, we will see that neither in scale nor in political significance are they in any way comparable.
(a) September 11th, 2001: Up to three thousand innocent civilians were deliberately massacre a highly co-ordinated conspiracy of terrorists. The planning probably took anything up to four years, and involved hundreds of dedicated activists. The execution involved up to 20 highly motivated 'martyrs' and took no more than an hour to complete. The imagination is simply incapable of grasping the suffering and the terror endured by the innocent victims. We tend to forget that the victims are not confined to America. How many people have since died in Afghanistan as a direct result of that day? We conveniently forget that these people were equally innocent. The repercussions of that day will rumble on for years to come. We really have no way of telling where or when it will end. But it would be a reasonably safe bet that the repercussions will last for as long as President Bush occupies the White House.
(b) November 22nd, 1963: President John F. Kennedy was assassinated by a lone gunman with no discoverable motive. In the wake of the assassination, a Kennedy legend quickly took shape. He was idealised, his accomplishments exaggerated. Thanks to his own rhetoric, his presidency was richer in promise than in practical achievement. His foreign policy meant VIETNAM. His domestic 'New Frontiers' programme gathered dust on his desk. Its implementation would await the advent of a truly great if unsophisticated President, one Lyndon Johnson! In the long term, Kennedy's assassination had no real significance.
(c) August 30th, 1998: Diana, Princess of Wales, was killed in a car crash in the course of a drunken dash through a Paris tunnel. For whatever reason, her death seemed to affect many profoundly. Her untimely death was obviously a terrible tragedy for her young children. It is doubtful if its influence extended beyond the circle of her immediate family.
Associating these three events amounts to nothing less than sloppy journalism and lazy thinking. The victims of 9/11 deserve better!
-Dick Lyng.
LARRY CARTER, R.I.P.
It wasn't commonly known that Larry Carter was an American. His accent never betrayed his true origins. Larry would probably have enlisted the famous sentiments of the Duke of Wellington to support his case for Irish citizenship: "Just because you are born in a stable doesn't mean you're a horse." In common with so many more West of Ireland people, Larry's parents emigrated to the States in search of work in the early years of the 20th. Larry was born in there seventy years ago last May. He encountered tragedy even before he came to full consciousness. His mother died in the first weeks of his life. While still an infant Larry arrived on Galway Docks in a Moses basket to be reared by his aunt Nellie Carter on Abbeygate Street. Nellie was an extraordinary woman. Not only did she rear a whole tribe of Cooks and Carters; she seems to have reared successive generations of them in a back room over in Abbeygate Street. Larry spoke freely of those early years with great affection and sometimes nostalgia. He spoke of the full house, the great fun, and the good fortune he had in having an aunt like Nellie. It says a lot for the warmth that Nellie provided. But it says much more about Larry. His generous response to his early circumstances speaks eloquently of a generous spirit. There are many, many other people who would have felt hard done by, who would have and who have stumbled thorough life with chips on their shoulders after such a beginning. But Larry was very different. He saw the best in people; he made the best of circumstances. There was a graciousness at his core which precluded bitterness or mean-mindedness.
In all probability his early experiences strengthened his convictions about family life. Larry wasn't a big socialiser or pub man. The centre of his universe was to be found below in 24 Long Walk, with Peggy, Cepta, Larry and Claire. There he was at his happiest and his most relaxed. He welcomed all who called with a cup of tea or a glass of whiskey, or both if necessary. An abstemious man himself, thank God he never sought to impose his high standards on others. He chatted easily about local events and local characters. In all those chats with him, I never once heard him say a bad word about anyone. Even under the severe pressure of serious illness, his generosity of spirit never deserted him.
At the reception of Larry's body here last night, I was making the point that the service was a homecoming. This church was a second home to Larry and indeed to his family. He was central to all that happened in and around this place, be it preparing for the Summer Festival, putting up the stage in the Church for the Summer play, or, I suppose, most consistently of all, putting up the Christmas Crib year after year with Willie Andrew and, in more recent years, with Larry Junior. His interest in Forthill Cemetery was intense and he and Larry junior looked after the little Church down there, painting it and keeping it ship-shape. On a more personal level, Larry was a great support to me in anything I attempted in this place, no matter how outlandish it appeared to be. He was always on hand to help out or, most importantly, to offer moral support.
The last great night of celebration I had with the Carter family was last May up in Menlo, in Larry Junior's new house. We were killing about six birds with the one stone that night. It was Larry's 70th birthday. That same week, Peggy and Larry had been married 39 years. In addition, two other family members had birthdays. And of course it was also a blessing of the new house and a house-warming. Unfortunately, a cloud hovered over the evening in the form of Larry’s illness. His illness had been recently diagnosed and his treatment was beginning the following week. Naturally enough, Larry looked to the future with some apprehension. In the course of the Mass that night we prayed for Peg and Larry; I think we were all conscious that evening of the difficult Pilgrimage upon which they were embarking. Larry and Peg were anointed with the oil of the sick to strengthen them for that journey. That earthly pilgrimage has now ended for Larry. Like the pilgrims on the road to Emmaus, the Jesus who accompanied Larry silently and anonymously along the road during this life has now revealed his face fully to him. Larry was always very keenly aware of that presence. The awareness sustained him through some very difficult times. Larry has now reached completion at the everlasting banquet.
We pray that Peg and the family will the strengthened in the days ahead by the Christian faith that sustained them during Larry's illness and by the treasured memories which he left us all.
(Extract from Homily at Larry Carter's Funeral Mass.)
Home