AS I WAS SAYING...
The Arts Festival is now almost as much part of this city as is the Galway Races. Not quite yet, but getting there. The Arts Festival is still young, after all. A mere 25 years! And the Races? 250 years? Who knows? But the fact that the Arts Festival is mentioned in the same breath as the Races is a great tribute to the promoters of the former. These people face enormous challenges year after year, and yet they always seem to deliver. They have added a new dimension to Galway.
The Church has more or less stood aloof from the Arts in relatively recent times. Yet both fields of endeavour —the artistic and the ecclesiastical- would claim to address the spiritual dimension of humanity. But a narrow clerical mentality prevails in church circles. This mind-set tends to draw a very sharp distinction indeed between that which is 'holy' and that which is 'merely human'. A Calvinistic, puritanical streak runs through the heart of modern Catholicism. A deep suspicion persists that humanity is hopelessly tainted. To get involved in the Arts would be "to dirty one's hands", to "cast pearls before swine." The very notion of permitting a play (even one with a religious theme) to be staged in the Church is anathema these, further evidence that the church has gone to the dogs!
In truth, this group look upon the church building as the Jews of the Old Testament looked upon the Temple in Jerusalem. Life within the Temple was rigidly stratified; Gentiles were barred entirely; women were never allowed beyond the precincts. Only the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies, and then only once a year, on the Day of Atonement. Within my own memory, women were not allowed within the sanctuary of the Catholic Church (except for cleaning purposes, of course!). Lay people were not allowed touch certain sacred vessels. A whole raft of taboos surrounded the sacred place. All of these taboos had their origins in the Old Testament Temple worship. Yet the gospels tell us that, at the death of Jesus, "the veil of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom." (Mk. 15:38; Mt. 27:51) The death of Jesus has destroyed such distinctions. Humanity is now the new Temple of God; all have access to Him without distinction. Henceforth, it will be the people who will sanctify the Temple, not vice versa.
The very notion of the Church being desecrated by drama is very new indeed. It owes more to Victorian prudery than to Jewish or Christian sensibilities. In fact, for centuries, drama was the great agent of evangelisation. On the great feasts, and especially during the season of Lent, the mysteries of religion were given dramatic expression by the various Guilds. These complemented the religious themes permanently committed to the Church windows and walls by the visual artists. The great cathedrals of Europe still stand as magnificent monuments to such practices.
As you already know, it is now an established practice for the Augustinian Parish to involve itself fully in Arts Week. We have spent week and months rehearsing our play for this year's festival, "An Gobán Saor - the Monastic Masterbuilder!" As I have just pointed out, we are doing nothing new, merely reviving a lapsed tradition. Finally, I must confess that we have been doing something else that will also offend the Puritans: We've had great fun! Sorry about that!!
-Dick Lyng.
THE LATE TEDDY (Theresa) MOLLOY
It was Sonny's wish – and I know he was speaking on Teddy's behalf- that the funeral liturgy should be kept as simple as possible. No frills or fuss. Just get on with the job! I know he will pardon me for pausing briefly to reflect on this Christian life that has just reached its fulfilment. Teddy Naughton was born at 3 High Street 78 years ago, one of a family of eleven children. Like so many other members of her family, she entered the medical profession and qualified as an anaesthetist. However, unlike them, she did not pursue medicine as a life-long career. Instead, together with her husband Sonny, she took responsibility for the family business on High Street. There, for 50 years, they both became an integral part of the Heart of Galway. And you got the distinct impression that the business had a humanitarian rather than a professional edge to it. Their customers or clients were not at all confined to the city. Naughtons was a Mecca for country people in particular. There they both ministered to the functional needs of the country folk, leaving the fashionable needs of the city slickers in more effete hands. I could be quite wrong here, but I always got the impression that Teddy looked after the administration of the place in her own quiet way. Publicity and promotions fell to the capable hands of Sonny. So successful was he in promoting the establishment that even the venerable Irish Times carried a feature article. Sonny will forgive me if I quote the final line of that article: "No. 3 High Street, Galway, is the last outpost in western Europe for interlocking knickers!" Sweeter praises were rarely sung!
Number 3 High Street was at the centre of Teddy's life. But if her life had another focal point, it was this church here, St. Augustine's. She attended Mass here daily and, in the afternoon, came in to sit quietly before the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Counsel. She and Sonny, in their very different ways, were probably our greatest devotees. Last night we brought her back to this place where she felt so much at home. Teddy had a difficult journey over the last two or three years. In many ways she was most unfortunate. She seemed to be one of those people who were accident prone. Twisted ankles and broken wrists were never far from her person over the last few years. But she seemed to retain her mobility through these difficulties. However, her afflictions over the last couple of years were of a different league. Her ailments grounded her and confined her. She found that confinement very difficult and claustrophobic. She suffered greatly, both physically and emotionally. In a sense then, her passing was a relief to her and to those who loved her. St. Paul advised us in the 2nd reading not grieve about her like other people who have no hope. Because Teddy certainly had hope. God has now brought her back to himself.
We ask God to forgive her whatever sins she may have committed. While the funeral Mass is a prayer for forgiveness, it is also a celebration of what we have been given. Teddy was a gentle, kindly and self-effacing woman. We thank God for the kindnesses that he mediated to the rest of us through her. We offer thanks also that she met such tender carers when she needed them. Her name will be whispered with gratitude at your future family gatherings, and her memory will be carried to your own graves, not as a burden, but as a blessing. Finally, we pray that Sonny and her family will be consoled by the sure knowledge that the one they loved is now with God.
(Extract from funeral homily of the late Teddy Molloy. Teddy was wife of Sonny Molly, director of the Augustinian choir.)
THE AUGUSTINIAN PLAYACTORS' GUILD
DIARMUID AGUS GRÁINNE
(A love story gone wrong- featuring shadow puppets)
&AN GOBÁN SAOR
(The Monastic Masterbuilder)
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
July 24, 25 and 26
at 10.00pm
THE AUGUSTINIAN CHURCH
ADMISSION: Adults: €8
(Accompanied children: free)
MEMORABLE QUOTES
- "What is an artist? For every thousand people, there's nine hundred doing the work, ninety doing well, nine doing good, and one lucky devil who's the artist!" -Tom Stoppard.
- "A good many inconveniences attend play-going in any large city, but the greatest of them is usually the play itself ." -Kenneth Tynan.
- "An archaeologist is the best husband any woman could have. The older she gets, the more interesting she becomes." - Agatha Christie.
- "An atheist is a man who has no invisible means of support." -Harry Emerson Fosdick.
- "He looked at me as if I were a side dish he hadn't ordered!" -Ring Lardner.
- "It takes your enemy and your friend, working together, to hurt you to the heart; the one to slander you, and the other to carry that news to you." -Mark Twain.
- "What we call progress is the exchange of one nuisance for another nuisance." -Havelock Ellis.
- "Writers, like teeth, are divided into incisors and grinders." -Kenneth Tynan.
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