EVENTS THIS WEEK
- CHILDREN'S CHRISTMAS MASS: This year, for the first time, we will celebrate the 11.00 as a 'Chridren's Mass'. The small children will present a very brief pageant (about 5 minutes) and the older children will do the readings for the Mass. Or at least that is the plan!! Rehearsals have been held and reading practices conducted. However, who was it that said, 'Never take the stage with either animals or children....' Anything is liable to happen. They would appreciate help with the three short hymns. However, we will try....
- PARISH CALENDAR: The Parish Calendar is now available. It may be collected after Mass today. Apart from the general information to be found on any calendar, you will find also the 'Programme of Events' for 2003 in St. Augustine's Parish here. It is well worth the money you are not asked to pay for it!
- CHRISTMAS DUES: Most of you will have got Christmas Dues envelopes in the post during the week, together the Christmas Programme. Those of you who escaped that round will find Dues envelopes in the two stands in the Church porch. Once again I stress that if you are paying Christmas Dues elsewhere, don't feel obliged to pay them here. Once is quite enough!
- THE CRIB: The Christmas Crib was erected this year by Willie Andrew and by Larry Carter Junior. Thanks very much men. The late Larry Carter was always the Prime Mover behind this seasonal project. For obvious reasons, there is a certain poignancy about the Crib this year.
- THANKS to all the people who worked so hard to get the Church and the house ready for the festivities. I won't start naming names, but you know who you are and be assured that your work is much appreciated.
- AMNESTY : Don't forget the remaining Communal Penitential Services (Amnesty) on tomorrow, Monday, December 23rd at 7.30pm and Tuesday, December 24th at 4.30pm.
AS I WAS SAYING...
To the child, Christmas is magic. Paradoxically, the smaller the child, the more active the imagination. And Christmas provides so much material to feed the infant imagination: darkness, twinkling lights, snow-filled scenes, romanticised cribs, and stories of a portly, jolly figure whose generosity or mobility knows no bounds. This is all grist to the many mills of the infant imagination. Christmas provides children with memories that will sustain them for a lifetime. We should be conscious of this reality: Christmas provides children with precious memories that will sustain them for a lifetime. Adults create Christmas for them. It is an awesome responsibility.
In the context of Christmas today, a few obvious questions arise: has consumerism diminished (if not destroyed) Christmas for children? If toys are available every day of the year, how special is Christmas Day? How much of our giving is motivated by our guilt? Do we secretly fear that our children will measure our love for them by the size of the presents we shower on them? Without wishing to be a spoil-sport, I do believe these questions merit some attention!
Obviously, Christmas is not the preserve of children only. The whole family is drawn into the preparations. It is a fabulous festival in that everyone makes a special effort to make it to their own 'Bethlehem' for Christmas Day at least. But the festival makes high demands, especially on those who provide and prepare the fare. Christmas as we celebrate it today was the creation of our middle class Victorians ancestors. Of course the Victorians had servants in abundance, so the preparation of the Christmas dinner was no big deal. The Christmas dinner remains as part of their legacy. The servants, however, have gone! So the greater part of the burden tends to fall on two shoulders! Christmas tends to idealise the nuclear family: Mammy, Daddy and the 2.4 children, with the well-fed purring cat thrown in for good measure! However, there are many, many people in Ireland today who have been failed by the nuclear family. Others still find themselves in second relationships of varying degrees of 'irregularity'. At the more extreme end of the scale are those without a roof over their heads. Because, within the Christian tradition, Christmas is seen as centred on the nuclear family, all of those just mentioned will feel excluded to one extent or another from the feast. It is rather ironic that the homeless should feel excluded from the birthday celebrations of one who was himself born homeless!
Christmas is such a busy time; so many people to be catered for, so many chores to be done. Yet it can be such a marvellous time, such a happy time. People are at their most generous, at their most humane. And I don't mean that materially. Generosity of spirit is in the air around Christmas. This is entirely appropriate since the event we are commemorating merits such a response: the generosity of God in sending his Son as a vulnerable baby, born to a couple of homeless paupers who were bonded together in a seemingly 'irregular union'. That baby would grow up to show us how to live, how to love, and how to die. No one like him ever appeared before, or since.
Have a lovely Christmas.
-Dick Lyng.
Collectors Needed
The Church tends to be very crowded for the Midnight Mass and the 11.00 Mass on Christmas Day. Because of the crowds it is very difficult to take up the collection. We need about eight new volunteers (in addition to our regular crew). If properly organised, these could also double as ushers.
If you are prepared to volunteer, contact Harry O'Connor or Fr. Ben O'Brien after the 11.00 Mass today.
CHRISTMAS COLLECTION IN HISTORY!
I had a chat with a few experienced Mass goers in connection with the above recently. There was a general impression that while attendance had fallen at the Midnight Mass, it had increased dramatically at the 11.00 on Christmas Day. The remaining Masses too had experienced some decline.
Things will be different this year for two obvious reasons. First, we will have only one Mass on Christmas morning, the 11.00. (We had already dropped the 12.15 for Christmas Day last year). The second factor that may make this year 'a new ball game' if of course the new currency, the Euro.
I went to the records of past Christmas collections once again in recent days. (Those for 1990-92 are missing) While these cannot be taken as accurate information on numbers attending, they do serve as a very good indication of trends. For example, the fact that there has been an average increase of over 100% in the takings at the 11.00 may mean that those attending now have twice as much money at their disposal than they had ten years ago. While this is unlikely, it is a consideration. Furthermore, the bigger the congregation, the greater the margin of error. The smaller the congregation the more efficient will be the collection.
I put the 9.00am and the 12.15 together. The percentage figure at the bottom of each column represents the percentage increase of the mean figure over the 1987 record for that particular Mass. There has been a 58% overall increase in takings. In 1987, Midnight Mass was 6.73% greater than the 11.00. By 1999, the situation was seriously reversed: the 11.00 by now was 60% greater than Midnight. Why? Is midnight now too late an hour? I have no idea.
YEAR 12.00am 11.00am OTHERS TOTALS 1987 £520 £485 £305 £1310 1988 £588 £665 £345 £1598 1989 £622 £590 £334 £1,546 1993 £762 £910 £327 £1,999 1994 £713 £850 £398 £1,961 1995 £589 £776 £350 £1,715 1996 £800 £760 £546 £2,106 1997 £768 £1,272 £283 £2,323 1998 £1,050 £2,053 £226 £3,339 1999 £995 £1,583 £289 £2,867 2000 £1,005 £2,070 £292 £3,367 2001 £1,188 £2,050 £289 £3,527 mean%+ (+42.44%) (+105.03) (+11.57%) (+60.50%)
Mass of Giving
This was our third year establishing the Giving Tree in the Church for Christmas. It has gone from strength to strength each year since. Thanks to all who contributed so generously to the 'Giving Tree' in the Church last Sunday. It was remarkably successful. Over €2,300 worth of gift vouchers were donated. This was in addition to the various gifts and toys requested. Thanks again to all who contributed. But thanks in a special way to those who organised the distribution of the goods. It was a really tedious task. All the gifts had been disposed of by Tuesday evening last. Well done.
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