EVENTS THIS WEEK
- ARRANGEMENTS: As we mentioned here last week, the Irish Augustinians will gather this week in Limerick (Sunday July 6th to Wednesday evening, July 9th) for what is called Mid Chapter. Consequently, there will be no Augustinians here in Galway. (Just in case some people out there may be getting ideas, the Priory will be occupied at all times -day & night- by some sturdy males and even more sturdy females!) After discussions with many of you we came up with the following arrangements:
- SUNDAY EVENING MASS: There will be no 6.30 evening Mass this Sunday evening, July 6th.
- WEEKDAY MASSES: On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week there will be two Masses only in the Augustinian: at 8.30 & 11.00. The 8.30 will be will be celebrated by Fr Eugene Duffy, Director of the Western Theological Institute and the 11.00 will be celebrated by a visiting priest from the Archdioceses of Acapulco in Mexico, Padre Adolfo Silva. Both men kindly offered their services when they realised our plight. Bear in mind then that there will be no 10.00 Mass. The Church will open around 8.15am and close at the usual time. We will resume normal life with the 8.30 Mass on Thursday morning.
- PRIORY OFFICE: The Priory Office will be open all week at the usual times.
- RENOVATIONS GROUP: There will be a brief meeting of the Church Renovations group after the 11.00 Mass today.
- PLAY REHEARSAL(S)?: The usual Play Rehearsal will be held on Tuesday evening at 8.00. There may well be an additional rehearsal this Sunday afternoon.
AS I WAS SAYING...
So our politicians have withdrawn from the bear-pit for the Summer. They've had difficult times recently. But most of the difficulties were of their own making. They lied through their teeth to get elected or re-elected. The government told us that they looked into the cupboard and it was quite well stocked! As soon as the last ballot box was closed, they informed us that, well actually.....the cupboard was bare! And some of them gave the distinct impression that they actually enjoyed the little trick they had played on us. So Bertie and his cronies can't understand why the crowds are booing him at bun-fights and football games! I suppose hard neck was never in short supply in Dublin's northside!
Cutbacks are now the order of the day. The health cuts have received most publicity, understandably. It is an enormously sensitive area. Yet there does appear to be terrible duplication and waste there. And the middle classes hate to see their resources squandered. If the government is seen to be shaking up and trimming down the bureaucracy, the electorate will forgive them. The faceless bureaucrats have always been popular targets because, even when attacked, they tend to remain faceless.
However, there is one issue that will not be raised again in the lifetime of this government: Third Level fees. The Minister for Education seems to have gone on a bit of a solo-run when he proposed that those who could afford to pay Third Level fees should pay them. He argued (with some logic) that the money harvested would allow access to some who cannot at the moment afford Third Level education. He produced statistics to demonstrate how seriously under-represented such working class areas as Ballymun, Ballyfermot and Tallaght are in Third Level educational institutions. (The same would apply to certain areas of Galway here).
No one attempted to question the accuracy of the statistics presented. The Minister did appear to be acting out of conviction. His case seemed to have impeccable liberal credentials. After all, hasn't universal education been a central plank of the liberal platform everywhere in Europe since the French Revolution? So his case seemed to be a very reasonable one; he probably expected even cross-party support for the project. If he did, there was a major surprise in store for him. All hell broke loose. His leader supported him for a few days; then dithered, and then ran like a rabbit. Government backbenchers let it be known that their supporters 'wouldn't wear' Dempsey's proposals. The cross-party support never materialised. But, crucially, Mary Harney stood in the wings with a platter: the Minister will either accept a sop, or she will collect his head!
So why did such an apparently reasonable proposal meet such an ignominious end? The answer is as simple as it is crude. All political parties look to the middle classes for support. Those whose pockets were being hit were the middle classes. The middle classes write to the papers. They kick up a racket when their interests are threatened. The middle classes vote. They make or break governments. Those who were being favoured by the proposals, the working classes, in general do not vote. They can be ignored with impunity. Conviction politics indeed!
-Dick Lyng.
FOR YOUR ATTENTION
- AUGUSTINIAN PLAYACTORS GUILD: By now, most of the shows in the Arts Festival are pre-booked or sold out. Here in the Augi our show, entitled "The Trouble with Wardens", has still some few tickets available. As a matter of fact, you can get into our show for nothing! We will simply ask people to give a subscription as they leave. This will afford you the welcome opportunity to express your deep appreciation or your shallow derision! The show commences on the steps of the church at 9.00pm. It will run (gallop?) for three nights, from Monday July 14th to Wednesday July 16th. It promises to be an entertaining blend of music, pageantry, puppetry and lights.
- SUMMER FESTIVAL AFTERMATH: We did our sums during the week. When all bills were paid we had something in the region of €500 left over. This is explained by the fact that quite a lot of the food and drink was donated. In addition, the public contributed over €700 for the flowers. Apart altogether from the financial aspect of things, the €700 represented a very nice gesture of appreciation from the general public for the work done by the ladies on the floral display.
WILLIE BERMINGHAM
In late 1976, within a few short week of each other, eight old people were found dead in their Dublin homes. A Dublin Fireman called Willie Bermingham started thinking about the need to alert people to the plight of their elderly neighbours.
During the course of his work, he discovered the body of one old man in a squalid flat in Charlemont Street. The man had been dead for many weeks.
He was to make many more such discoveries. Willie was so moved by his discoveries that he distributed 200 posters around the city highlighting the dismal circumstances of the forgotten elderly people living alone. In 1977 the organisation ALONE (A Little Offering Never Ends) was born.
In conjunction with his practical, 'hands-on' visitation of the elderly, he gathered information on them and studied their plight closely. He stressed that at least 80% of people over 60 in Ireland are enjoying life to its fullest. They live full, independent and healthy lives. They are cared for by families, relatives or very close friends.
For the remaining 20% who live alone, life can be quite different. These were the people whose plight he set out to understand and to address. They may be affected by the death of their loved ones or their children leaving home. Sometimes because of a heart-breaking setback, a bereavement that they cannot cope with, rejection by a son or daughter, a brutal attack by a mugger or the threat of eviction, elderly people fall into self-neglect. Old people sometimes refuse to go to hospital because they are worried about a pet dog or cat. Others won't go for fear they will be evicted or locked out when they return.
Many of the elderly people in Dublin living out their final days in squalid bed-sits are people who came from rural Ireland in the 1940s or 1950s and who see themselves as failures because of disappointing careers or disastrous business ventures.
Thousands of Dubliners were to lend their services over the years, not least Willie's wife Marie and their five children who selflessly supported all his efforts to make life more comfortable for many elderly people. Willie, however, was the dynamo that drove the organisation. He even spent his annual holidays visiting the parish halls, of Dublin alerting them to the plight of the elderly in their midst.
Also invaluable to the work of Willie and ALONE were Willie's colleagues in the Dublin fire service who also witnessed at first hand the deprivation, the loneliness and the inhuman living conditions suffered by so many elderly people.
Willie was the quintessential, down-to-earth and loveable 'Dub'. He was utterly devoid of pretention or pomp. He died a young man in April 1991. He is sadly missed. The ALONE organisation continues to work on behalf of the forgotten elderly, bullying statutory bodies into improving conditions and giving assistance to those with no voice of their own.
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