Masses Today

6.30 Elizabeth Coyne, (Anniv)
11.00 Martin, Mary & Nora Duggan, (Anniv)
6.30 Michael O'Connor, (Anniv)



Events This Week






AS I WAS SAYING...

Tuesday last, June 3rd, marked a significant milestone in the life of the modern Church: on that day, 40 years ago, perhaps the greatest, but certainly the most beloved pope of modern times, Pope John XXIII died. He had lived eighty-one years, been a priest for fifty-eight years, a bishop for thirty-eight years, and pope for less than five, the shortest pontificate of the century up to that time. (His namesake, John Paul I was later to deprive him of that dubious distinction!) He was elected pope just before his seventy-seventh birthday. He was not expected to do much more than keep the papal chair warm for Govanni Battista Montini, then archbishop of Milan, and later Pope Paul VI. But this transitional figure saw things differently. Within six months of his election, he astonished the world (and the church) by calling an ecumenical council. In his short few years in Rome, this feeble old man utterly transformed the Catholic Church. Only those who lived through the pre-Vatican II days will fully appreciate the sheer extent of that transformation.

John embodied in his own outgoing personality the very changes he energetically advocated: he was a jolly, fat, humane and friendly man, contrasting sharply with the ascetic, aloof figure of his immediate predecessor. His humanity and his lovely sense of humour won the affection of believer and non-believer alike. ("How many people work in the Vatican?" he was once asked by a investigative journalist. "About half of them" he replied impishly!) This was something new in traditionally 'grave' church leaders.

Despite his plodding, bucolic bearing, he was a highly intelligent, widely read man. He had a clear vision of the direction he wished the council to take. Unlike the great councils of history, this one was not called with the specific purpose of correcting and condemning specific errors. "The church today needs the medicine of mercy more than severity" he said. So his council would be pastoral and would attempt to express the substance of the faith in a new language. "We are not born to be museum-keepers but to cultivate a flourishing garden of life" he said. He expressed this sense of burgeoning new life in the Church by calling the council "a new Pentecost". His alertness to the Holy Spirit in the modern world led him to speak frequently of 'the signs of the times'. He saw the Spirit at work in the end of colonialism, the emancipation of the working class, and the promotion of women in society. In John's mind, the council was an event of the Holy Spirit in which the whole Church was involved.

Indeed the theological image that defined (and still defines) John's papacy is that of the Holy Spirit. Some of the characteristics we attribute to the Holy Spirit are easily associated with John's reign: he was, in every sense, 'a breath of fresh air'. Please God, we will never betray his legacy

-Dick Lyng.




THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY...

Irish society has an obsession with blaming young people for drinking too much alcohol. The irony is that these same young people are just responding to the environment around them, a culture of alcohol that has been created for them by adult men and women. They have been born into a society where the alcohol industry is an immensely lucrative one, where the drink lobby is powerful and has a hold on public policy. Irish culture is advertised across the world as a drinking culture and Irishness is now practically synonymous with alcohol.

The World Drink Trends Survey, published earlier this year, found that the Irish spend more on alcohol in pubs and restaurants than any other country in the world. Consumption rose 41% in 10 years compared with a drop in other European countries. The research found that the average person living in Ireland drinks almost 13 litres of pure alcohol a year, 2.5 litres more than France and Germany and almost four times as much as the UK. The Irish Association of Suicidology has stated that in countries where the per capita consumption of alcohol is lowered, suicide levels have gone down. Where it is rising, suicide levels also rise. The richer we get, the greater the problem. Pubs are by far the most popular venue for socialising for young people aged between 15 and 35.

Alcohol contributes to the making of lonely decisions. Too much alcohol lowers the consciousness in a person making it impossible or at least more difficult to think and decide in a rational and clear way. Constant alcohol leads to increased confusion and lower motivation to want to do anything and most importantly, a rational way of feeling is gone. Researchers at the National Suicide Research Foundation in Cork state that in cases of 'impulse' suicide, where apparently well-adjusted youths kill themselves for no obvious reason, alcohol consumption plays a significant role because 'alcohol has a huge impact on how impulsive young people are'.

Ireland now accepts excessive consumption of alcohol - one could say a 'mentality' of alcohol exists - where drinking is more than just an occasional way to celebrate or socialize. For many young people the culture of drink created for them is now the primary way in which to sense a belonging to life and to other people. This is where an identity and sense of self is formed and expressed.

-Fr. David Keating, Chaplain, Waterford IT.



EDUCATION FOR WHAT?

We must strive to impart not just facts but encouragement and support for students to develop some philosophy of life; not just credentials but commitment to large and noble goals; not just skills but high ideals of personal and professional service. We must strive in each of our individual institutions, to give real and sustained attention to the intellectual and moral well-being of each individual student.

-Professor Frank Rhodes, President, Cornell University.




THE LOTTERY

At five o'clock our time a killer was fried
According to law he was sentenced and died
Georgia the state where they favour the chair
When the switches were thrown I was washing my hair
Just lucky I guess.

At a quarter to midnight on his way to the shop
A stolen car hit him, revved up didn't stop
On arrival at Casualty he was found to be dead
When they rang up his wife I was reading in bed
Just lucky I guess.

At thirteen O nine it went out of control
The port engine failed and it started to roll
Imagine the scene on that ill-fated plane
When it burst into flames I was dodging the rain
Just lucky I guess.

At twenty fifteen it was 9, 24,
11 and 7, only needed three more
As each number came up I hardly could speak
Until I remembered. . . No ticket this week
Unlucky I guess.

-Roger McGough.





ALL IN THE MIND

Padre Pio, the famous twentieth-century Italian mystic, had been blessed to receive the stigmata or wounds of Christ. One critic said that these wounds were self-induced by the mystic's intense concentration on the crucifixion. Padre Pio responded by suggesting that this man go into a field, meditate on a bull, and check to see if he grew horns!






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