Masses Today

6.30: Bertie & Eileen Giblin, (Anniv)
11.00 Joe Dolan, Bowling Green (Anniv)
6.30 Frank Duggan, (Anniv)



Events This Week






AS I WAS SAYING...

The issue of 'Ethics and Morality in Modern Ireland' was the subject of some debate on a television programme during the week. The academic Damien Kiberd, 'occupied the chair of Moses' at 'Midnight Court'. Until he was mortally offended recently, Vincent Browne would grind and growl his way through this hour -and sometimes through the panel- every Sunday night! Browne's barbed tongue and prickly personality ensured entertainment, if not always enlightenment.!

And entertaining it was not Sunday night last. The major events of the week before were: (a) the deteriorating situation in Iraq and the related 'peace camp' at Shannon, and (b) the payment of a large sum of money to a young man who had been abused by a priest of the Dublin archdiocese. Not surprisingly in the circumstances, the issue of ethics and morality was subjected to some scrutiny. To be fair to the five panellists, they were addressing the following question: 'Where do we turn to now for guidance in moral and ethical matters?' And the moral and ethical matters they had in mind was the impending war in Iraq. There was no reference to the fact that the archbishop of Armagh and leader of the Irish Catholic Church, Sean Brady, had issued a very strong statement in which he claimed that in the present circumstances, war in Iraq could not be justified. There was no reference made to the anti-war statement of the local bishop in the Shannon area, the Bishop of Killaloe, Willie Walsh. But these five Irish people conducted a discussion on morality without one reference to the presence of the Catholic Church in the country, or indeed to any Christian denomination on the island for that matter. When the general question was put to them about the present sources of moral guidance, some hopelessly shallow 'wells of wisdom' were paraded for our admiration: 'humanist philosophy', 'eco warriors', 'environmental ethics', and, more promising, 'individual conscience'.

I am not for a moment advocating that RTE should transform itself into a Christian evangelical station! God forbid! But I do find it rather strange that, in a nominally Christian culture, the powerful, energetic words of a relatively well-known pacifist called Jesus Christ failed to make their way into a discussion on the morality of war. (After all, 60%+ of the population still attend Church on a weekly basis, still higher than any other place in Europe). And these are the very people who will claim that the Church has been 'in denial' for the last thirty years!

We are witnessing a trend that has already taken place elsewhere in western Europe: the privatisation of religious belief. In secular societies, certain ground-rules seem to emerge, but yet remain unspoken. And a central ground-rule is that religious belief is a private affair; believe if you must, but the content of that belief is not a proper subject for public discussion. This pluralist society demands conformity in this regard! This is where 'Official Ireland' now stands.

The Annual Novena in the cathedral here is promoted as a 'public festival of faith', a conscious counter-blast to the trend I have addressed above. Twenty years after its inception, its success continues to astonish 'official Ireland.' Long may it continue to do so. Pluralism is healthy!

-Dick Lyng.



"Quote, Unquote........ "





Fruits of Giving Tree

Dear Parishioners of St. Augustine's,

I write to thank you on behalf of the 'Friendship Club', Victoria Place, for the wonderful gifts you gave to the club from your Giving Tree at Christmas. Thank you for allowing us to be God's messenger. I wish I could convey to you the greeting that each gift got: the expressions of surprised happiness that someone actually cared!

The best gift I received at Christmas was to witness the amazed face of a little boy that he got his Christmas Tree! It was a Christmas dream come true for this little African boy, far, far from home, in a cold Galway flat as he tried to be father to the family for his Mum and big brother to the two little ones.

Each gift went to where it was most needed, and all were told about your 'Giving Tree' and how you so generously shared it with our club. I now pass on their prayers and thanks for your kindness and I wish each member of your congregation God's richest blessing for the year ahead.

Yours in Christ,
Heather E. Smith, (Chairperson, Friendship Club).




Ecclesiastical Time Warp

A still feudal Church struggles to meet the modern world as the modern world merges with post-modern currents of thought that threaten religious belief as we know it. We may not have reason to be afraid, but we have abundant reason to be anxious. And as history makes clear, where anxiety dwells, imagination shrivels, denial thrives, and control becomes obsessive. An anxious Church bureaucracy displays precisely these characteristics: denial, legalism, controlling power and fearfilled secrecy.

-Donald Cozzens, Sacred Silence, Page 6.




Election Posters in Siam

The election posters, which were used to make the set for the Gobán Saor, are being re-used once again. You will find them forming the set for 'The King and I' in the Black Box theatre this coming week. The Bish are staging the musical under the direction of Gerry Ferguson. One of the rising young stars in the show will be Peter O'Flynn who was one of the Footnotes in the Gobán Saor.

To promote their show, which is in the Black Box from Wednesday 12th of February to Friday the 14th of February, the organisers are offering free tickets to their first night. all you have to do is to answer a simple question and the ticket is yours: QUESTION: Who played the part of the son of the Gobán Saor in the Augustinian Players' Summer play last year?

The first twenty with the right answer to Gerry Ferguson after the 11 o'clock Mass today Sunday will get a free ticket.




The Gods of the Copybook Headings

As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of man-
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began-
That the Dog returns to his vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wobbling back to the Fire;
And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
when all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
the Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!

-R. Kipling.





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