Masses Today

6.30: Vincent & Paddy Cunnane, (Anniv)
11.00 Ellie & Michael Murray, (Anniv)
6.30 Walter Joyce, (1st Anniv)



Events This Week






AS I WAS SAYING...

Lent is a time for realistic evaluation. We do this as individuals and as communities; we try to draw courage from our strengths and talents. We can be so negative about ourselves! There is a wealth of talent in every community. If that talent is not identified and encouraged, it will simply lie buried forever. What a waste!

We must be realistic too about our weaknesses. Traditional Catholicism devoted so much energy to identifying and categorising sin! No stone was left unturned. Yet, hand-in-hand with this morbidity went an extraordinary naiveté: it was blandly assumed that a sinner could become a saint overnight. All that was required was an act of the will, the courage to make the decision to change. Modern psychology has largely undermined this naivety. The role of the subconscious was seriously underestimated. The individual was not at all as 'free' as was so often assumed.

We should also look at our Church with courage and with realism during this time. The Church is a community of people, blessed and burdened with the same strengths and weaknesses as any other human community. As with ourselves, we can be unrealistic in the demands we make upon the Church. Do we expect perfection? I do believe that its harshest critics have little understanding of the nature of the Church. What's more, I don't believe they have any great interest in it!

But, as stated above, a realistic evaluation will look at our strengths as well as our weaknesses. And there is a lot more right with the Church than is wrong with it. For example, the church has committed itself strongly, and sometimes alone, to the defence of the life of the unborn; that is an act of courage and solidarity with humanity which deserves more credit than it gets. The late Cardinal Hume was in the habit of comparing the 'Right to Life' campaign to the anti-slavery campaigns of the 18th and 19th century. He strongly believed that history would vindicate the Church in this matter.

Having said that, it is necessary to point out what is wrong with the Church. One theologian has recently identified five crucial 'modern heresies':

  1. The Vatican has progressively centralised power. The local Church is unable to breathe.
  2. We have made the church an end in itself, instead of a means to the end, which is God. This represents a very serious loss of direction.
  3. We do not trust our own people. Those who fail to 'toe the party line' are dismissed as not being 'real' Catholics.
  4. In place of dialogue, there are monologues, dictation and the pursuit of hidden agendas.
  5. The signs of the times are being misread. For example, one hears it said that people no longer accept authority. The truth is different: people no longer accept dictation. But they will accept -and indeed look for - good authority. Mandela, like a latter-day Moses, led his people out of slavery. What sustained him was his own courage and a very clear vision for the future. Many of our leaders look not to the future but over their right shoulder. And the only thing to be gained from this particular stance is a pain in the neck!
-Dick Lyng.




THE GAA IN WORLD TERMS

{The world is growing more complex by the hour. The practice of 'twinning' our main GAA teams with appropriate countries should prove helpful.}

USA=Kerry: Utterly arrogant and motivated by greed. If they suffer the slightest injustice the whole world hears about it. Leader sees himself as bit of a visionary, most see him as bit of a tyrant. Also something of an amateur anthropologist.

Al Qaeda=Meath: Thugs who like to take out opponents off the ball. Capable of upsetting just about anyone.

United Kingdom=Galway: Tends to look to past greatness. Unlike UK, colour red is only for outsiders. But failure to curb domestic 'loose cannons' may cost them dearly.

France=Mayo: Perennial bridesmaids. Have a huge armoury but heavily criticised in the past for misfiring.

Pakistan=Kildare: Trying hard to be one of the big boys, but has upset a large percentage of its supporter base through its over involvement with foreigners.

India=Down: A sleeping giant, not a contender at the moment but with huge support. Harbours too many 'Untouchables' .

The Northern Alliance=Laois: An undisciplined rabble in need of sponsorship dollars, but have now bought a once great leader-however they also now need a team.

Israel=Dublin: See themselves as the 'Chosen Race', but dominant only on the Holy Ground. Local transport can be a bit dodgy, but once they get to provincial centres, people give them their cars to get home!!!

Japan=Roscommon: No attack in recent years; last campaign of any note in 1942.

Iran=Limerick: More notable in recent times for 'off the pitch' squabbles between rival Mullahs. A good Jihad should see them through to final battle, But more likely to kill each other first! Police love them; great earnings there.

Russia=Cavan: Once a great superpower, with a very strong County Board. However, most notable successes abroad (Polo Grounds, 1947). Seriously weakened by the disaffiliation of a great number of clubs in the 1990s.

Germany=Offaly: Tendency to self-destruct. A strong history but off the scene of late. Unlike Germany however, Offaly is not yet united.

Australia=Leitrim: Not a contender. Just in it to make up the numbers. Supporters are loyal but always embarrassed. However, unlike Australia, nobody wants to visit it.

Egypt=Donegal: Traditionally popular for its strategic waterways, today more renowned as a resort for partially decommissioned warriors (the 'Tiocfaidh ár Trá' brigade).

Iraq=Armagh: South of its capital a 'No Flight' zone. You know that the place is littered with weapons and bunkers, but nobody can find them.

North Korea=Cork: They see themselves as the true centre of the universe, and they have a tendency to deify their 'Great Leaders'. Have a cold war policy against everyone, and a language that only themselves understand. Have some great football players, but they don't play for Cork.





Thirteen Sonnets (I)

I have been stone, dust of space, sea and sphere:
flamed in the supernova before man
or manmade gods made claim to have shaped me.
I have always been, will always be. I
am a pinch of earth compressed in the span
of snail-shell: galaxies' energy,
the centre of the sun, the arch of sky.
I became all that all things ever can.
I will be here: I have always been here.
Buddha had to walk upon me: my snows
were not so kind, my ice was sharp as grass.
Upon me, even Christ encountered fear:
the nails were mine, the mallet mine, the blows
were mine. I grew the tree that grew the Cross.

-Michael Hartnett.





CONCERT IN CATHEDRAL

A fund-raising concert in aid of the National Liver Transplant Unit and the Galway Hospice will be held in Galway Cathedral on Wednesday April 2nd at 8.00pm. This features Dana, David Parkes, Marc Roberts and Jack Bayle 35 Piece Orchestra. Tickets: €20. (Available in Priory Office.






"Last Words........ "






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