EVENTS THIS WEEK
- POPE'S SILVER JUBILEE: The Bishops' Conference has designated today, October 12th, as the day for the celebration of the Holy Father's Silver Jubilee. To mark the occasion the Blessed Sacrament will be exposed for adoration today, Sunday, from 12.00 until 6.00pm.
- STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING: There will be an important meeting of the full Steering Committee tomorrow, Monday, at 8.00pm. At that meeting we hope to furnish a full report on 'Progress to Date' in connection with the Church Renovation project. Is is vital that as many as possible of this body attend.
- ALTAR CLOTHS FROM ECUADOR: We informed you last week that the parish of Chone in Ecuador had sent back to St. Augustine's parish here four Altar Cloths as a gesture friendship and goodwill. The illustrations represent the four seasons of the year, respectively. The cloths will be available for viewing in the church today.
- MISSION SUNDAY: Next Sunday, October 19th, is Mission Sunday throughout the world. The Mass will be a special Mass for the Spread of the Gospel and the collection will be forwarded to Rome to be disbursed to missionaries working throughout the world.
- THE TAIBHDHEARC THEATRE: There will be a two-night benefit concert for Noel Hession and the Augustinian Church on Thursday 23rd and Friday 24th October in the above venue at 8.00pm. The Augustinian Choir, together with some of the Baroque Singers, will be performing. Further enquiries at Priory Office.
AS I WAS SAYING...
John Paul II has served the Church as chief pastor for 25 years. The Catholic world will mark the event in a variety of ways this week. In October 1998, before his serious decline became obvious, he marked his 20 years as pope with an open-air Mass in St. Peter's Square. Speaking at the celebration, he wondered aloud whether he'd done a good job. "Have you been a diligent and vigilant master of the church?" he asked himself. "Have you tried to satisfy the expectations of the faithful of the church and also the hunger for truth that we feel in the world outside the church?"
Regardless of how he rates his performance, there is little doubt that John Paul II has been one of the most significant figures of the 20th century. He was a key figure at a pivotal juncture in world history. As a cardinal in Poland, he was a shrewd and unflinching opponent of communism, advancing the church's agenda without allowing outright hostility to develop. As pope, his clandestine support of the Solidarity movement was instrumental in the downfall of the government. The evangelical preacher, Rev. Billy Graham summed him up as follows: "He'll go down in history as the greatest of our modern popes. He's been the strong conscience of the whole Christian world."
As a spiritual leader and social reformer, John Paul seized the high moral ground in world affairs. "This has been one of the most extraordinary pontificates in 2,000 years of church history," says Father Richard John Neuhaus, editor of the Catholic journal 'First Things'. "For one thing, there was the collapse of communism. But beyond that is his intellectual leadership on human rights, his position on the foundation of a free society and biotechnology and the culture of life. There's no question he's a great man, and I think one of the greatest in history."
As Bishop of Krakow, Karl Wojtyla was a trenchant critic of communism. But he was no admirer of western liberal democracy! He saw western culture as basically materialistic and godless. For its acquiescence to contraception, abortion and even euthanasia, John Paul accused the West of fostering "a culture of death." In 1994, he used his considerable influence to defeat a U.S.-backed initiative on population control at the U.N.'s International Conference on Population. And of course he was an outspoken critic the Gulf War and the more recent war in Iraq. He condemned the arms trade as "scandalous".
However, if some of his greatest admirers came from outside Catholicism, some of his most severe critics came from within. One fault-line was particularly glaring: while he expected the Church (and himself) to be listened to carefully, he didn't always return the compliment. Some of his critics pointed out that, while he bravely championed freedom of speech in his native Poland, he was ruthless in his suppression of dissident voices within the Church itself. And his attempt to silence all debate on issues such as women priests and priestly celibacy was, frankly, ill-advised. John Wilkins, editor of the English Catholic weekly, the Tablet, spoke for many critics when he said, "I think John Paul is a great man, but I don't think he's a great pope." However, as will be obvious this weekend, his admirers far outnumber his critics. That is not at all bad after 25 years on the road! Ad multos annos!
-Dick Lyng.
ECUADOR:SCATTERED IMPRESSIONS
Ecuador as the name suggests is right on the equator, but thanks to the Andes mountains which form the spine of the country, it is extremely varied in terrain and climate. The high sierras where you have the capital city, Quito, has a very pleasant climate with warm days and cool nights. This is where the Incas lived before the Spanish came and destroyed their civilisation. Spanish is the common language in Ecuador. East of the Andes is the equatorial forest of the Amazon basin. West of the Andes stretching out to the Pacific is the very rich farming area. This is where the Irish Augustinians live in the town of Chone. About the size of Galway it is a bustling place choc a bloc with bicycles, pick-up trucks, jeeps and little wooden buses which are always crowded. Having seen Chone, I'll never give out about potholes in Galway again. Most people in Ecuador are small in stature so four westerners touching on six foot attracted a lot of curious gazes and smiles.
The doorways of most shops have a three foot wall blocking the opening. This is a reminder of the last time El Ninho struck and the whole of the town was flooded to the depth of three foot. In one hardware shop I noticed a strange object hanging down and Noel informed me that it was a sawn-off shotgun. The shopkeeper was amused when he was told that police in Ireland don't carry guns. Later, we noticed that the supermarkets usually had one or two security guards standing in the store with their sawn-off shotgun hanging on a harness.
Police checkpoints are common enough, usually approaching towns. Approaching the first such point I asked Noel jokingly what was I to do and he said that the police would recognise the jeep as belonging to a priest and then he said; "Pretend you're a monsignor and look bored".
We saw very little wild life during our trips to the Campo. Domestic pigs were commonplace along the tracks and of course hens and ducks. Sleeping at night was always punctuated by an outbreak of dogs barking. Dogs are kept more as guard dogs rather than pets. The first glint of morning light brought an outbreak of cocks crowing. Thankfully we saw no mosquitoes although there were midges of the Irish variety as the sun set.
Stopped outside a house in Noel's parish-there was an undertaker's notice over the door illuminated by a fluorescent light. The woman of the house had just died and Noel had a few words with some one. The dead woman has an only son who spoke to Noel a few weeks ago; "Father, my mother is dying and you're going away soon-so who's left?"
-Gerry Ferguson.
DIETRICH BONHEOFFER
If we are quick to blame Germany for producing Hitler, we should be equally quick to credit it for producing Dietrich Bonhoeffer. The son of a psychiatrist, Bonhoeffer was born in 1906 in Breslau. His father was taken aback when Dietrich revealed his plans to become a pastor in the Confessing Church, a branch of Lutheranism. Bonhoeffer was an academic with a keen interest in ecumenism.
On 1 February 1933, the very day after Hitler took power, Bonhoeffer broadcast a contentious speech over Berlin radio. He was highly critical of the new leader and he voiced his pessimism about the future of Germany. Very few saw the future as clearly as he did. He was cut off before he had a chance to finish. In his talk he condemned the Hitler Youth movement as an insidious exploitation of the innocent. He showed great courage in opposing the treatment of the Jews, arguing that it was a Christian duty to care for the Jews. This made him so unpopular with the authorities that in summer 1933 he accepted an invitation to become a pastor of a German parish in London.
He stayed until April 1935, when he returned to take charge of a seminary at Finkelwalde. While there he published The Cost of Discipleship (1937). Here he again condemns the psychological manipulation of young Germans by the Nazis. His seminary was closed, the seminarians forced to the war front where 21 of the 27 died.
Bonhoeffer now concluded that the only conscientious course of action was the assassination of Hitler. When the bomb exploded prematurely and the plot failed in 1943, he turned his mind to a second attempt. He was arrested in February 1945 and transferred eventually to Buchenwald concentration camp. Bonhoeffer received a court-martial during the night of 8-9 April and was hanged, naked, early the next morning. Bonhoeffer's death was very last Hitler ordered personally. His final note read: "My final act will be to thank my God for the courage to face down this terrible evil." He was a brave man.
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