Events This Week
- CHURCH UNITY WEEK: The Inter Church Service to mark the week of Christian Unity will be held this year in the Collegiate Church of St. Nicholas at 8.00pm tomorrow, January 20th. The Service should last for about 40 minutes and all are encouraged to attend.
- RESTORATION COMMITTEE MEETING: The Restoration Committee have resumed their weekly meetings after the Christmas break. As you know, we meet in the front parlour in Monday evenings at 5.30. Barring some serious and unforeseen developments, the meetings usually conclude between 6.30 and 6.45. We have now reached a rather crucial stage in this process and it is important that all who were on board remain on board now if at all possible.
- LENT: VERY REMOTE PREPARATIONS: As mentioned elsewhere, Ash Wednesday is a mere six weeks away. You will recall that last year we offered four 'educational sessions' over four weeks on the Eucharist. Over thirty people took up the offer and, more significantly still, stayed the course! Perhaps we could try something similar this year, but with a new topic, obviously. Any suggestions for a topic? If you have any ideas, make them known as soon as possible so that we can begin our preparations.
- THANKS: Margaret and Cathal Cunningham wish to thank most sincerely all our friends at the 'Augi' for their attendance at the wake, the funeral, and for expressions of sympathy on the death of Annie Butler, Margaret's mother. The family were overwhelmed by the great support of so many people. Thank you all very much.
AS I WAS SAYING...
Tomorrow night will see launch this year's Week of Christian Unity. Thirty years ago, the Ecumenical Movement was endorsed and encouraged by all the main Churches. Courses and conferences were organised and promoted. Interchurch services were soon commonplace. Theological experts met to iron out their liturgical and theological differences. And these differences were not then regarded as insurmountable. Indeed, in the early 1970s, Archbishop Michael Ramsey of Canterbury forecast that the Anglican and Catholic Churches would have achieved full union within ten years. (He had the good fortune to be dead before his deadline transpired!)
So the union of the Churches was but a matter of time. However, such optimism proved to be naive. The movement soon lost its momentum. The annual prayer gatherings are now painful exercises in tokenism. The movement is now reduced to motley crews huddled in cold Churches on a week night in January, the only bit of colour provided but the gaudy gear of the vanquished vicars and bored bishops. Weak tea and two Marietta biscuits are usually provided to wash it all down.
Presumably, in the days following, the local bishop sits at his desk and reports the gathering to Rome, the sub-text being: "We have once more done our bit for Christian unity." Some bureaucrat in the Vatican will enter this into a log, and, when all the reports have come in, the universal picture will look rosy indeed. The exercise is now cosmetic. In reality, Ecumenism is dead in the water! It the mind of the bureaucrat and the book-keeper, ecumenism was still alive and kicking gloriously.
Thankfully, Ecumenism has fared better in other countries. In Britain, Northern Europe and the States, Interchurch relations have gone beyond the stage of politeness to a meaningful exchange of services and, in the case of hospital chaplains for example, to one of mutual supply. In other words, it amounts to a mutual recognition of the full validity of each others ministries. Significantly, ecumenism seems to fare better where our own Church, the Roman Catholic Church, is in the minority. This is certainly true of England and northern Europe. And a generosity given from a position of strength is far more impressive than a generosity emanating from a position of weakness.
It is impossible to isolate religious factors from the various strands that go to make up our life and culture. In our own country, ecumenism has been seriously burdened by historical baggage. For example, land ownership was a particularly nasty bone of contention here. But how many of us now remember a time when 'good land was Protestant land'? And yet factors such as this continue to poison the ecumenical springs! Sadly, memory can be far more potent than present reality.
As the majority Church, the obligation to be generous rests primarily with us. We should now acknowledge that historical factors rather than doctrinal matters keep us apart. Because, in an increasingly secular age, domestic bickering about issues that are long dead, or indeed about theological points that are no longer obvious, will appear as silly and petty, a real scandal! At a time when the Christian faith is receding generally, this is a scandal the Churches can ill-afford.
-Dick Lyng.
New Year's Resolution still intact?
This is Day 19! How are you getting on? Have the withdrawal symptoms abated somewhat? Or are you still chewing at the four legs of the kitchen table? Time Magazine gave cigarettes cover treatment at the beginning of the year. They had some interesting statistics on the percentage of adults who smoke in European countries. (Ireland wasn't mentioned, though I do think the figure is 25%, putting us on par with Italy).
Meanwhile, that magazine recalled how cigarettes were regarded as medicinal in Victorian times was impressive indeed! An impressive variety of maladies were banished by a good smoke: Asthma, wheezing, Winter Cough and Hay Fever. Indeed, the ads claimed at the time, 'with a little perseverance, a permanent cure will be effected!'
I particularly liked the line: 'Harmless in their action, they may be safely smoked by ladies and children!' Naive times! Incidentally, if you have fallen back into your old fuming habits, do not despair. The season of sackcloth will kick off with Ash Wednesday, March 5th, and is a mere six weeks away!
Before You Go........
An old Rabbi was lying dangerously ill in his bed and his disciples were holding a reverend, whispered conversation by his bedside. They were extolling his unrivalled virtues.
"Not since the time of Solomon has there been one as wise as he," said one of them tearfully. "And his faith! It equals that of our father Abraham!" said another. "Surely his patience surpasses that of Job," said a third. "Only in Moses can we find someone who conversed as intimately with God," said a fourth.
The rabbi seemed restless. When his disciples had gone, his wife said to him, "Did you actually hear them sing your praises?"
"I did indeed," said the rabbi
"Then why are you so worried?" asked the wife.
"My modesty," complained the rabbi. "Not one of them mentioned my great modesty!"
-From "Taking Flight", by Anthony de Mello.
After-Glow
The dusk of evening comes on. Earlier a little rain
had fallen. You open a drawer and find inside
the man's photograph, knowing he had only two years
to live. He doesn't know this, of course,
that's why he can mug for the camera.
How could he know what's taking root in his head
at that moment? If one looks to the right
through boughs and tree trunks, there can be seen
crimson patches of the after-glow. No shadows, no
half-shadows. It is still and damp....
The man goes on mugging. I put the picture back
in its place along with the others and give
my attention instead to the after-glow along the far ridge,
light golden on the roses in the garden.
Then, I can't help myself, I glance once more
at the picture. The wink, the broad smile,
the jaunty slant of the cigarette.
-Raymond Carver.
Home