EVENTS THIS WEEK
- MEETING ON CHURCH RENOVATIONS: At 8.00pm on Monday next, July 21st, we will hold an important meeting in connection with the renovations of the church here. The committee and the Design Team have been working very hard in the background. The fruits of their labours are beginning to show in the form of maps, plans and drawings. In effect, the drawings amount to a variety of suggestions from the Design Team as to how we should actually proceed with these renovations: what should be altered, what should be moved, what should remain, and so on. So if you wish your viewpoint to be heard, it is vital that you come along to this meeting. The meeting is intended for all interested parties. (i.e. it is not confined to members of the Steering Committee or even to parishioners).
- GATHER MUSIC PROJECT: You may recall that Fr. Frankie Lee was the driving force behind a drama production in the Black Box in March last. 'Agapé, The Stories and the Feast', offers a fresh perspective on Christian ritual using contemporary music, drama, dance and visual animation. The re-run has come about by popular demand and it will be staged for two nights only at St. Nicholas' Collegiate Church, Market Street on Tuesday, 22nd and 23rd July at 8.00pm. Tickets can be purchased from Zhivago for €12. Because of the religious nature of the show, they are very dependant on the support of parishes.
AS I WAS SAYING...
The week gone by was hard work. But it was also great fun, as indeed all amateur play-acting is intended to be. We never took ourselves too seriously in matters dramatic (even if others did!) In all, up to forty people were involved in the production of our play this year in some capacity. And the ages of the actors ranged from four years to.........well, let's say somewhat older!
As you will read later, the production was not without its drama, so to speak! If we set a high premium on the quiet life, we would never put on a play in the church. Neither would we if we paid attention to those cranks and crackpots who would claim to have privileged access tor the 'divine ear!' They terrorised the Church and Church people for far too long!
This is our fourth year putting on a drama to coincide with the Galway Arts Festival. The annual production of a 'parish play' is a positive exercise for at least three reasons. First, it gathers people together for a common purpose. And there is great variety in the gathering: musicians, those gifted with their hands, those with fertile imagination, and of course those endowed with boundless energy and enthusiasm.
People who had never met before (indeed some who had never been inside the doors of St. Augustine's before) became firm friends over the four weeks of rehearsal and preparation. And, if past experience is anything to go by, they will remain firm friends, and friends of St. Augustine's. So the production of the annual play is, first and foremost, an exercise in community building. It draws people together who would not normally find themselves in each others company.
The second positive 'by-product' of the exercise is educational in a 'soft sense'. Two years ago we staged three medieval mystery plays. While they were great fun, they were also very informative. I think we all got a real feel for the centrality of the Church in the lives of our medieval ancestors. We were also afforded an insight into the way in which the medieval guilds operated.
This year we concentrated on a more localised theme: the history of Medieval Galway and the not inconsiderable contribution made by our Augustinian predecessors. James Hardiman's 'History of Galway' was our bible! I have no doubt but that some people went away from the show better informed than they had been prior to it. Learning something new is a risk we run every day!
Finally, it helps in a very small way to break down the barriers that have arisen between the artistic community and the Catholic Church. Obviously, an amateur, parochial show will make no great inroads into the mutual suspicion that envelops both communities. This is a mere gesture. Through staging a play in the church, we are showing our appreciation to the artistic community for the great work they have done in Galway down the years. We acknowledge that their work is life-giving, that it makes our city a more humane, vibrant and civilised place. But, above all, we are making the point that, in the course of this Arts Festival, the Church is no longer sitting in the wings spitting out her disapproval; instead, she has taken to the stage and got in on the act! Enjoy the festival!
-Dick Lyng.
FREEMASONS UNMASKED
A window cleaner who believes the Catholic Church is being infiltrated by Freemasons was arrested by gardai after he took umbrage at a play being staged in a church as part of the Galway Arts Festival.
Scottish-born William Doogan (43), of Old Devon Park, Salthill, Galway, protested against a play entitled "The Trouble with Wardens." It's a history of Galway and is presented by the Augustinian Play Actors' Guild at a fringe event held in the Augustinian Church. After Mr Doogan viewed the premiere on Monday night he became concerned at what he claimed was its blasphemous content and he interrupted proceedings the following night.
He was arrested for breaching the peace in a public place. Doogan protested his innocence at Galway District Court yesterday. He told Judge Michael Connellan he believed the Catholic Church was being infiltrated at its highest level by Freemasons who were taking over by stealth.
He then launched into a sermon in the witness box and when he refused to be quiet, Judge Connellan asked gardai to remove him.
In his absence from the court, Judge Connellan said Doogan was "a nutter", who needed help. He refused to send him to prison and said he thought more of the people in Castlerea than to send the accused down to them.
Doogan was brought back into the court where Judge ConnelIan remanded him on bail for one week, on condition that he stay away from the Augustinian Church.
-Ann Healy in The Irish Independent, 17-07-03.
OLD NOTES AND COINS
Old coins and notes still show up in our shrines. Trócaire would be delighted to have them. Last year they collected over €100,000 in this way. They will collect old notes and coins from diocesan office on August 12th. If you left the loot in the Priory Office before then, we would ensure their delivery.
FR PETER McVERRY, S.J.
Few people live to see their name become synonymous with a cause. Father Peter McVerry is one of them. For over 24 years, he has been a public champion of the young homeless, and a passionate champion of those who lack the clout to expose one of the great scandals of contemporary Ireland. In articles, interviews, sermons and Summer schools he has confronted the Irish people with the shame of homelessness in a society that has the means to eliminate it ready to hand. The price, or as he might argue, the prize of his outspokenness has been that he himself has sometimes been cast in the role of prophetic outsider, a nuisance, someone people wish would just go away; an ironic turn of events given that homelessness lies at the very heart of the Christian narrative in both a literal and a figurative sense. A room at the inn remains a dream for many.
A Northerner by birth, Peter McVerry had what he describes himself as a privileged middle class upbringing. On leaving school he entered the Jesuit order, secured a science degree at UCD and taught for some years at Belvedere College. In 1974, the Jesuit order was given a flat at Summerhill in Dublin's North Inner City: Peter McVerry volunteered to join the small community there. Here he came face to face with a cycle of disadvantage and deprivation. What he saw challenged his values, the theology he had been taught and his faith.
The lessons learnt in Summerhill set the agenda and the parameters for his future ministry. A youth club was set up to address this issue as was a craft enterprise producing belts, braces and bands which were sold at fairs, carnivals and shows throughout the country. In 1983 he set up a hostel for 16 to 18 year olds in Ballymun. Since then, Father McVerry's network has grown exponentially and now comprises four flats in Ballymun, houses in Glasnevin and Drumcondra, and a detox centre in North County Dublin.
His hostels cater especially for those who fail to meet the regulations of many other hostels - that residents must be employed or be attending a course. In particular he has sought to cater for those deemed to be simply too difficult by other agencies. He deals with about 400 homeless each year.
Central to his Christianity is each individual's God-given and infinite dignity. This dignity is currently not experienced by homeless young. Their typical impression is one of not being wanted. The entire thrust of McVerry's crusade on behalf of the young homeless has been to re-affirm and restore to them this sense of their dignity and value. Society measures success using status and finance as yardsticks. He has championed a vision of success that focuses on a sense of self worth that results from holding down a job, a stable relationship, securing independent accommodation, overcoming a drug or alcohol dependency.
His prophetic stance on behalf of the powerless has inevitably lead to him being cast in the role of dissident outsider. Happily, this is a role he is content to occupy for the foreseeable future. Ireland, and its young people, sorely need this passionate man.
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