MID SUMMER FESTIVAL, 2003
- music and poetry: This will begin at 8.00pm on Friday night and will follow the now familiar pattern. That Performance Poet par excellence, Patrick Carton, will again grace us with his presence and we look forward to hearing his hilarious and melodious voice once more!
- The Church Liturgy: This will begin at the usual time of 6.30 and the theme will be 'Colour & Light'. The former aspect will be celebrated with flowers, the latter with fire.. The Mass itself will be followed by a Procession of Light from the Church to the priory car park.
- Barbecue & Party: About 250 people attended last year and we are catering for a similar number this year. Thanks to the local businesses who supplied the drink and subsidised the food. Thanks to those who have volunteered to prepare and decorate the car park. Peter O'Neill will again stoke the fires and roast the dead pig!
- CHILDREN'S FANCY DRESS: Remember the variety of categories for the Fancy Dress competition: (a): Toddlers; (b) 4/5 years; (c) 6/7 years; (d) 8/9 years; (e) 10/11 years; (f) 12/13 yeas; (g) 14/15 years. There is no particular theme, so feel free to opt for whatever you fancy! Take the kids along to the Mass in their 'fancy' gear. Some very attractive prizes are on offer.
- MAGIC SHOW: Paddy Meaney did this 'turn' for us in former years. But he has, alas, dispatched his Large White Rabbit to the knackers' yard. However, the good news is that he has bequeathed his Magician's Hat to Billy Cleary. Billy will mesmerise the children (and some adults!) with a dazzling array of deceptive tricks. He will begin soon after the Liturgy.
AS I WAS SAYING...
Four years ago now this humble Newsletter protested about the filthy conditions of the area surrounding the Augustinian Church. We stated publicly that the precincts of the Church was being used shamelessly as a convenient dumping ground. The main offenders were some businesses and residents in the immediate locality. We took the precaution of contacting the Galway Corporation. We made creative use of the national media to shame the offenders into compliance. We actually returned bags of rubbish to the premises from which they originated and explained to the confused owners why we were not best pleased! Their glazed eyes spoke of utter incomprehension. What are those nooks around the Church for if not for holding rubbish? Is that not the role of the Church?
In addition to those who live and work in the locality, some people of leisure tend to congregate at the seat set into the Church building on the St. Augustine Street. A seminar of sorts is conducted there on most days. As with all seminars, an impressive amount of debris is left in its wake: beer cans, wine bottles, discarded sandwich wrappings, cigarette ends, and the general detritus that follows on all energetic intellectual endeavour! We appealed to the Corporation to remove the centre of attraction from there, the seat itself. The Corporation had, some time ago, removed similar seats from Buttermilk Walk for similar reasons. But they have -by default- insisted on this one remaining. And as long as it does remain there, litter will continue to be a problem there.
It came as no surprise to us here in St. Augustine's to learn that Galway was judged 'Dirtiest City' in the country. Areas in the immediate vicinity of St. Augustine's Church were singled out for special mention! The Railway Stations too, the point at which first and most lasting impressions are made, received the accolade as the dirtiest railway stations in Ireland. There really is no excuse for that.
A couple of years ago, amid much fanfare, the fine for public littering was multiplied. Some of you may recall Senior Counsel Paddy MacEntee being caught by a TV camera discarding a cigarette butt as he made his way into the Courts. The hapless Senior Counsel was pursued by the long arm of the law. He was fined for his misdemeanours. How many similar prosecutions were brought in Galway? Were any? The same law is blatantly flouted in a far more serious manner every single weekend outside St. Augustine's Church. The evidence is there in abundance. The offending bags contain, we must presume, items addressed to the offenders. What has been done? How many prosecutions have taken? NOT A SINGLE ONE! Then we wonder why Galway is top of the league when it comes to dirt and litter! The answer is simple: we are just not sufficiently interested to address the problem effectively.
I am not for a moment dumping all the blame on the shoulders of the Corporation. There is a 'civic vacuum' in Irish life. I feel at liberty throw my beer cans, my chewing gum and my cigarette butts on the public thoroughfare. I wouldn't dare throw them in my own private garden. Why?
-Dick Lyng.
SUMMER FESTIVAL
- MEETING: We will have a very brief meeting after the 11.00 Mass today in connection with the forthcoming festival. The meeting will consist of a 'preview of events'. Have we got enough 'hands-on-deck' for the various tasks? For example, do we need to clean up the car park? If so, who shall do it? When will they do it? When we assemble for this short meeting, I'm sure many other such questions will suggest themselves.
- TICKETS: Tickets can be purchased after Masses today, from the Priory Office during the week, or at the gate on the night of the Festival itself. We would prefer if you could purchase them in good time since that would give us some rough idea of the numbers we must cater for. There are two types of ticket, Family (€10) and Individual (€5). But do please bear in mind that, according to the very recent census returns, the average Irish family is now 1.6 children!
- POSTERS: Peter Cunnane manufactured (conjured up?) some beautiful, colourful posters to promote the Festival. Perhaps you could take one or two of those away and post them in some prominent place. Shop windows and church notice boards are just two obvious examples of places that will attract attention.
- FLOWERS: The church floral display is now an important and integral part of our Mid Summer Festival. In all probability, this aspect of the Festival attracts more attention than anything else. After all, the 'events' are over when they are over, so to speak, whereas the floral display lasts for a week or more. In fact the display, which is usually in place in the days prior to the festival acts as a great advertiser and promoter. Consequently, more people witness the floral display than any other Festival event.
- CAR PARK: Parking has always been a headache for those coming to the Festival. We are almost certain that we have solved the problem for this year. We have secured the car park in St. Patrick's School, the park we use every Sunday. I will be in touch with you all by letter during the week confirming this.
Life in all its Fullness
The Bishops' Conference has issued a Pastoral Letter to mark the European Year of People with Disabilities and the Special Olympics World Summer games. It carries a quotation from Nelson Mandela (see below) the first democratically elected President of South Africa: "We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone." The Pastoral is available in the church porch.
NELSON MANDELA
Galway, and Ireland, was privileged this week to play host to Nelson Mandela, the most revered public figure in the world of our day. That reverence did not fall from the skies. It was hard earned!
Mandela's brush with the law began in 1962 when he left the country unlawfully and travelled abroad for several months. In Ethiopia he addressed the Conference of the Pan African Freedom Movement. Not long after his return to South Africa Mandela was arrested and charged with illegal exit from the country.
Since he considered the prosecution a trial of the aspirations of the African people, Mandela decided to conduct his own defence. He immediately challenged the political system by declaring that he owed no duty to obey the laws of a white parliament in which he was not represented. Mandela prefaced this challenge with the affirmation: I detest racialism, because I regard it as a barbaric thing, whether it comes from a black man or a white man.
Mandela was convicted and sentenced to five years imprisonment. While serving his sentence he was charged, in the Rivonia Trial, with sabotage. Mandela's statements in court during these trials are classics in the history of resistance to apartheid. His statement from the dock in the Rivonia Trial ends with these words:
I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment in the notorious Robben Island Prison. While in prison, Mandela flatly rejected negotiation offers. "Prisoners cannot enter into contracts. Only free men can negotiate", he said.
Released on 11 February 1990, Mandela never wavered in his devotion to democracy, equality and learning. In a life that symbolises the triumph of the human spirit over man's inhumanity to man, Nelson Mandela accepted the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of all South Africans who suffered and sacrificed so much to bring peace to that troubled land.
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