EVENTS THIS WEEK
- THE TAIBHDHEARC THEATRE: A variety concert in aid of the Augustinian Mission in Ecuador will be held on Monday and Tuesday nights, October 27th and 28th in the theatre at 8.00pm. It features -among others- the Augustinian Church Choir, St. Patrick's School Band and many of Galway's leading artistes. The concert will be preceded by a wine reception. at 7.30. Admission: €15.
- ALL SOULS DAY: The 11.00 Mass on Sunday November 2nd will be a special Mass commemorating all the Faithful Departed. After the gospel, our relatives and family members who died in the course of the last year will be remembered in a special way. A candle bearing their name will be lighted and placed upon the altar rails. (We would appreciate your assistance in compiling this list of names. Please alert us early in the week since we will need to have the name printed off and mounted on a special candle). In former years we tended to confine the list to people buried from the Augustinian. This year, however, you are free to list any member of your family who died during the year, regardless of whether they were buried from the Augustinian or not. Again, we would appreciate any assistance you can offer in the preparation of that Service.
- WINTER FAYRE: Galway Early Music Society will hold their annual Winter Fayre at St. Nicholas' Church from 10.00am to 2.00pm. The event will raise some much-needed funds for the Autism Parents Group, as well as for the Music Society itself. A raffle, with a great range of prizes will be conducted also. Entry donation is €5 and this includes a slice of cake, vast quantities of mulled wine, and more music than you are capable of absorbing!
REMEMBRANCE RITUALS
- CEMETERY SUNDAY: Next Sunday, November 2nd is of course also Cemetery Sunday in Forthill. Mass for all those buried in the cemetery will be celebrated there 12.30, followed by a Blessing of the Graves.
- NOVEMBER DEAD LIST: Just to remind you that the November Dead List envelopes are still available beside the sacristy door. Just write down the names of the faithful departed and they will be remembered at the 11.00 Mass each day during the month of November.
- TREE OF REMEMBRANCE: For the last few years we have been a "Tree of Remembrance" at the top of the Church as a ritual of remembrance. It tended to work rather well. We will put this in place during the week. We will provide 'tiles' on which you may write the names of those deceased members of your family whom you would wish to have remembered by the patrons of St. Augustine's. Simply write down the names and hang them on the tree.
- CALVARY SHRINE: A Calvary 'shrine' will also be been placed near the sanctuary. You are invited to bring along momentoes of your dead relatives, like photographs and mortuary cards, rosary beads, and so on, and place them at this shrine. This is just another simple way of having your dear ones remembered in prayer in the place where they themselves once prayed.
- SUAIMHNEAS AUTUMN COURSES: A new set of courses is about to begin in Ballyloughan Road. (Phone: 753515)
»Mark's Gospel: 8.00-9.30, Monday Nov. 3, 10, 17 & 24. Facilitator: Sr. Mary Glennon. Cost...€5 per night.
»PRAYING FOR OUR DEAD: Wednesday, November 5. Please bring along a symbol of loved ones. Facilitators: Srs. Judith & Mary. Cost: €5 per night.
»WOMEN'S SPIRITUALITY: Saturday, Nov. 8, 10.00-4.30pm. Facilitator: Breda Fadden, RSM. Cost: €25.
AS I WAS SAYING...
Two women attracted much attention during the week, but for very different reasons. Mother Teresa of Calcutta, of course, was beatified. The other lady was Diana Spencer. Her life story dwindled further into tawdriness as former acquaintances and assorted hangers-on continued to 'dish the dirt' on her.
Strange as it may now seem, during life, both women was closely associated in the public imagination. Both were seen as sensitive souls who responded to the sufferings and pain of humanity. Both were revered by an admiring public. By a remarkable coincidence, both died within days of each other.
The public reaction to Diana's death took the world by surprise. Thousands shed copious tears for a woman they never met, for a woman with whom they had nothing in common, for a woman whose personal life had been anything but exemplary. Yet the public reaction to her death seems to express the hunger for meaning that so agitates modern society. The great mistake of modernity was to believe that, in the absence of religion, people would become more rational and more civilised, free of the old dogmas, superstitions and rituals that cramped the human spirit. In fact, the opposite is true. Our religious beliefs make us participants in a collective story about the world, a story in which our perspectives are enlarged as we relate our identities and values to a deeper and more enduring narrative.
Without any shared religion, modern culture has become vacuous, disjointed and incoherent. A void has been created which is easily filled by personalities with sufficient charism or status to inspire the collective imagination and allow people believe in something again, however fleeting and insubstantial that belief might be. Those who control the media are the high priests of these cults and devotions. Ultimately, it is they who decide who -or what- our culture worships or demonises, and why. The result is that we have become a society in which style, image and sentimentality have taken the place of deeper, more coherent beliefs and values.
Mother Teresa was, in the conventional sense, as saint, a living embodiment of Christ's presence in the world. She represented to us that iconic ideal, a life consecrated to Christ and radiating the love of God for the poor. For all that, it is my guess that those who publicly mourned Diana would have found Teresa's life and beliefs incomprehensible. We are now caught between two eras, suspended in anxious confusion between chapters of the human story. Diana's funeral was a strange mixture of royal pomp and populism, deference and defiance, of lingering Christian tradition and New Age whimsy. With certainties shattered, we do not know what to put in their place. So there is a kind of anarchic spontaneity, based not on deep conviction or commitment but on what looks good or feels good at the time.
-Dick Lyng.
FR PEARSE MAHONEY
Fr Pearse recovered from a very serious infection during the week. He is now recuperating at the Mystical Rose Nursing Home in Claregalway. While he remains physically weak, his spirits are very good and he has every confidence that he will regain his strength in the very near future. It is too soon to visit him yet, but please continue to remember him in your prayers. He appreciates it very much.
LIFE IN ECUADOR
We got a really wonderful welcome at the inauguration of the new Community Centre in Chone. (See some youngsters from the parish at the event). We travelled fairly extensively while there, and we received a fantastic welcome from all the communities we visited.
Chone, the headquarters of the Irish Augustinians in the country, was our base. From Chone we made many visits to small isolated communities where we experienced great hospitality. We travelled by jeep and my driving skills were certainly put to the test, but I am happy to say I survived to tell the tale!
The opening of the community centre was the highlight of our trip. It started with a Parade, which was a vibrant and colourful event. It was a gala, colourful occasion, complete with flags, buntings and much music. About 400 people attended the celebrations and a pig was slaughtered for the occasion to feed the guests. Fireworks and a dance were part of the wonderful entertainment.
My experience in Ecuador taught me that material wealth is no substitute for friendship and celebration. It was clear that a great many people live in abject poverty, by our standards at any rate. But what they had was readily shared. I will never forget the experience. It was shocking in many ways, but wonderful too.
-Concilia Whyte.
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