MID SUMMER FESTIVAL, 2003
- PROGRESS REPORT: As I write these words the first function of our Mid Summer Festival is well under way and a reasonable crowd has gathered in the church. The poets and songsters are in full flight. The ivories are being tickled delightfully. The tea and coffee is brewing in the kitchen. A few bottles of wine have been opened. A promising start to the week indeed! And, most blessed relief of all, it is a pleasant Summer's evening without a hint of rain. Let's hope it keeps that way for tomorrow.
- THANKS TO ONE AND (NEARLY) ALL: Fabulous work was done during the week. Of course in extending gratitude to people for work done, we always run the risk of omitting names. This is particularly true when a project is a 'Team Effort' as is our Mid Summer Festival. Thanks to Ray and Peter for cleaning up the car park. To Mary O Hící, Margaret Cunnane, Hedy Gibbons and Margaret Cunnignham for the fabulous floral display in the Church. To Bernadette, Gearóidín & Annmarie for the 'water effect' in the sanctuary. To Peter Cunnane for the beautiful posters and more mundane tickets! To John Quinn and Tom Kenny for the very effective publicity. To Mary and Brenda for securing and delivering the supplies; to Fin, Peter and Gearóid for the music; to Peter O'Neill for his organisation and execution of the barbecue! To Freeneys, the King's Head, the Olde Malt, the Ardilaun Hotel, and Fat Freddy's for their generosity in supporting our festival. And, above all, to Gerry Ferguson for being the hands and brain behind most of the stuff that happens in the Augustinian. And, to those I have no doubt omitted, sorry. It wasn't intentional!
AS I WAS SAYING...
Two weeks ago, I wrote the following lines in this column:"In the coming weeks I guarantee you that sport will be elevated to a whole new pitch in this country. I don't think we are quite prepared for what we are about to witness! I am writing of course of the forthcoming Special Olympics. 7,000 athletes with special abilities will descend upon the country. They will come from every corner of the earth and will be hosted by the large and small towns of Ireland. The primary emphasis will be on participation rather than victory. This is of course the original Olympian ideal. And that ideal will be visibly written on the beaming faces of the delightful participants."It was even better than I had anticipated. The athletes were joyous participants. They gave of their best and they were obviously thrilled to do so. And victory was celebrated with ecstatic abandonment! Those who visited Dublin for the games remarked on the 'carnival atmosphere' that had been introduced into that snarling city by these smiling visitors.
For over thirty years now, Jean Vanier, a French Canadian Catholic, has lived in community with people who have learning disabilities (see below). He has been their great advocate, their apostle. He has written extensively on the plight of those with learning difficulties and disabilities of all kinds. Vanier holds that those with learning disabilities have much to teach the rest of humanity. The most obvious thing the have to teach us is the art of celebration. Because they are so unselfconscious, they are hardly concerned at all about 'what others will think'.
Our modern culture no longer knows how to celebrate. It knows about 'parties', where one eats, drinks, laughs, and meets other people. It knows about leisure activities: television, shows, sport, dances, games, books, and so on. But, according to Vanier, it still does not know what true celebration is!
Celebration is a cry of joy, and acknowledgement that our lives are woven together; it is the joyful recognition that we are bonded together with one another as part of the same body, that our differences represent a treasure and a richness, and that we can let down the barriers that keep us apart. Celebration is a reality of community. Its purpose is not to prove anything. It is simply the pinnacle of community life, be it a family, a religious community, a parish, or whatever. And forges a deeper unity.
A community which no longer celebrates its joy at being together and open to others is a dying community. It is held together only by rules and regulations, perhaps even promises and vows. But it has lost its soul. It is only a skeleton.
The Special Athletes certainly knew how to celebrate. But they would be the first to concede that rarely is celebration spontaneous. Hours and hours of energy went into their preparations. Those involved in our Mid Summer Festival are familiar with that pattern too. Celebration comes at the end of some really hard work. But in the hard slog of preparation, the community is being built up.
Finally, thanks to all who so unselfishly prepared for this Summer Festival. I know you will consider a mighty celebration on Saturday night a just reward for your 'labours of love'. May you have it!
-Dick Lyng.
FOR YOUR ATTENTION
- AUGUSTINIAN ASSEMBLY: The Irish Augustinians are gathering for Mid Chapter one week from today, on Sunday July 6th at 6.30pm in Limerick. The Assembly will continue until the following Wednesday evening, July 9th. We are all expected to attend. This of course means that there will be no priest in the house here for those few days. So there will be no 6.30 Sunday evening Mass on Sunday next, July 6th.
- WEEKDAY ARRANGEMENTS: We will discuss this matter in some detail after the Mass today. We have three Masses on weekdays: 8.30, 10.00 and 11.00. These Masses are all very well attended, with the 11.00 proving the most popular. So there will be no Masses on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of the week beginning July 6th. There are a number of options ope to us: simply go to Mass in some other church for these three days. (There is no shortage of churches in Galway). Hold a Service of the Word and Communion once a day, or three times a day? We will explore these possibilities with you in the course of the week and we will notify you of the arrangements on Sunday next.
- NEW LIST OF READERS: I have been asked to call your attention to the new list of readers just published
JEAN VANIER
A Canadian, born in Geneva, Jean Vanier is one of five children of the Governor-General of Canada, George Vanier and his wife, Pauline. At the age of thirteen, Vanier joined the Royal Naval College in England. After serving as an officer, Vanier resigned his commission in 1950.
Sometime after his resignation from the military, Vanier joined a small community, l'Eau Vive, directed by the French Dominican Thomas Philippe. L'Eau Vive was a community of lay students, situated in a poor area near Paris. The aim of L'Eau Vive was to offer opportunity for prayer and the study of metaphysics which would strengthen and support a deeper commitment to Christian faith. Shortly after his arrival at l'Eau Vive, Vanier was asked to direct the community. In 1962, Vanier successfully completed his doctorate in philosophy and began a career as a professor of moral philosophy.
THE COMMUNITY OF L'ARCHE
He soon began to visit a large institution for mentally handicapped men at Le Val Fleuri. Vanier was convinced that there was a better way of 'treating' the handicapped. He bought a small house which he called l'Arche, the Ark - Noah's Ark - a symbol of refuge, diversity and hope. He welcomed two mentally handicapped men, Raphael and Philippe, into his home on 4 August 1964. Thus was the Ark set to sail. From the seed sown in Trosly-Breuil in August 1964, l'Arche has grown to include over seventy communities world-wide, representing over two hundred family-like homes. Small in number, loose in structure (yet high on organization), the communities of l'Arche are founded upon the belief in the uniqueness and sacredness of each person, whether handicapped or not. Motivated by the gospel Beatitudes, the gifts of each person are to be nurtured and called forth with predilection for the poorest, weakest, and most wounded in community and society.
THE MEANING OF HEART
At the core of the life and work of l'Arche communities is a belief in the uniqueness and sacredness of each person, regardless of handicap. Such a belief is related to Vanier's own understanding of the person as a being constituted at a fundamental level by what he calls heart. For Vanier, the person is the heart. It is an understanding which is deeply rooted in the tradition of Roman Catholic theology and spirituality. He spells out an understanding of heart by analyzing human needs of an affective sort. The primary affective needs are, according to Vanier, for light, life and love This is the philosophy upon which his entire work and life is founded.
Today there are 103 l'Arche communities throughout the world. Vanier's vision is based on the conviction that we must accept others as they are. "Either we will continue to walk on the poor, and towards our own destruction; or walk with the poor and towards our own transfiguration in Jesus Christ." Vanier has made his choice. He now lives as a member of the l'Arche community at Trosly-Breuil. He is truly 'a saint for our time'
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