Masses Today

6.30: Eamon Lynskey, Bowling Green, (Anniv)
11.00: Peg Tierney, Bowling Green, (Anniv)
6.30: Ellen &John Heaney, (Anniv)





Events This Week and Last






AS I WAS SAYING...

From an historical point of view, May 1st, 2004 will come to be regarded as a very significant European landmark. The EU welcomes ten 'new' European nations to its ranks, eight of them communist 'satellite splinters': Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, together with the Mediterranean islands, Cyprus and Malta. Ireland is at the centre of this momentous event. Who would have thought, twenty years ago, that the fall of communism would have had such a benign outcome?

The more recent stages of the process began with the election of a Polish Pope in 1979. Through that act, the first brick was removed from the Berlin Wall. Poland was the first to overthrow its communist leadership. 'Solidarity', representing the shipyard workers of Gdansk, and led by Lech Walesa, was to the fore. But all the time in the background, like a skilled puppeteer, was John Paul II. From the beginning, he advocated the reunification of Europe, 'the restoration of Europe's second lung'. When all the doctrinal detritus of his reign has receded from memory, his part in the fall of communism will shine out like a beacon. This week, Walsea reflected on the origins and the outcome: he gave 50 per cent of the credit to the pope, 30 per cent to Solidarity and himself, and the remaining 20 per cent to the politicians of the time: Kohl, Regan and Gorbachev.

Yesterday then, 25 Heads of State were in Dublin for a ceremony to mark the historic enlargement. All over Europe the event was celebrated with concerts, exhibitions, and so on. It's not only historic, it's momentous because peace and democracy were not characteristic of Europe in the 20th century.

The European Union dream, born in the immediate aftermath of World War II, has become an international project in conflict transformation. This weekend we reach another stage in the healing of past divisions, Europe's dreadful internal legacy of inhumanity, death camps, gas chambers, brutality, war and violence. This weekend Europe celebrates its peace, democracy and larger sense of belonging. How well do we live with this larger sense of belonging? Can our Christian faith enhance positive diversity? We are no less Irish, English, Scottish, Welsh, French, Spanish for being European. And yet we tend to reduce everything to 'us and them', with 'us' being superior. Yet each of us in ourselves is a multiplicity of identities. Irish, Norman, British, and European blood runs in most of our veins. As Europe knows to its cost, the notion of 'racial purity' is highly dangerous.

St. Paul was an inveterate traveller and a prolific writer. He describes himself as Jewish, Greek, Roman, even belonging to the tribe of Benjamin. All of these strands of identity made up who he was and he was proud of all of them. He wrote one particular letter to people in Rome. The letter struggles with issues of conflict and identity. As Paul tries to help deeply divided people find an equality of status in their legitimate and different ethnicities, he also writes of the impartiality of God. This is not just a theological affirmation but also a profoundly social affirmation. This is why the climax or punch line of Paul's letter to the Romans has something important to say this weekend of European enlargement: 'Welcome one another as God has welcomed you'.

-Dick Lyng.




FR NIALL O'BRIEN

With the death of Fr. Niall O' Brien (64) this week, the missionary Church in particular has lost a talented and courageous man. Ordained on December 21, 1963 he was assigned to the island of Negros in the Philippines and has worked there for the last forty years. His death occurred in Pisa, Italy where he was receiving treatment for a bone marrow deficiency.

Though remembered for his defence of human rights and the promotion of social justice, Fr. Niall was never just a one-issue man. Prior to getting involved in education for justice, he had already established a very successful in-service training for Christian community leaders. He also set up a model community based on the Jewish kibbutz system co-operation. He was an innovator, someone with great imagination and flair for new approaches to pastoral issues. He excelled in local language of Negros and was at the forefront of providing translations of the church liturgy in the vernacular. Moreover his work for justice emphasised active non-violence. He was one of the founder members of Pax Christi in the Philippines and received a peace award for Peace through advocacy and conflict resolution.

Niall is probably best remembered for the 'Negros nine' murder trial. He was accused along with Fr Brian Gore and seven Filipinos of the murder of the local Mayor. The trial took place over a period of 17 months from February '83 to July '84. After 50 court appearances the charges were finally dismissed when the chief witness for the prosecution admitted to fabricating the evidence. The trumped up charges were an attempt to silence the prophetic voice of Niall and his companions who were engaged in a campaign of social justice for sugar workers. International pressure soon grew on the Martial Law government of President Marcos who ordered their release.

After his release in 1984 Niall wrote two books: Seeds of injustice, and Revolution from the Heart, his philosophy of active non-violence. On his return to the Philippines in 1987, he put to good use his considerable writing and communication skills to establish a mission magazine similar to the Far East magazine we have in Ireland. He wished to provide a platform for the 2000 Filipino missionaries, priests, sisters, and lay people, to tell their story to a local audience. About three years ago he was diagnosed as having a serious deficiency of the bone marrow, which necessitated his return to Ireland for treatment. Undaunted he continued to edit the magazine for a further eighteen months until a new editor was appointed.

Despite his illness Niall insisted on returning to the Philippines and threw himself into a new publishing venture, a review for diocesan priests. He had completed the first issue when his health began to deteriorate. For the last few months he had been receiving treatment at the medical faculty of the university of Pisa in Italy where a new procedure for the illness offered hope for recovery. Regrettably, this was not to be. For others, however, Niall has left a legacy of inspiration, integrity and courage. The Columban Society and the church are greatly diminished by the death of this enormously courageous man.






OSCAR ROMERO'S PRAYER

It helps now and then to step back
And take a long view.
The Kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
It is even beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction
Of the magnificent enterprise that is God' s work.
Nothing we do is complete,
Which is another way of saying
That the Kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No programme accomplishes the Church' s mission
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

That is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted,
Knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces effects
Far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything,
And there is a sense of liberation in realising that.
This enables us to do something,
And to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but is a beginning,
A step along the way,
An opportunity for the Lord' s grace to enter
And do the rest.
We may never see the end results,
But that is the difference between
The master builder and the worker.

We are workers, not master builders,
Ministers not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.

-Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, murdered in 1980.






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