Masses Today

6.30: Deceased members of the Byrne family.
11.00: Anne & James Sharkey, (Anniv)
6.30: Martin Jennings, (Anniv)

AS I WAS SAYING...

Every generation seems to view its immediate successor as 'decadent'. The glance over the shoulder is invariably censorious. Jealousy may play its part. Maybe we hate to see people enjoy themselves with an exuberance that we old fogies can no longer muster! So all judgements on the younger generation should be tempered with a keen awareness of this pessimistic, jaundiced streak.

Having said that, society (and the Church) would be silly -even culpable- to ignore some very obvious alarm bells. Judges are by and large a sober, non-alarmist lot. They have daily access to the sordid side of life and they are not easily shocked. So when one from among them begins to sound the alarm bells, should the rest of us not at least sniff the air? Judge Mary Martin holds court in the midlands and the south-east, the heartland of rural Ireland. Such one-horse-towns as Athy, Castlecomer and Portarlington fall within her jurisdiction. Yet, according to Judge Martin, in these small towns children as young as 13 and 14 are bombed on heroin now. "Last March in Portlaoise Juvenile court I had seven teenagers before me in their school uniforms on charges of possessing heroin." Gardai later confirmed this. The good judge went on the make the following observation: "If a measure of a good night out is how many drinks you can drink, how much you vomited, how many you shifted or shagged, then we need to look at what is happening and know it can only end in misery."

Former journalist and present Ombusman, Emily O'Reilly, had remarkably similar matters on her mind this week too. She criticised what she saw as the vulgarity of today's Ireland.

"Many of us, if we have any developed sensibility, recoil at the vulgar fest that is much of modern Ireland," she said. She described features of that "fest" as "the rampant, unrestrained drunkenness; the brutal, random violence that infects the smallest of our townlands and villages; the incontinent use of foul language with no thought to place or company; the obscene parading of obscene wealth; the debasement of civic life; the growing disdain of the wealthy towards the poor; the fracturing of our community life."

There was, she said, "a moral poverty" in Ireland today which had resulted from "the staggeringly swift creation of a society in which we are increasingly neutral in our judgments of all sorts of objectively bad behaviour, be it infidelity, the abandonment of families, loutish behaviour on the sports field, under age sexual behaviour. Those who indulge are, bizarrely, more likely to be feted than condemned. Punch someone's lights out, wreck your head with Class A drugs, and you're more likely to appear on a chat show than a court bench."

She suggested "it would be good if we recognised the new religions of sex and drink and shopping for what they are, and tiptoed back to the churches. It may not even be necessary to believe. It may be sufficient just to remind ourselves of some of the universal truths about charity, decency and how to live a good life, all of which are contained in the teachings of the major religions."

These two women have been in the public eye for a long, long time. But they could not be regarded as 'old fogies'. Ironically, if such views were expressed by the clergy, they would have evinced yawns only. ('They would say that, wouldn't they!') The voice of the responsible lay person is more effective by far. And that is as it should be. After all, it is their kids who must face the future.

-Dick Lyng.

AUGUSTINE'S BIRTHDAY

St Augustine was born in Tagaste, North Africa on November 13th, 353. Therefore, Saturday next is the 1,650th anniversary of his birth. This Jubilee is being celebrated next weekend in all places where the Augustinian Order has a presence. We will do our bit here in Galway too. We will celebrate the Mass of St. Augustine at all Masses on Sunday next and we will devote particular attention to the works of St. Augustine in our homilies and Prayers of the Faithful. We are in the process of preparing special wall banners for the church here on that day; we will also distribute colourful Prayer Cards containing prayers composed by the saint himself. We will mark the event in a more comprehensive way during the Season of Advent.

EVENTS THIS WEEK AND LAST

ADVENT PROGRAMME

Advent begins this year on Sunday, November 28th, that is three weeks from today. Earlier in the year a number of people requested some 'Programme of Preparation' for Advent itself. They expressed the view that our Christmas preparations now are directed towards a material celebration to the detriment of a spiritual preparation. So this year we will kill two birds with the one stone: we will mark the Jubilee of Augustine and prepare for Advent at the same time. We will hold three separate sessions on three Tuesday nights of Advent:

  1. "Augustine: Today and His Day" on Tuesday November 30th. This session will attempt to draw parallels between the world of Augustine and our own day. "No one can call back yesterday" he told his congregation, "because today has tomorrow hard on its heels!"
  2. " Searching For God" on Tuesday December 7th. Augustine did not present himself for baptism until he was 33 years old. He had lived with a woman (partner!) for many years and they had a son, Adeodatus, together. He tells us that he often prayed the following prayer: " Give me chastity, Lord, but not yet!" Retrospectively, he viewed all this wandering as 'the search for God' . This session will explore Augustine's search and strive to related it to our own day.
  3. " Creating Community" on Tuesday, December 14th. Augustine viewed Community as the answer to the isolation and fragmentation that marked his world. " We are all classmates in the school of Christ" he told his congregation at Hippo more than once. We will see if his ideas have anything to say to us.

All three sessions will begin at 8.00 and last about 70 minutes.

CHRISTMAS MIDNIGHT MASS

The matter of Midnight Mass on Christmas night came up for discussion at our recent meeting. A number of people felt rather strongly that 12.00 Midnight was too late for people (such as the choir) who are expected to be back in again for the 11.00 Mass on the following day. Had a vote been taken at the meeting, I have no doubt that a decision to change would have been carried. However, a case can be made for opting for the status quo and keeping to the midnight hour.

  1. Midnight Mass in the Augustinian is still very well attended. Is it wise to fool around with something that is working so well? 'If it's not broke, don't fix it.' Midnight is a traditional time and those who come to us here at the Augustinian Church for that particular Mass come because it is at that time.
  2. 10.00 or 10.30 were the alternative times suggested at the meeting. Most city churches now hold their 'Midnight' Mass at earlier times. By moving back to an earlier time, are we simply following the crowd? Should we not be offering an alternative? (To be fair, I should add that the Claddagh and St. Patrick's still have the Midnight Mass.)
  3. Many of those who attend Midnight Mass are visitors. Is it fair to surprise them with a 'show over' notice!
  4. Next Christmas (2005) we will be celebrating Mass in a renovated church. Is that not a better time to break with tradition?

Having said all that, if the majority of parishioners and members of our congregations express the wish for a change, we will change without hesitation. Despite what I have said above, I believe the advocates of change have a very strong case.

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