Events This Week
- POST-CHRISTMAS CLEAN UP: There is nothing so miserable as an unseasonal Christmas tree or an 'out of sorts' decoration. So thanks very much to all who came to the church and priory on Thursday night last for the post-Christmas clean-up. The trees were dismantled, the lights unplugged, the decorations taken down and packed away for another year. We brought the melancholic exercise to a fitting conclusion with a bottle of wine or two!
- CHRISTMAS DUES: The Christmas Dues are still coming. And, if experience is anything to go by, they will continue to come in for another two or three weeks. So, obviously, I won't be in a position to give you the final count for another couple of weeks.
- FR PEARSE O'MAHONEY: St. Patrick's Parish here in the city publish a parish magazine every year at Christmas. The late Fr. Pearse wrote an article for it every year. His usual theme was a human interest story from Nigeria, or else some 'distant memories of the days of yore' in Bohermore. His final article can be read in the most recent issue. He actually wrote it while in hospital in early November. The magazine is available in St. Patrick's Church, Forster Street.
- WORD OF THANKS: The following note arrived here from the Galway Diocesan Youth Services this week:
"On behalf of the management, staff and service users here, we wish to thank the patrons and parishioners of St. Augustine's for the extraordinary generosity shown to us through your Christmas 'Giving Tree'. It was wonderful to see the expressions of happiness on the faces of those who received the lovely gifts. They were indeed most thankful and appreciative. We wish you all many blessings for the New Year.
AS I WAS SAYING...
For the next 6 months Ireland will be central to European concerns (or Europe will be central to Irish concerns!) A European constitution will be written. God will not be mentioned there. The Christian God is not a very PC (politically correct) concept today. The unspoken assumption is the 18c Enlightenment one: we have outgrown our need for Him!
Suppose we could wind back the tape of western history more than 2,000 years and play it forward again without Christ and without Christianity. Would we be better off?
The case against Christianity is certainly impressive. It burned people at the stake for having the wrong beliefs. It plunged nations into wars because of ludicrous and impossible dogmas. It held back science. It held back progress. It fostered ignorance. It burned books. It opposed democracy. It demeaned women. It taught us to despise ourselves as sinful.
But those who say the West would have been better off without Christianity should be challenged to point to a culture which has been without Christianity, is morally superior to the West and has historically treated its people more humanely. They would be hard put to find one. Over the vast span of history most cultures have been far worse than our own and none has been much better.
History is written by the victors. We view Christian history today through the prism of the self-styled Enlightenment. Thus, when people think of Christianity, they commonly think of the Inquisition. But when they think of the Enlightenment, and the French Revolution which it inspired, they do not think of the Committee for Public Safety which presided over the Reign of Terror. For that matter they rarely consider that, while the French Revolution may have given birth to democracy, there is also a straight line leading from it to the concentration camps of the Soviet Union. If "religious man" kills people in the name of God, then "secular man" killed in the name of liberty, equality and fraternity.
But this is a negative defence of Christianity. There is a much more positive one to be made. Here is the outline of it. The best of the pagans taught the virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance. But they did not teach charity. That came to the West via Christianity. Charity humanised western culture to an extent the Romans could not even have guessed at and would probably have despised as weakness.
Christianity gave us our view of history. In the West we look upon history as going somewhere, that it is leading us to a better place. Upon this is based our idea of progress. This is nothing other than a secularised version of the idea that we are progressing towards a time when the Kingdom of God will reign on earth and that we must do what we can to prepare the way for it. That is what the saints tried to do through living lives based on charity and the imitation of Christ.
Christianity developed our idea of justice. From there also comes our idea of human rights. Created by God, each person is unique and enjoys an intrinsic dignity by virtue of being made in the image of the Creator. Take this away and we have no more rights than the beasts of the field, which is what was believed in former ages.
Christianity is in the bones of western culture. It helped to write our cultural genetic code. Even when we criticise Christianity we must draw on Christian ideas and concepts. Thank God for Christianity, literally!! But don't dare mention it!
-D.L.
BAPTISMS IN 2003
St. Augustine's has 28 babies for baptism in 2003 (28 also in 2002 and 29 in 2001). How is that for consistency! Some of you remarked that we appear to be having more baptisms now than formerly; numbers have remained consistent. But many more are now opting to have their babies baptised during the 11.00 Sunday Mass. This is surely a positive development: the sacrament is seen as a matter for the entire community. The following babies were baptised in 2003:
Donal Eamon Crowley Ardrahan January Gene David Kelly Terryland February Neil Patrick Kelly College Road February Alexander Ben Cazabon Clybaun March Margaret Ann Duffy New York March Kuku -NGirumpatse Cappagh Road April Adam Yedyour Forster St. April Elodie Ashling Edwards Wales April Ronan John Hay London April Maya Roisín Foley Cappagh Road April Emer O'Connell St. Mary's Road May Anna Maeve Donnelly Westside June Conor Lohan Dublin June Aisling Claire Carroll Renmore June Jack Fitzgerald Claddagh July Liam Ronan MacManus United Kingdom August David Gauriliak Merlin Park September Caoimhne Brigid Dobson Tuamgraney October Luke Richard Colgan Harold's Cross October Joshua Gerard Flaherty Ballybane October Gemma Eliza. McNally Tuam November Molly Kate McGrath Maunsell's Road November Róise Eileen McMahon Roscam November Anna Eliz. Davidson Oranmore November Conor Pierce Haddigan Bohermore November Daniel Steshenko Rahoon November Aoife McDonagh Lower Salthill November Jamie William Davies Athenry December The most obvious factor to be noted is that not one of the baptised babies was domiciled in St. Augustine's parish here. (That tells its own story concerning the feasibility of inner city living today). But every baby baptised had family connections with St. Augustine's. Some, now living abroad, brought their baby back to St. Augustine's for baptism. The same applies to a few parents now living in Dublin. It will be obvious from the names that some non-nationals were baptised here too. I would like to think that they were given as warm a welcome as our own people. In fact, I am certain they were.
FOUNTAIN OF KNOWLEDGE
Dear Father,We are a group of teachers who assess children (age 7-15) that may have learning difficulties in school. We can supply a follow up learning programme that suits their particular needs. We have also a learning centre open now in Galway where we provide personalised tuition programmes. We would be very grateful if you would alert your parishioners to the existence of this service, as we will be assessing children in the Galway catchment area in the coming weeks.
Kindest regards,
Michelle Wallace.
(For further information, phone 1850 214414)
ESKER RETREAT HOUSE
AVAILABLE COURSES
For further information, contact the secretary at 091-844549.
- Self Worth & Spirituality: January 17th-Day Course.
- Self Esteem for Teenagers: January 24th-Day Course.
- Self Esteem & Self Worth: February 2nd-Day Course.
- Overcoming Anger: March 13th-Day Course.
- Cana for Married Couples: March 19th-21st.
MEMORABLE QUOTES
- "Half of the modern drugs could be thrown out the window except that the birds might eat them." -Martin H. Fischer.
- "What makes equality such a difficult business is that we only want it for our superiors." Henry Becque.
- "A celebrity is a person who works hard all his life to become known, then wears dark glasses to avoid being recognised." -Fred Allen.
- "France is a country where the money falls apart in your hands and you can't tear the toilet paper." -Billy Wilder.
- "The world is a comedy to those who think, a tragedy to those who feel."-Horace Walpole.
- "It is a hard thing to believe that a man is telling the truth when you know that you would lie if you were in his place." -H. L. Mencken.
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