- The collection last Sunday was €1,290.00.
- SLANÚ cancer help centre collected €480.00 in their recent church gate collection.
- The Church Gate collection this weekend will be taken up by the Irish Pilgrimage Trust. This group runs a special pilgrimage to Lourdes for 400 handicapped children and children with special needs every year. 85 of these children come from the West of Ireland. They also run a holiday home for 'special needs' young people in Clarenbridge.
- Remember in your prayer the late Gearóid Mac Niocaill, Grattan Park, who died during the week Gearóid was former Professor of Medieval History at UCG. He attended the 11.00 Mass in the Augustinian on most Saturday mornings. Gearóid had been ill for some time. May he rest in peace.
Events This Week
- HUNGER AWARENESS CAMPAIGN: We will meet on tomorrow night, Monday, March 15th in the Priory at 8.00pm to continue our exploration of this project.
- PARISH STEERING COMMITTEE CHAIR: Cathal Cunningham has been wearing two hats (at least) since the renovations group was formed: Chair of the Steering Committee and member of the renovation Project Team. Consequently, he regularly finds himself reporting back to himself, which can sometimes be quite confusing! In addition, since the Project Team meets on a weekly basis, Cathal felt he was neglecting the work of the Steering Committee. After mature consideration, he has decided to step aside on a temporary basis until the renovations Project is progressed further. Hedi Gibbons-Lynott has kindly agreed to take the reins in hand during that interim period. We wish Hedi the very best of luck.
- TUESDAY NIGHT MEETING: Easter Sunday is exactly four weeks away from today. From the point of view of a parish, Easter is a very demanding time. We have what amounts to eight ceremonies in five days. The Easter Ceremonies are complex and they require a lot of planning. We really need to get together very soon. So we will hold a preliminary meeting on Tuesday night next at 8.00, March 16th, in the Priory. We will first look at the Easter programme and decide if it needs some 'fine-tuning' this year. We will then divide the liturgical work out among us. We really need a lot of people so that the burden does not fall once again on the few.
- SAINT PATRICK'S DAY: Next Wednesday, March 17th, is of course St Patrick's Day. Since the feast day is also a Public Holiday, Masses will be at the same times as on Sundays: 6.30, 11.00 & 6.30. The collection in all churches throughout Ireland on Patrick's Day will help finance the work of the Irish bishops' Commission for Emigrants.
AS I WAS SAYING...
The carnage in Madrid on Friday morning last dominates every thought and word this weekend. It is impossible to imagine the horror that descended upon those unfortunate people. We cast around for an appropriate yardstick with which to measure this atrocity. Unfortunately, there is no shortage: the Twin Towers, Bali, Mombassa, Baghdad, Jerusalem, Moscow, Jakarta, Casablanca, Riyadh, Istanbul, Omagh. A common, bloody thread runs through all atrocities: the perpetrators share a depraved, dehumanised disregard for their fellow human beings. It is difficult to comprehend how a human being could inflict such horror on any living creature, let alone on another human. It is truly beyond understanding.
I remember listening to a reflection given by the British Chief Rabbi, Jonathan Sacks, in the wake of the Twin Towers atrocity. "The fact that so many thousands died is of course a tragedy. But the real enormity of that day lies in the fact that so many thousands of worlds collapsed forever." The Rabbi was right, of course. And his words are equally applicable to last Friday morning in Madrid. Not only did 200 people die. 200 worlds collapsed forever on Friday morning. Each victim represented the centre of the world for an undefined number of people. In such circumstances, suffering increases exponentially. Of course the suffering is compounded further by the hidden but certain glee of the perpetrators. And it is literally true that, in such apocalyptic conditions, the living do in fact envy the dead. Lives have been blighted forever.
The Limerick poet, Michael Hartnett, best captured this 'heart of darkness':I know, of course, that death's the norm,
that there are people who have yet to climb
the Present's rungs, who lag behind
(hyenas at the rim of civilisation's light),
whose laughing hides a Stone Age howl,
who wait till darkness comes to pounce
and tear the guts of progress out.At times of communal grief, great droves of people are, literally, lost. They have been unnerved by the 'Stone Age howl'. They find it difficult to reconnect with a world that has been changed utterly. Ironically, I first witnessed this communal bewilderment in Portomarin in Spain on the evening of 9/11. The people in that remote village were far, far removed from New York, and not just geographically. Yet it was possible to discern the depth of their humanity in their frightened faces. They poured, uninvited, into the little village church and they prayed there in utter silence. The conviction that drove them was almost tangible: a shared humanity made them part of the tragedy too. We cling to the hope that it is those who have a love of life, rather than those who have a contempt for it, will eventually prevail.
-Dick Lyng.
PARISH MEETING
An important meeting of the Parish Steering Committee and assorted parishioners took place on Monday night last. The church renovations group reported back on 'progress to date' . As you know, the Planning Application was lodged with City Hall on November 18th last. Two individuals (from outside the parish) signalled their reservations concerning the plans within the required time limit. City Hall has got back to us requesting clarification of some (apparently minor) points. We have met the planning authorities with a view to providing this clarification. The next move is with the Planning Authorities: they may grant permission to carry out the work fully; they may grant 'partial' permission, that is, with certain specified conditions attached. Or they may refuse permission outright. At that stage, the various statutory bodies (like An Taisce, Fire Authority, etc.) may lodge objections, as well as the two private individuals who signalled their reservations initially. In the event of the Application being unsuccessful (or only partly successful) the applicant has the option of appealing the decision to An Bórd Pleannála. But, at this moment, the ball is in the court of the Planning Authorities. We can go no further until they hand down their decision.
A POISONED CHALICE
Manchester University has appointed a new Lecturer in Ethics, Paul Agutter (57). (Ethics is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as 'the science of morals in human conduct' .) A little background research into the ethical track-record of the said Dr. Agutter might not have gone amiss! He had been released from prison in 2002, having served seven years of a 12-year sentence for attempted murder.
The High Court in Edinburgh heard how he spiked the gin and tonic of his wife's drinks with doses of atropine.
He tried to cover his tracks by placing bottles of tonic water injected with the poison on the shelves of a Safeway supermarket in the city. Eight people, including his wife, were poisoned. He had tried to murder his wife so that he would be free to marry his lover.
The university spokesman said: "The university is checking the circumstances of his recruitment and will issue a full statement when the full facts are available."
ESKER RETREAT HOUSE AVAILABLE COURSES
- Cana for Married Couples: March 19th-21st.
For further information, contact the secretary at 091-844549.
THE DEAD
These hearts were woven of human joys and cares,
Washed marvellously with sorrow, swift to mirth.
The years had given them kindness. Dawn was theirs,
And sunset, and the colours of the earth.
These had seen movement, and heard music; known
Slumber and waking; loved;. gone proudly friended;
Felt the quick stir of wonder; sat alone;
Touched flowers and furs and cheeks.
All this is ended.
There are waters blown by changing winds to laughter
And lit by the rich skies, all day. And after,
Frost, with a gesture, stays the waves that dance
And wandering loveliness. He leaves a white
Unbroken glory, a gathered radiance,
A width, a shining peace, under the night.
-Rupert Brooke (1916)
GOOD LITURGY
(Robert Duggan, P.P.)
One of the most important pastoral challenges I have faced as a parish priest over the past 30 years has been helping the faithful overcome a legacy of passivity and the notion that it's "Father's Mass, not ours."
Certainly progress has been made since the Second Vatican Council, but a survey of the current liturgical landscape reveals mixed results. Catholics have a solid, well-articulated theology of the assembly's role at the Eucharist, a vision backed by numerous official pronouncements stretching back to Pius X in the early 20th century. But many people in the pews are unaware of that theology, and they continue to struggle with a deeply entrenched clericalism and disenfranchisement of the laity at Mass, conditions passed on from generation to generation through subtle attitudes and behaviours that continue to communicate the message that it really is "Father's Mass!"
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