Parish Newsletter

Masses Today

6.30: Anne Conneely, late Market St, (Anniv)
12.00: Deceased members of the Colleran family, Mainguard St.
6.30: Mary Fahy, late Whitehall Close, (Anniv).

AS I WAS SAYING.....

Our 'Harvest Festival' this year was very special. It will be remembered for a long, long time by the respective communities. The event that will stand out in my mind for years to come is the 'Harvest Supper'. Not since the night of the Great Millennium did I attend such heart-warming and exuberant celebration. Great credit is due to Patrick for coming up with the idea in the first place. It was, literally, an inspired move. To get 280 people from the two traditions sit down at a common banquet in St. Nicholas' Collegiate Church would be the dream of most ecumenically-minded people. Moreover, to see all of them enjoy themselves with such abandon was heaven itself! In the best biblical tradition, the wine ran out, but the stone jars were quickly replenished with superior fare! The poet William Wordsworth's early estimation of the French Revolution comes to mind:

Bliss it was in that dawn to be alive;
To be young was very heaven!

But you will appreciate that the Harvest Supper itself was but the tip of the iceberg. It was really the culmination of the fruitful working relations that both churches have enjoyed together over the last 6 months. The restoration of the Augustinian was indeed a fortuitous affair. Because the move to St. Nicholas' enabled both communities to get to know each other through working closely together. Both communities are blessed in that they are driven by a strong lay component. Consequently, the risk of being smothered by clericalism was always minimal!

I have long held the opinion that ecumenism, as practiced here in Ireland, leaves a lot to be desired. During Church Unity Week last January, I painted the following bleak picture of the ecumenical landscape:

"The annual prayer gathering for Christian unity is now reduced to tokenism, to a mere cliché. It consists today of motley crews of bloodied but unbowed enthusiasts huddled in cold Churches on cold weeknights in January, the only bit of colour provided by the gaudy gear of the vicars and bishops. Tea and biscuits are provided to wash it all down. Presumably, in the days following, the local bishop will sit at his desk and report the gathering to Rome, the sub-text being: 'We have once more done our bit for Christian Unity.' Some bureaucrat in a Vatican basement or attic will enter this into a log, and, when all the reports had come in, the universal picture will look rosy indeed. It matters little that real ecumenism is dead in the water for all practical purposes. But in the minds of the bureaucrats, ecumenism is still alive and kicking gloriously." Unless we meet one another, get to know one another, and even get to like one another, all will remain mere windowdressing.

It was wonderful to witness our parishioners from both churches meeting together, and revelling in each other's company at the Harvest Supper on Wednesday night. Thank God it happened! We have merely begun!

-Dick Lyng.

By the way.......

BISHOPS' PASTORALS:

There are two Bishops' Pastorals queued up for distribution. One of the should have been distributed on Sunday last, October 2nd, but priority was given to our own 'Project Journal' so we put the Bishops' Letter on hold. This particular Letter is very brief and it addressed the issue of older people in society, and our responsibilities towards them. It is titled, "Cherishing the Evening of Life" and we will distribute it at the back of the church at all Masses this weekend. The second letter in the pipeline is titled "Towards the Global Common Good" and it addresses issues of International Development. Perhaps we will distribute this one on Mission Sunday, which falls on Sunday October 23rd this year.

End of the Cold War?

After years of estrangement from the Church establishment, the controversial Hans Küng had an unexpected meeting with Pope Benedict XVI last week for private talks. "The meeting was very secret; so I kept it to myself," Professor Küng told reporters. And how the news emerged also took the world by surprise: through an unprecedented, joint communiqué issued by Benedict XVI, the former Joseph Ratzinger, the arch-conformer, and Professor Hans Küng, the arch-dissident.

The meeting came at Professor Küng's request. The Swiss theologian said he had "wanted to talk to John Paul II from the beginning of his pontificate" but he "never gave me the opportunity in 27 years". Pope Benedict's response was different. "He answered my letter in a very gentle way and it was extraordinary," Küng said.

"We are both Christians, we have served the same Church as priests, and we have respect for each other. It was a really personal conversation for four hours," said the Swiss theologian. "Then we had dinner." He said the two prayed with one another: "We said an Ave Maria together in the gardens." Such lengthy visits - and over a meal! - are not everyday events in this papal household. "We talked about common ethical standards and that these could be shared even by non-believers. We then talked about secularisation in countries like Ireland, Germany and Spain."

The encounter between the 77-year-old Küng and the 78-year-old Joseph Ratzinger was between two of the most celebrated theologians of their own day. The priests became friends during the Council, then close colleagues a year later in Germany. But their relationship began to deteriorate from that time. Perhaps now both have concluded it is time to bury the hatchet.