Parish Newsletter

Masses Today

6.30 Jim Lyons, (Anniv).
11.00 Funeral Mass for Margaret Buchann (nee Geraghty).
6.30 Walter & Sadie Joyce, (Anniv).

The Masses for next weekend, March 20th: 6.30 (Vigil): Pat Walshe; 11.00: May & Christy Deacy; 6.30: Pat, Nellie & Mattie Leydon.
The collection last Sunday was € 997.00.
The collection today is the annual Trócaire Lenten collection. In fact this collection is aimed specifically at those who have not taken Trócaire Family Fast Boxes to their homes for the duration of Lent.

AS I WAS SAYING.....

The coming week will be dominated by Patrick's Day, the Feastday of our national Patron. Yet, in all probability, those who assembled for Mass in the old Pro Cathedral on March 17th, 1780 would have heard no reference whatsoever to St. Patrick. There is a sense in which St. Patrick is a unique creation of Irish nationalism. He first came to prominence in the 19th century with the growth of an Irish national consciousness. Not until the 19th century, for example do we find icons of Patrick dressed in green Roman vestments! Up to that, apparently, the colour associated with the saint (by the church at Armagh at any rate) was a deep blue!

According to the historian, Elie Kedorie, 'Nationalism is a doctrine invented in Europe at the beginning of the 19th century...Briefly, the doctrine holds that humanity is naturally divided into nations, that nations are known by certain characteristics, and that the only legitimate type of government is national self-determination.' This assumption quickly took on the status of an eternal, self-evident truth! In fact, Catholicism was the incubator in which Irish nationalism was sustained during its early, vulnerable years. Ever since Daniel O'Connell, 'Catholic' and 'Nationalist' had become interchangeable terms.

Of course we associate the 19th century with the rise of Irish nationalism. But we associate it more closely still with a series of disastrous famines and massive emigration. The emigrants, understandably, carried their 'household gods' with them and treasured them greatly. And the most prominent of the 'household gods' was St. Patrick himself. They honoured him with an intensity and a nostalgia that only emigrants could muster. It is no accident that the popularisation of the Feastday owes more to the American influence than to the homeland! In time, Patrick came to symbolise all that our ancestors had been forced to sacrifice and abandon. But the one thing they could not be deprived of was his memory! That memory they would guard jealously and celebrate annually with great relish!

However, Patrick the man cannot be held responsible for the manner in which his image has evolved over the centuries. The mythology surrounding him should not obscure the man of flesh and blood. He wrote two tiny books in Latin. Together they fill no more than sixteen pages in the average edition. His is a lone voice from the silence of the 5th century in Ireland or Britain. We know his name was Patrick, because he tells us as much in the first line of his 'Confessio'. We can be every bit as certain that Patrick wrote these documents as we are certain that Jonathan Swift wrote 'Gulliver's Travels'. Despite all the myth-making, the Patrick of the 'Confessio' remains a very impressive, courageous figure. We would do well to eavesdrop on the final prayer of his 'Consessio': "Let God never permit me to lose the people that He has won [through me] in the ends of the earth." It is difficult to honour his memory without embracing his heritage!

-Dick Lyng

LOU BUCHAN, RIP

The 11.00 Mass today will be celebrated as a funeral Mass for the late Lou Buchan. She was born Lou Geraghty, the last of the Geraghty sisters from Abbeygate Street. The entire family were, in their time, loyal servants of St. Augustine's here. Lou was a resident of St. Francis' Home, Newcastle. Her last remaining sibling, Aggie Beatty, died last November. Lou had been in poor health for some time. She is survived by her daughter Isabelle. May she rest in peace.

BITS & PIECES

FINANCE COMMITTEE: Our Finance Committee will meet in the Priory tomorrow night, Monday March 14th at 6.30pm. They will begin to explore ways of gathering the finances required for the pending renovations.
STEERING COMMITTEE: We met together on Thursday night for almost three hours. We devoted most of our time to planning the immanent move to St. Nicholas Collegiate Church for the weekend Masses. You will find the results of our deliberations on the opposite page. The Steering Committee will meet again this week, on Friday night next, March 18th at 8.00pm.
PATRICK'S DAY: Next Thursday is, as you know, Patrick's Day and the Masses will be celebrated at the same times as on Sundays: Vigil Mass at 6.30 (Margaret & Michael Joe Walsh, Anniv.) on Tuesday and then at 11.00 (Thomas O'Connor, Anniv.) & 6.30 on the Feast itself. The collection on Patrick's Day will go toward the support of our emigrants who have fallen on difficult times.
EASTER CEREMONIES: Could we hold a very brief meeting after the 11.00 today Mass concerning these?
HUNGER AWARENESS GROUP: The Hunger Awareness Group has organised the Trócaire Lenten Campaign here in St. Augustine' s parish this year. As you will see from the 'reminder' in church this morning, you are asked to return your Family Fast Box to the church before Easter Sunday. Of course you may also hand them in at the Priory Office during the week.

THE MOVE TO ST NICHOLAS

WHEN: The last Mass (for the time being!) in the Augustinian Church will be the Vigil Mass on Saturday evening, April 2nd at 6.30. The first Mass in St. Nicholas' Church will be the 12.00 Mass on Sunday, April 3rd (Low Sunday). (You do realise that, during our stay in St. Nicholas', our Sunday 'morning' Mass will be at 12.00 rather than our customary time of 11.00.) From Sunday April 3rd on then, all our weekend Masses will be celebrated in St. Nicholas. From that day forward, the Augustinian Church will remain closed until renovations are complete in November next.
WEEKDAYS: From Monday, April 4th onward, the usual morning weekday Masses (8.30, 10.00 & 11.00) will be celebrated in Ozanam House, St. Augustine Street. (We are grateful to the Vincent de Paul Society for placing their premises at our disposal).
PRIORY OFFICE: We are delighted to inform you that the Priory Mass Office will remain open (and in its present location until such time as the new shop-cum-office is ready in its new location at the front of the Church.) All Parish business (e.g.. marriage papers, baptism certificates, and so on) will be conducted from there. This will go some small way towards minimising the disruption involved in the whole project.
NEWSLETTER: We print 600 Parish Newsletters every weekend. About 350 are taken away on Sundays. The other 250 are taken from the back of the Church during the week. (Gearóidín usually runs off an additional 150 as required.) So, in actual fact more Newsletters are taken from the Church during week than are taken on Sundays. During the period of renovations, the Newsletter will be available in St. Nicholas' on Sunday (obviously!) and at Ozanam House and the Priory Office during the week.
ORATORY IN FRONT PARLOUR: So many, many people drop into the Augustinian Church during the day, either to pray before the Blessed Sacrament, or to pray at the shrine of Our Mother of Good Counsel. With the temporary closure, an important part of the day will be disturbed for those people. In order to maintain some routine of prayer around the Auggie, we will create a little oratory in the front parlour, the room to your left as you enter the front door of the Augustinian. The Blessed Sacrament will be reserved there, and a shrine to Our Mother of Good Counsel will be maintained there. The annual Novena will be reduced to 3 days this year for obvious reasons.
BAPTISMS, MARRIAGES, FUNERALS? WHAT DO WE DO?: During our period of closure, the greatest inconvenience will be caused to those who wish to hold their family occasions (like baptisms, marriages and funerals) in the Augustinian. For legal reasons in some cases, it will not be possible to celebrate these Sacraments in St. Nicholas'. The only way around this is for the family to opt for the church of their choice and an Augustinian will 'travel' to preside at whatever liturgical occasion is involved, should the family involved so wish. The parish priest of St. Augustine's will of course continue to prepare the marriage papers for the parishioners, irrespective of where they intend to marry.

HOLY WEEK AND EASTER, 2005

CONFESSIONS:
Thursday:	11.00-12.30; 4.00-6.00
Friday:	11.00-12.00 ; 6.30-8.00
Saturday:	11.00-1.00; 2.30-3.30; 5.00-6.00
PENITENTIAL SERVICES:
Wednesday:	8.00
Saturday:	4.00
EASTER SERVICES:
Holy Thursday:	8.00: Mass of the Lord's Supper
	9.00-11.00: Eucharistic Adoration
Good Friday:	12.00: Stations of the Cross.
	3.00: The Lord's Passion.
	8.00: Suffering: A Christian Perspective.
Holy Saturday:	9.00: Easter Vigil.
EASTER SUNDAY:	Usual Sunday programme.