Parish Newsletter

Masses Today

6.30: Mary Barrett, (Anniv)
12.00: Teddi Molloy, (Anniv)
6.30: Michael John O'Connor, (Anniv)

AS I WAS SAYING.....

We are told that the Pope left Rome this week for a holiday in northern Italy. He has let it be known, apparently, that he will pass the next few weeks drafting his first encyclical letter. That should be enough to send shivers down the spines of most theologians! At least that picture conforms to the general public perception of the man: a reactionary, anti-modernist Luddite. But, like all stereotypes, it probably does little justice to the actual reality. I'm sure Pope Benedict wouldn't dispute the fact that many modern developments have improved living conditions, and thereby enhanced humanity greatly. But he sees modernity as very much 'a mixed blessing' and he has devoted the last 25 years of his life drawing our attention to this 'shadow side'. I will outline five negative characteristics of modernity that have concerned Cardinal Ratzinger greatly. (I presume they will continue to concern Pope Benedict also):

  1. 'The Dictatorship of relativism', as he famously called this pervasive 'moral' position on the eve of the conclave that elected him. (All viewpoints, religious, moral and philosophical, have equal validity). He regards relativism as the principal source of all philosophical and moral errors. In addressing his fellow-electors, he made his position clear: "To have a clear faith, according to the Creed of the Church, is often styled as fundamentalism. What's being constructed is a dictatorship of relativism, which recognises nothing as definitive, and that regards ones self and one's own desires as the final measure." The fault line of the West (Europe and America) lies between its concern for personal freedom and its abandonment of 'objective truth'.
  2. 'Measurable efficiency' is another characteristic of our modern world, according to Ratzinger. If it doesn't work, discard it. The implications of this stance implications for moral values are obvious. If a person is judged on productivity and efficiency, where does it leave the sick, the aged, handicapped and the unborn? Ratzinger uses the term 'dehumanisation' frequently.
  3. Increasingly, our energies are devoted to the organisation and presentation of information; the actual content of the information is secondary. "Make the relevant information available, and the proper decision will almost inevitably be made." And the type of information in question is rational, scientific and biological. Spiritual or moral information is seen to be out of place. "Give it if you must, but its usefulness is questionable," is the attitude.
  4. Image has triumphed over thought. Reading and thinking things through to their conclusion demands time and effort. The image impacts immediately and painlessly. This is obvious in an age dominated by television and the tabloids. This leads to superficiality and shallow judgements, of which the tabloid press and commercial television are outstanding examples.
  5. Again, previous generations saw wisdom as cumulative; it was acquired over a long period of time. The immediacy and the urgency of today's way of life ensures that wisdom hasn't a priority. Obviously, in a world of speed and frenetic activity, contemplation will be seen the luxury of an eccentric few. In an age where "doing" and "producing" is all, contemplation will be seen as the preserve of those who have nothing better to do!

These questions are not mere philosophical puzzles; a great many modern human beings would endorse their validity.

-Dick Lyng.

Items of Interest

THE GAA IN WORLD TERMS

{We are now in the heart of the GAA season. The world is growing more complex by the hour. The practice of 'twinning' our main GAA football teams with appropriate countries should prove helpful. I first embarked on this project five years ago. I see no pressing easons to alter the 'twinnings' of that time.}

A MATTER OF LANGUAGE

'for us men ...' When people come to liturgical celebrations, they come with the everyday language of contemporary life in their ears. When people pray in their own words, they use the language with which they are conditioned daily. That language reflects the influence of television, videos, movies, newspapers, magazines, and best sellers. Our liturgical and scriptural language must be 'within the people's powers of comprehension and normally should not require much explanation'. How much longer will the Church in the English speaking world have to pray with liturgical and biblical texts that are exclusive, unintelligible, culturally insensitive and outmoded? How much longer must women pray, 'For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven'?

-BISHOP DONALD TRAUTMAN, 'Inclusive Language and Revised Liturgical Books' (Origins, 10 April 1997) p. 690.

CLERICAL ERRORS

Among the most eccentric of all 19th cnetury Irish clergymen was one Fr. Doyle from Ferns. Fr. Doyle's energies were unabated, and he went on to add to his reputation by championing the `Plan of Campaign' and the Land League, playing a militant part in the Land War. Having been a wholehearted public supporter of Parnell, he turned on him with characteristically merciless vigour when the news of the divorce case broke; and he remained embroiled in one controversy after another until his death in 1903 at the age of 86. We catch one late glimpse of him still at the top of his rhetorical form, in 1897, when he launched a two-column thunderbolt in The People against an unfortunate Doctor in Enniscorthy who had commended cycling as a healthy exercise for women. Bicycles, in Fr. Doyle's view, were almost as bad as landlords:

The heroes of Clontarf, who swept the Danes into the sea, never saw a bicycle, neither did the magnificent men who held the bridge at Athlone. ...Where were your wheels when an almost unarmed peasantry, under Father John Murphy, annihilated the brutal North Cork on Oulart Hill? When under the gallant John Kelly, they swept the myrmidons of English tyranny like chaff before them over the bridge of New Ross...There is not a woman in Ireland who does not feel in her conscience that the use of the cycle is unbecoming, indelicate and dangerous for females.