Sunday Newsletter

Masses Today

6.30 (Vigil) Simon Mullen, (Anniv).
11.00: Eddie Reynolds, (Anniv).
6.30: Thomas Duffy, (R.I.P.)

Masses for next weekend, June July 9th: 6.30 (Vigil):Joseph & Mary Quinn; 11.00: Christina, Noel and Kevin Naughton, and Eamonn Dunne (Anniv).
COLLECTION: The collection last Sunday, Peter's Pence and Mid Summer Festival, amounted to €1,214.00.
OUTDOOR COLLECTION TODAY: The Order of Malta Ambulance Corps will hold their annual church gate collection today.
MAIDIGURI (NIGERIA) APPEAL: As announced here last Sunday, there will be a Special Appeal today to alleviate the sufferings caused by recent destructive riots in Maiduguri, Nigeria. The Catholic Church in this particular corner of Nigeria was founded and sustained by Irish Augustinians for over 70 years. Hence our interest and concern. At least 50 Christians died, and 53 churches were burned down, and Christian businesses were burned wholesale. One young priest, Fr. Michael Kwali Gajere, was brutally murdered. This estimated cost of reconstruction will give you some idea of present needs: Bishop's House (€152,616.00); St. Augustine's Parish Church (€500,000.00); St. Michael's Church, Pastoral Centre and School (€150,000.00) St. Rita's Parish Church and Social Centre (€171,000.00); St. Mary's, seminarians residence and Marian shrine (€147,000.00; Catholic Church, Gadaka (€31,000.00). Father Des Foley will preach at all Masses.

AS I WAS SAYING.....

Rev'd Patrick Towers delivered a 'fun homily' at our Festival last weekend, but with a serious, subtle message. Because of the presence of certain gremlins, the nuances were lost on some. A few asked me to retrieve the script and to reproduce it here. Unfortunately, this proved to be impossible. So I will attempt to convey here the gist of what he did say. (The foregoing will be an improvement on the original!)

He opted for the Galway 'Saturday Market' as his pulpit. Can you grow two-legged, bearded carrots? Or potatoes resembling camels? Corkscrew runner beans and ridiculous radishes? All 'Fruit & Veg' are individual and we cannot always predict how they will turn out. Many retailers place an everincreasing emphasis on 'perfect' looking fruit and vegetables, believing that is what the consumer prefers. It's time to celebrate ugly fruit and vegetables, which taste great but are usually rejected for their looks and size. Not every tomato, strawberry or plum in the land can make it in the supermarkets' perfection stakes. The visually flawed, or oddly shaped, are sometimes offered at a discount, as a service to cooks and jam makers! Indeed it's long been a scandal that so much good food has landed in the swill bin simply because it is judged not beautiful enough.

Tastes in beauty vary widely, of course: one man's musical bliss is another's hell, a painting which warms one heart leaves another chilled. And a remarkably large number of mothers give birth to the most beautiful baby in the world! But we need beauty: the stunning sunset, the great building which sets our spirits soaring, maybe just the few roses outside the kitchen window. All true beauty, like all love, reflects something of the God who is perfect beauty, perfect love. And that fact should temper how we react both to beauty and to ugliness - and especially in people.

What is most beautiful or most ugly about any human being is not the physical features they've been given, but what's expressed through them: pride or humility, selfishness or generosity, vengefulness or forgiveness. 'She's beautiful' might be spoken of a strikingly attractive girl who sets heads turning. It might also describe an old woman, crippled, bed-bound, her face distorted, ravaged by illness and a thousand cares, but from whose eyes shine the unmistakable marks of a life of love.

The standards of the world will insist on homogeneity, on a dull 'sameness' disguised as 'beauty'. Fruit that is naturally ill-shaped and 'awkward' will be forced to conform, or be discarded. The same goes for human beings. But baptism makes no such demand. The Church gathers in people of every shape and size; a variety of convictions and opinions are accommodated. In fact, unlike in the Supermarket, that which is natural is affirmed. Cosmetic surgery, whether on humans or vegetables, is as undesirable as it is unsuccessful.

So stay with the two-legged, bearded carrots, available every Saturday at the Galway Market! And, while there, drop into St. Nicholas' for a quick prayer and witness the crowd there scoring 'own goals' with the left foot! That may seem odd to you, but no odder than the carrots you have just purchased. They are one with us in baptism, fellow pilgrims on their way to the New Jerusalem!

Well done Patrick, and a happy holiday to you all!

-Dick Lyng

Pilgrimage to Knock

The Augustinian Pilgrimage to Knock takes place on Saturday, July 15. A bus will leave from Merchant's Rd. Tickets, at €10, are now available at the Priory Office.

Summer Youth Festival at Knock

Youth 2000 will be teaming up with Knock Youth Ministry to offer a Summer Youth Festival at Knock Shrine from Thursday 27th July to Sunday 30th July, 2006. This festival will consist of talks, prayer, sharing, games and craic and promises to be a great opportunity for young people from all around Ireland to explore their Catholic faith and make many new friends.

Youth 2000 is an organisation of young people (aged 15-35) who work to spread the good news of the Catholic Faith throughout Ireland. It is one of the New Movements in the Church referred to and welcomed in recent times by the late Pope John Paul II. Youth 2000 runs regular weekend residential retreats for 15-35 year olds as well as prayer groups, school retreats and parish missions.

There is no charge for the festival - donations only. Special buses available from some locations - just bring a sleeping bag! Contact Ann 094 9388100 in Knock Shrine or Catriona 01-6753690 in the National Youth 2000 office for information and bookings. More information can be found on the Notice Board at the back of the Church or on the website www.youth2000.ie

Items of Some Interest

Readers List: You will be aware that we attempted to draw up a Readers' Rota for our morning Masses on weekdays: 8.30, 10.00 & 11.00. We were only moderately successful in our efforts! I think people interpreted matters in an over-rigid manner: if their name was down for a Mass, then they HAD to be there, regardless of what might happening in their own lives. We never intended such a regimental approach to Church life! You would all have a contact number for your fellow-readers. So you are in a position to pick up the phone and get someone else to 'cover' for you. Indeed, someone will cover for you in any case, regardless of the phone call or not. Anyway, the list will go up on the notice board at the end of the Church for Sunday next. We will begin our new weekday Readers' Rota on Monday morning, July 3rd.
Sunday Car Parking: As you know, the Augustinian Sunday congregations can avail of free parking for the duration of the Mass (10.30-12.30) in St. Patrick's School yard. We have this facility, courtesy of the Naughton family, and we are very grateful for it. As you know, we have a 'Parking Permit' system of our own in operation. But our Permits are now rather dated. I think we started this present system almost five years ago. I doubt if many of the car numbers identified on the permit concur with the number of the car you are now driving! So, from Sunday next, we will update the system by issuing new permits. These will be available in the Church or Priory after all Masses. All we need for this one is your name, address and mobile phone number.
First Friday: Friday next is the First Friday of the month and Holy Communion and the Sacrament of the Sick will be taken to the sick and the housebound. Again, if you are aware of any parishioners who are not being attended to, please let one of the priests know and we will make good the omission.

BEST WORLD CUP QUOTES

"Rush, deadly ten times out of ten, but that wasn't one of them." - Peter Jones.
"You'll be hoping that this run of injuries will stop earlier than it started." - Andrew Gidley.
"Oh, he had an eternity to play that ball, but he took too long over it." - Martin Tyler.
"The boys' feet have been up in the clouds since the win." - Alan Buckley.
"We are really quite lucky this year because Christmas falls on Christmas Day." -Bobby Gould.
"And Ritchie has now scored 11 goals, exactly double the number he scored last season." - Alan Parry.
"I felt a lump in my mouth as the ball went in." -Terry Venables.
"If you stand still there is only one way to go, and that's backwards." - Peter Shilton.