Sunday Newsletter
Masses Today
6.30: Creedon, Carr & Gibley families, (RIP).11.00: Etta O'Sullivan, (Anniv).
6.30: Fr. Louis, James and Angela Naughton, (RIP).
- Masses for next weekend, March 12th: Vigil: Mary, Colman, Martin & Brid Flaherty; 11.00: John & Margaret O'Mahony; 6.30: Walter & Sadie Joyce.
- The collection last Sunday was €867.00.
AS I WAS SAYING.....
Lent has begun. And all over the country people have given things up - cigarettes, alcohol, or chocolate. Others have begun to frequent the gym. There's no better time to get in shape as the days lengthen and (hopefully) the weather starts to improve. And so when Easter arrives, you will be ready to enjoy the summer, a fitter, a happier and a healthier Adonis pounding the Salthill Prom with pride!.
What total rubbish. On Wednesday last, I was given the news that I am going to die. "Remember man you are but dust and unto dust you shall return" said every priest in the country to every person in the country, as they marked their foreheads with ash. That's the message with which Lent properly begins. And that's why the Lent of cheery self-improvement is such a sham. It's not about being fitter and healthier; it's about facing our own mortality. No amount of jogging will ever outpace father time. No cream or cosmetic can ever prevent us from becoming dust. However obvious this is, much of our culture is intent on hiding death away and denying its reality. We used to be coy about sex, while death was everywhere. We are now coy about death and sex is everywhere! Meanwhile we use euphemisms like "fallen asleep" or "passed away" to keep the reality of death at bay.
People used to die at home surrounded by their families. Now we mostly die discreetly in hospital, surrounded by machines still trying to keep us going. It's over 40 years ago now since the English aristocratic maverick Jessica Mitford, wrote her bestseller , "The American Way of Death". It was a satiric exposure of what the American poet-undertaker Thomas Lynch dubbed "the social burial of death". We haven't yet reached that point here in Ireland, but we are getting there!.
It's interesting that during the middle ages the largest and most expensive building in the city would have been the cathedral. Today the most expensive building in the city is the university hospital - billions of pounds of glass, steel and technology all bent on keeping us alive. That says a lot about how our values have changed. In hospitals, doctors battle against death. Vast resources are spent on life-saving technology. Often, behind it all is a very modern superstition - for we cannot be kept alive.
Yes, the medieval cathedral was a place of superstition too. But not about this. For when it comes to death, our ancestors were more grown up than we are. Death was an ever-present reality, not to be denied or avoided. They didn't hide it away. It prompted them to ask the big questions of human life and its purpose. What's it all about? What are we here for?
The problem with the Lent of healthy self-improvement is that's all about avoiding these questions by living the dream of perpetual youth and well-being. Proper Lent forces us to stop running away and face the simple truth: "Remember man you are but dust and unto dust you shall return"
-Dick Lyng
Items of Interest
- TROCAIRE BOXES: Again, these Boxes are available as you leave the Church (or Priory) this morning. Each family takes one and returns it (FULL) on Easter morning.
- RECORD OF EVENTS: We will have photographs of recent events on display in the Church and Priory after Masses this weekend. They were taken at the events associated with the return to St. Augustines: 1. The reopening on December 18th; 2. The Parish Party in the Ardilaun Hotel on February 17th; 3. The Rededication of the Church by Bishop Drennan on February 19th. We will place them on display boards around the place. Those on display are one size larger than the normal photo and cost €1.20 each. But it is possible to get them in the normal (smaller) size for 50 cent each. If you wish to have a copy of some of the photos, I will give you the disc. Take it up to Fahy Photo yourself and they will print off the ones you desire in a couple of minutes. Pay for it yourself and return the disc here to the priory.
- LENTEN FAST: Cathal is organising the twenty-four hour Lenten Fast again this year on behalf of the 'Augustinian Hunger Awareness Campaign'. The special packs arrived during the week so he will be handing them out at the back of the church and, in the process, capture some unsuspecting volunteers! Incidentally, Nicaragua is the focus of Trocaire's campaign this year. It has a population of 5.63 million with Catholics comprising 85% and Protestants 15%. Spanish is the official language but Miskito, Sumo, Garifuna and English are spoken on the Atlantic coast. The United Nations ranked Nicaragua at number 112 out of a possible 177 in its human development index. (Ireland is number 8.) 69% are mixed descendants of American Indians, and Spanish colonisers; 17% of European decent; 9% of African decent and 5% of Indian minorities. It is one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere.
- 'CHILDREN FIRST': This programme will be presented on Saturday, March 25th, beginning at 9.30am. (The venue has yet to be decided). Lasting a full day, and catering for 16 people, it is presented by a recognised expert in the field. Anyone working with us in either a paid or voluntary capacity must familiarise themselves with 'best practice' in this area.
- LENTEN TALKS: So we kick off with our Lenten Talks on Tuesday night next, March 7th. I has a series of long and emotionally draining meetings with my co-presenter, Rev'd Patrick Towers during the week. I don't really know if he is up to the task at all! We will attempt to explore 'Baptism and Confirmation' from both the Roman Catholic and Anglican traditions on Tuesday (heckling and booing not permitted!). Each session will last for an hour and thirty minutes. It will be structured as follows: 1. A brief essay of no more than 200 words will be read individually by those attending; 2. This will be followed by a brief talk of not more than ten minutes. 3. Five minutes reflection; 4. We will break into small groups of not more than five for animated discussion! 5. We will return to the large group were questions will be taken, all difficulties addressed and all problems solved! The principal speaker will wrap up the session with a talk lasting not more than five minutes. Please spread the word. The time involved is 8.00- 9.30.
- PARISH WORKSHOP: Once again, a little reminder of our Parish Council Workshop planned for Esker on the weekend of March 31st-April 2nd (Friday night until Sunday dinner). You have less than four weeks to get yourself organised. This is intended for those already involved in committee work, or those intending to get involved. Please give your name as soon as possible to Hedy Gibbons (or better still to one of the girls in the Priory Office: 091-562524) as soon as possible so that we know where we stand. As already indicated, the parish will cover the expenses involved.
Posture in Church
A number of people have remarked on the absence of all uniformity in the 'standing-sitting-kneeling' postures now used at Mass here. I do concede that things are rather chaotic. We are as uncoordinated as ducks at a dance, Nevertheless, behind the complaints lies an unexamined assumption that we had it just right before we departed for exile in St. Nicholas'. And that this inability to get our liturgical act together was a theological infection we picked up from the Protestants! I fear that this is not so! In fact we were already quite chaotic before we ever departed for Nicholas'.
I do concede that the matter of 'posture in church' is an acquired interest! There are more pressing matters to be addressed in this world. Nonetheless, isn't it best that, if we must get it wrong, that we would get it wrong together! Seriously though, other parishes seem to be having the same problems and there may be a common approach to this minor matter shortly. Watch this space!
Note of Gratitude
The Collegiate Church of St. Nicholas,
Galway.
2nd March, 2006.
Dear Dick,
Would you please pass on to all at St. Augustine's the delight and gratitude of all of us at St. Nicholas with the beautiful Processional Cross you all so graciously presented to us - it is as you said 'a token', but it is also so much more: it is a fine, distinguishing symbol.
Last Sunday Bishop Richard blessed the Cross and read aloud your inscription. He also asked me to, once again, convey his regret to the people of St. Augustine's Parish for his unavoidable absence on the day of the Rededication. We shall always treasure our gift from you all -and we are proud to have such a splendid symbol to carry before the people.
God bless you all.
-Patrick.
NOVENA OF GRACE IN JESUIT CHURCH
This is the 500 anniversary of the birth of Francis Xavier (1506-2006), first Jesuit missionary priest and companion of Ignatius Loyola. So the Novena of Grace takes on an additional dimension this year, serving also as a Jubilee celebration in honour of the saint. It will take place in the Church on Sea Road from the 4-12 March.
The preacher this year is Conall O Cuinn, SJ. The Novena will be preached at two masses each day, the 11.00am each day of the Novena, and also at the 7.30pm on weekdays. On Sundays, the 'Novena Mass' will be the 5.30pm.
TABLE QUIZ:
Don't forget to support the Table Quiz on Tuesday night for Father Sean Murphy's Salesian Missions in Africa. It's in the Salthill Hotel at 8.00pm. There will be lots of Team & Table prizes with Tables of four for €40.