Sunday Newsletter

Masses Today

11.00: Martin & Bridget Murray, (Anniv).
6.30: Agnes Kilkelly, (Month's Mind) & Carter family, RIP.

As I Was Saying...

We had our first General Parish Meeting in almost three years on Monday night last. It was reasonably well attended, and it was encouraging to see some new faces around the table.

Our previous General Meeting had been held on May 26th, 2003! The agenda for that particular meeting will go some way towards explaining the recent irregularity of these gatherings. Item no. 5 on the agenda for that particular meeting was: 'When we close for restoration, where do we celebrate our Sunday/Weekday Liturgy?' That same agenda contained a proposal for a number of alternative location for worship: 'An Taibhdhearc Theatre; St. Patrick's School Hall; The Bish. School; Ozanam House.' (The possibility of St. Nicholas' Collegiate Church had not yet emerged into conscious life!)

We were facing into a period of major disruption. Of course the (necessary) application for Planning Permission and the (unnecessary) appeal against its granting, delayed the Project by at least twelve months. So, the General Parish Meeting on Monday night last was of great significant for us as a parish in that it signalled the resumption of normal parish life. The meeting provided us with a real opportunity to review the 'gains and losses' of our period in exile.

A major gain, of course, was our relationship with St. Nicholas' parishioners. That happy encounter carried blessings that we, and they, will be counting for many years to come. The meeting was determined that this friendship should flourish, and that every opportunity should be availed of to nurture it. A number of joint celebrations are pending, most notably being the Feast of St. Nicholas, Patron of the church and city, on December 6th. Like the very successful Seder Meal last year, this function will be a full sit-down banquet in a religious context. While this celebration will take place in St. Nicholas', it will be a common effort by the parishioners of both parishes. We would never have 'happened upon' such a celebration had we not gone through our period of disruption and exile!

In closing down our church for 9 months, we took a great gamble. The liturgy was adequately provided for through Mass in Ozanam House during the week and in St. Nicholas' for Sundays. But our major supporters are those anonymous ones who drop into the Augustinian for private prayer every day. These are the people who experienced most disruption in the course of our renovations. These are the people who, in effect, put the bread on our table. We ran the risk of losing them permanently.

This may sound a crude yardstick, but the the only way we can monitor this support is through the contributions from the Shrines and the Priory Office. These contributions have recovered remarkably over the May-September, 2006 period: they are back to 95% of what they were prior to closure, and still rising. (They had fallen by 60% during disruption). This indicates that our patrons have returned; normal parish life has resumed; and our major gain has been, of course, a beautiful and unique 'sacred space in the heart of Galway'. The ongoing challenge now is to use this new space imaginatively.

-Dick Lyng

Events of Some Interest

Plea for congregational singing....

Our General Parish Meeting on Monday night last touched on a great range of subjects connected with St. Augustine's. Once again, a considerable number of people expressed a desire for a little congregational singing at the 11.00 Mass. All were careful to stress their appreciation of the choir's excellent contribution; nevertheless, they felt that this contribution would be greatly enhanced with the inclusion of one or two congregational hymns. We will try out an entrance and a recessional hymn at the 11.00 Mass next Sunday. We will hand out hymn sheets to all before the Mass.

A Tasty Sound Bite

A dietician addressed a large audience, saying the following: "The material we put into our stomachs should have killed most of us sitting here, years ago. Red meat is awful. Soft drinks erode your stomach lining. Chinese food is loaded with monosodium glutamate. Vegetables can be disastrous, and none of us realises the long-term harm caused by the germs in our drinking water. But there is one thing that is the most dangerous of all and we all have, or will, eat it. Can anyone here tell me what food it is that causes the most grief and suffering for years after eating it?"

An old man stood up and said: "Wedding cake."

I tell this joke because the old man's advice may be just as useful as the dietician's.

Nutrition is a very complex area because our bodies are so complex. The foods we eat undergo a huge number of interactions and transformations in our bodies so that it can be extremely difficult to disentangle the effects, for good or ill, of any individual food. Nevertheless, we are regularly treated to new nutritional advice as to what constitutes an optimal diet. But because of the complexity of the area, details of these recommendations must be regularly modified, or even reversed.

-Dr. William Reville, The Irish Times, October 12, 2006.

Valid HTML 4.01 Strict