Sunday Newsletter

Masses Today

6.30 (Vigil) Michael & Anne Joyce, (Anniv.)
11.00: Michael Folan & Seamus McNeill, (Anniv)
6.30: James Tully, (Anniv).

As I Was Saying...

The matter of immigration and 'cultural diversity' was discussed at our monthly Steering Committee meeting this week. Are we stretching out the hand of friendship to the strangers in our midst? What could we do for them to make them feel more at home among us? Is it sufficient to simply 'consider them included' in the welcome extended to the general congregation after the 11.00 Mass every Sunday?

There are two closely related issues involved here: identity and assimilation. Immigrants' religion has always served as a focus for ethnic and communal identity. This was particularly true of our own people, Irish Catholics in England and the States in the 19th and 20th centuries. Margaret Mead, the famous anthropologist, examined the role of 'Friday abstinence' among Irish immigrants in London in the 1940s and 50s. This universally observed religious discipline distinguished the Irish from their 'pagan' surroundings, reinforcing their cultural identify and cohesion. They tended to seek refuge in ghettoes, surrounded by their own people, in areas such as Kilburn, Cricklewood, Hammersmith, and Camden Town.

The Catholic Church contributed enormously to the formation of these ghettoes, providing the Irish exiles with spiritual support, (through specially appointed Irish Catholic chaplains), and social outlets, (through Catholic 'Irish Centres'). Despite the fact that language was not a barrier, there was no real incentive to mix, to integrate into their 'new' surroundings. In his 'Diary of an Exile' (1964) Donall MacAmlaigh was very upbeat about the life of the immigrant:

This town is more Irish than most of the places back home ... the Irish in London...have a great life, plenty of their own people around them, galore Irish dances and somewhere to go every night of the week.

In the 1970s, the Irish were overtaken numerically by people from the former colonies. By 1991, 3.5% of London's population was Irish-born; 5.2% born in India and 4.4% Caribbean. But for the latter groups, language was an almost insurmountable barrier.

Today, the same thing seems to be happening here with the Polish people. Should the church be arranging for Polish priests to fly over to say Masses and hear Confessions in Polish here? Or should they organise English classes instead?

One of the things that seems to have gone wrong in Britain is that the next generation of Muslims don't speak Urdu, the lingua franca of Pakistan. Many young people therefore cannot understand sermons delivered at the Mosque by moderate Imams. When they go outside, they find Islamic fanatics handing out leaflets, advocating a jihad against all things Western!

If the Poles settle here, and I hope many will, what will happen to the next generation who may not speak Polish, if the elders of the community insist their social activities and religious services are in Polish? Surely they will feel like cultural orphans with no clear identity. Total assimilation is hardly desirable either. But it would surely be preferable to the creation of isolated ghettoes here, even culturally more isolated than the Irish ghettoes of London were in the 1950's and 60's? Is that the future?

-Dick Lyng

Events of Some Interest

Samaritan Volunteers

We badly need your help and the help of your parishioners in advance of our volunteer recruitment drive. As you are aware, Samaritan volunteers are available 24 hours a day to provide confidential emotional support for people who are experiencing feelings of distress or despair including those which may lead to suicide.

The Samaritans vision is for a society in which:

To do this we rely on members of the public to volunteer their time. We hold an Open Meeting for future volunteers which will take place on Monday, 18th September at 8.00 p.m. in the Menlo Park Hotel, Headford Road, Galway. I would really appreciate if you could have the details included in your newsletter or announced at your Saturday evening Mass & Sunday Masses (16th & 17th September).

Thank you for helping us to help others, by so doing you are involved in achieving our vision.

Yours sincerely,
Gerard O'Connor, Director & Volunteer,
Galway Samaritans

Glamour

The linnet is here, and the lark, and the yellowhammer,
And the thrush that sings so clear at the break of day.
The small brown birds are here: but the bright bird Glamour
Has opened his shining wings and flown away.
He lit on my hand for a while - I heard his singing,
That was like an ache and a flame, a dream and a star;
But now the sound grows faint; I can see him winging
Through the dark woods of the world, travelling far.

It is he that young man dare for and old men sigh for,
It is he that calls the sailors down to the sea,
It is he that women bear for and soldiers die for,
And where he has been comfort no more shall be.
Through the dark woods of the world I stumble on:
'Glamour, O bright bird Glamour, where have you gone?'

by "Jan Struther"
(Joyce Maxtone Graham, 1901-1953)

Noise Pollution

A variety of people have made a variety of suggestions regarding the reduction of noise in the Church during Mass. The main source of our noise problem at the moment are the kneelers. We have not yet grown used to leaving them down gently! It is an art not easily acquired!

A very good suggestion was made by a parishioner: Why not leave the kneelers down during the offertory collection? The money dropping into the baskets should disguise the clattering noise from the offending kneelers! It is worth a try, you know.

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