Sunday Newsletter

Masses Today

66.30: Michael & Mary Joyce, (Anniv).
11.00: Agnes Margetts, (Anniv).
6.30: Jennifer Palmer, (Anniv).

AS I WAS SAYING.....

You may have read this week that scholars are looking again at a man whose name is a byword for betrayal, Judas Iscariot. When a Vatican theologian recently proposed his rehabilitation, the media pointed to the pending publication of the apocryphal 'Gospel of Judas' for the first time. (This 'gospel' is about Judas rather than by him.) In both cases the issues raised are theological. If Christ was destined to die as part of his mission to save humanity, as the Church traditionally teaches, then why should blame be attached to those who brought this about? Weren't they part of God's plan, just doing God's will?

The answer of course is yes and no, which is not very satisfactory. I am not sure this is the real issue anyway. The more closely one looks at what Judas is supposed to have done, the more difficult it is to see how he deserves all the odium heaped on him down the ages. It's this not another case of history being written by the winners? Is he not a tragic figure rather than an evil one, more Hamlet than Macbeth?

We are told in the New Testament's slightly conflicting versions that Judas tipped off the High Priests about where Jesus would be on the night he was arrested. But, as Jesus himself remarked, that was hardly necessary as he wasn't in hiding. ('I sat teaching in the Temple day after day and you never laid a hand on me.' Mt. 26:55) Judas was so horrified to have played a role in Jesus's death, which he'd never envisaged, he returned the infamous thirty pieces of silver and then went and hung himself. So was this in stark contrast to the other 11 disciples, who stood loyally by Jesus to the very end? Indeed not. By the time Jesus was dead, every one of the remaining 11, with the possible exception of St John, had gone to ground. ('Then all the disciples deserted him and ran away. Mt. 26:56) Even St Peter denied knowing him. So the idea that Judas alone could never be forgiven for his part in this "necessary sin", to quote the Easter liturgy, is absurd.

But it soon became part of another agenda. And that was about portraying the Jews as a whole tribe of Judases, for had they not rejected their Messiah and handed him over to be executed? For which they would never be forgiven? This denigration of Judaism is what has recently been called the "teaching of contempt" for the Jews - the idea that they had rejected God, so God had rejected them; and if life was hard for them in the Christian centuries to come, they'd brought it on themselves. And thus was the cultural soil of Europe poisoned against the Jews, ready for Hitler to reap his dreadful harvest in the Holocaust.

The teaching of contempt has been emphatically repudiated by Christian leaders since then, but a lot of loose ends still need tidying up. And ending the exploitation of Judas as an icon of treachery is one of them. However, it will take generations for this 'revision' to percolated down to popular lore. Meanwhile, poor Judas will continue to function as Christianity's scapegoat.

-Dick Lyng

Sounding The Last Post

As you know, our fundraising Mozart concert will be staged on Friday night next. In an effort to drum up a bit of publicity for it, we circulated most of you last Tuesday via An Post with a reminder. We posted over 300 cards.

On the following day, Wednesday January 18th, I dispatched 30 envelopes to the Parish Priests of the city and county at 3.45pm, courtesy of An Post also. Each envelope was A4 in size, to which I attached a 48 cent stamp, and each contained a single poster. It was imperative that these arrived at their destination by Friday if the event was to be publicised in the Parishes at the weekend.

On Friday morning, a very polite postman handed all 30 letters back to me. Each envelope was rubber stamped with the following message: "18 Jan 2006: This item required further processing due to underpayment which consequently caused a delay." But then on the following day, apparently, January 19th, an additional sticker was attached to each envelope by a very busy An Post employee, obliterating entirely the address of the intended target! (I had thought it was illegal to deface a letter?) The sticker bore the following message: "We regret your mail item has been returned to you as the postage is underpaid. Please refer to Letter Post Rates Guide. Original postage cancelled." They proceeded to vandalise each stamp individually, rendering them unusable in the future.

Part of An Post's 'Mission Statement' runs as follows: An Post is constantly changing to meet the environment in which it is operating. With the prospect of liberalised markets, rising customer expectations, and the continued growth of technology, An Post is undertaking a major strategic redevelopment process. We are becoming more flexible and innovative across our range of businesses. Please spare me your 'major strategic redevelopment process!' Why didn't you phone me, alert me to the minor shortfall (you do have a phone!) and get on with the job! This parish has posted its last letter! From here on in, it's email folks!

Items of Interest

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