Sunday Newsletter
Masses Today
6.30: Joe Coyne, Whitehall, (Anniv).11.00: Maureen Loughnane, (Anniv).
6.30: Patrick Moran, (Anniv).
- Masses for next weekend, November 5th: 6.30 (Vigil) Tom & Josephine McNamara (Market St); 11.00: Anne & James Sharkey.
- DIED RECENTLY: Pray for Jackie Naughton (late High St.) who died this week in Philadelphia. Jackie was of course a brother-in-law of our choirmaster, Sonny Molloy. Pray also for Vera McDonagh whose funeral Mass was celebrated in St. Joseph's Church yesterday. Vera's husband, Tony, is caretaker in Forthill Cemetery. Remember too Kevin Peters who died this week. May they all find rest in God.
- MISSION SUNDAY: The collection last Sunday (Mission Sunday) amounted to €1,242.00. We thanks Sister Teresa Mee for her very interesting talk.
As I Was Saying...
We have celebrated a 'Harvest Festival' every year for seven years now. As you know, 'Harvest Festival' is very important in other religious traditions, most particularly among our Anglican or Church of Ireland brethren. After Easter and Christmas, Harvest is their next most important celebration.
It is not surprising that Anglicans should place such an emphasis on the Harvest, because 'harvest' is a very fertile biblical image. Harvest is the season that merits most attention in the bible. Several times the Lord compares the Word of God to the seed sown. And he carries through the analogy: as the seed is to be watered and carefully cultivated if it is to yield a rich harvest, so too with the Word of God. If sown properly, the Word of God will yield a great harvest of Good Deeds.
Yet, even in the Anglican tradition, the Harvest Festival is a relatively recent 'discovery' or 'invention', depending upon your theological taste! In fact it was the brainchild of a Cornish vicar named Stephen Hawker in the 1850s. Hawker instigated a festival of thanksgiving to God, in sharp contrast to the prevailing custom of celebrating the gathering-in of crops 'in pagan fashion with beer and tumult'!
The idea was quick to catch on, with Harvest Thanksgiving being first recognized in the Church of England in 1862. It soon became one of the most popular festivals of the Anglican Year, with church attendances in some places exceeding those at Christmas and Easter.
No matter what religious tradition a people belongs to, they crave ritual and symbolism. Ritual, if properly conducted, will effectively connect a people with their past and direct them towards their future. But authentic ritual must spring from communal experience. The assembled community must engage with the symbols employed in the ritual, be it at a conscious or a subconscious level. For this very reason, the Catholic authorities disapprove of trivia being brought to the altar in the Offertory Procession at funeral Masses. Grandad's pipe may have meant the world to Grandad, but it has very little significance for the liturgical community. However, 'the fruit of the earth and the work of human hands' are in an entirely different league. They represent the labours of a people working together, and for one another.
Most of us are relatively new to urban life. We are still, in our psyche and our spirits, a rural people. The word 'harvest' still rings a bell in our brains. While we are celebrating our harvest today, we are also genuflecting to a way of life that has passed. Harvest is symbolic of everything that is productive and fruitful in life. It was a communal effort, the work of a 'Meitheal'.
Through this festival today, we (now largely an urban people) reconnect with our past and with the people who made us. Harvest drew them together. The memory of harvest, through linking us to the past, improves our present cohesion, and forges a community. Long may it continue to do so. Enjoy!
-Dick Lyng
Events of Some Interest
- PUBLIC HOLIDAY: Since tomorrow, Monday, is a Public Holiday there will be no 8.30 Mass here. The Priory Office will remain closed all day.
- CHURCH HOLIDAY: Wednesday next, November 1st is the Feast of All Saints and is a Holyday of obligation. Masses in St. Augustine's at: 6.30 (Vigil); 8.30; 10.00; 11.00; 1.10 & 6.30.
- HARVEST HELPERS: A big 'Thank You' to all who prepared the Church and the Liturgy for the Festival. Thanks also to those who gave the 'fruits of the earth' to enhance our celebration. All the produce will go towards a worthy cause on Monday morning..
- CEMETERY SUNDAY: We will celebrate Cemetery Sunday at Forthill on Sunday next, November 5th, with Mass in the Oratory at 12.15 in the Oratory. Graves will be blessed after the Mass.
- MOZART REQUIEM: Come along to the Augustinian on Wednesday night, November 1st at 8.00pm where Galway Choral Association, Galvia Chamber Choir, and Contempo will combine to present Mozart's Requiem. Tickets, at door or Mulligans, for €12.
- ALL SOULS' NIGHT: An ecumenical 'Service of Remembrance' will be celebrated at 7.30 in St. Nicholas' Church on Thursday night next, November 2nd, All Souls' Night. The Service is a 'Service of Remembrance', but it will not include a Mass. It will consist of scripture readings, some poetry and hymns, together with a 'Procession of Light', and a Blessing of the Tree of Life (see below). People from both our Churches have got together to create a Liturgy that will draw upon the riches of our respective traditions. The 44 people (see table below) who have had connections with our churches, and who died in the course of the last 12 months, will have a candle lighted in their memory in the course of the Service. Their individual names will be inscribed on each candle, bringing to mind their 'dying with Christ in baptism'. The candle will already be in place and inscribed before the Service. Their families have been informed by post, and a family member will bring the candle forward from the Baptismal Font to the altar towards the end of the Service.
- TREE OF LIFE: There will also be a more general commemoration of the Dead. Everyone is welcome to participate. A 'Tree of Life' will be erected in both churches. You will be provided with simple strips of writing paper. (These will be available in the Churches from tomorrow, and at the Priory Office throughout the week) You may take these home and write down the names of your deceased family members and neighbours whom you wish to have prayed for. (Of course you may fill them out in the church too if your so wish). In the course of the week then, or at the Service on Thursday night itself, you will have an opportunity to place this strip of paper on the tree. That will become one of the focal points of the Service, and the trees will remain in place in both churches throughout the month of November.
- NOVEMBER DEAD LIST: The envelopes and writing paper will be in place in the new rack at the end of the Church (near St. Jude). Simply fill out your list and place it in the box provided, or else hand it into the people in the Mass Office.
"Blessed are the Dead who die in the Lord..."
We decided last year to share some important services with St. Nicholas'. They have a small congregation and they do have problems mustering a quorum occasionally. Perhaps this is how we might put ecumenism into practice. Our greater numbers should oblige us to come to their assistance occasionally! After all, they came to our assistance in our time of need.
All Souls Night was worked really well when we were 'in possession' in Nicholas' last year; and the Church of Ireland people are anxious that we continue the practice there this year.
We have drawn up a list of people who will be remembered at our Service of Remembrance. All of these people have had some connection with St Augustine's or St. Nicholas'; they either attended one of our churches, were buried from one of our churches, or their families continue to worship in one of our churches. In other words, they were members of our community. We have been in touch with their families and they will attend the service. If you spot any glaring omissions, please get in touch with us immediately.
| MARTIN CUNNINGHAM (Grattan Road) 23:11:05 |
| HUGHIE KELEGHAN (Bohermore) 08:12:05 |
| SHANE CORRIGAN (Moycullen) 08:12:05 |
| BERNARD RYAN (Market St.) 28:01:06 |
| FRANCES BIGG (Galway) 31:01:06 |
| MARIAN FOLAN (Whitestrand) 16:02:06 |
| JOHANNA HICKEY (Clare) 23:02:06 |
| MICHAEL BURKE (Palmyra Park) 24:02:06 |
| JAMES KILROY (Salthill) 19:04:06 |
| LENA O'NEILL (Mervue) 27:04:06 |
| BABY ALEX DOYLE (Galway) 27:04:06 |
| FR EAMONN McINERNEY (Ballindereen) 18:05:06 |
| TOM MOORE (Inverin) 24:05:06 |
| MAXIE DOOLEY (Canal Road) 28:05:06 |
| GERTIE NOONAN (Woodquay) 29:05:06 |
| ANN WALSH (Kilcolgan) 01:06:06 |
| MAIRE DEMPSEY (Woodquay) 13:06:06 |
| BRIDIE LINIHAN (Bowling Green) 17:06:06 |
| EITHNE FEENEY (Bohermore) 18:06:06 |
| SR AUGUSTINE TAHENY (Taylor's Hill) 19:06:06 |
| NOREEN GARRY (Mullingar) 20:06:06 |
| JOHN MURRAY (Oranmore) 07:07:06 |
| JENNY KIRBY (Galway) 22:07:06 |
| EAMONN GIBSON (Galway) 23:07:06 |
| PEGGY DOYLE (Highfield Park) 24:07:06 |
| EDWARD MCKEE (Galway) 30:07:06 |
| PADDY O'BRIEN (Prospect Hill) 13:08:06 |
| CONNIE McGRATH (Galway) 22:08:06 |
| GERARD McCONVILLE (Merchant's Rd.) 25:08:06 |
| MICHAEL FRANCIS (Forster St.) 25:08;06 |
| JOHN O'DONNELL (Salthill) 09:09:06 |
| AGNES KILKELLY (Bowling Green) 15:09:06 |
| UNA TAAFFE (Shop St.) 25:09:06 |
| PADDY BARRETT (Abbeygate St & UK) 30:09:06 |
| ESTHER TIERNEY (Shantalla) 30:09:06 |
| DICK MURPHY (Mervue) 05:10:06 |
| PEG McGUINNESS (Galway & Dundalk) 10-10-06 |
| NIALL FOLEY (Dalton Drive) 12:10:06 |
| MARY MARGARETTS (Oughterard) 19-10-06 |
| BOBBIE GROGAN (Galway) 19:10:06 |
| JACKIE NAUGHTON (High St. & USA) 23:10:06 |
| VERA MCDONAGH (Ballinfoyle) 24:10:06 |
| JIMMY O'FLYNN (Castlegar) 26:10:06 |
| FR RICHARD GRIFFIN (Salthill) 26:10:06 |