Sunday Newsletter

Masses Today

6.30: Angela Reddington, (Recently deceased).
11.00: Johnny Buckley, Mervue, (Anniv).
6.30: Nora Conroy, (Anniv).

As I Was Saying...

'Good Bye, Lenin!' a German film, was released internationally in 2003. Directed by Wolfgang Becker, the film is set in the East Berlin of 1989. In the movie, Alexander Kerner's mother, Christiane Kerner is an ardent supporter of the Communist regime. She suffers a heart attack when she sees her beloved son Alex being arrested in an anti-government demonstration. She falls into a coma shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall. After eight months she awakes, but doctors say that any shock may cause a fatal relapse. Alex realises that her discovery of recent events would be too much for her to bear, and so sets out to maintain the illusion that things are as normal in the German Democratic Republic.

To this end, he and his family revert the flat to its previous drab decor, dress in their old clothes, and feed the bed-ridden Christiane new, Western produce from old labelled jars. For a time the deception works, but gradually it becomes increasingly complicated and elaborate.

In one scene for instance, Christiane wanders outside the flat while Alex is asleep. She sees all her neighbours' old furniture piled up for the bin men; a car dealer is selling BMWs instead of Ladas. Then, a huge military helicopter flies past carrying the upper half of an enormous statue of Lenin, which, at an angle, appears to be greeting the woman with a wave of his hand. Alex and his sister find her and take her back to the flat. Alex and his friend create a fake special TV report stating that East Germany is accepting refugees from the West!

On Friday week last, in the real world (as opposed to the world of fiction) a Polish man woke up after a 19-year coma. Jan Grzebski, 65 year old father of four, had been hit by a train in 1988 and lapsed into a deep coma. The world he left was almost completely cut off from the west by the Iron Curtain. It was a world of food shortages and petrol queues. 'When I went into a coma there was only tea and vinegar in the shops, meat was rationed and huge petrol queues were everywhere,' he said.

But life had changed on the domestic front also. Since he fell into his coma, Grzebski's children have all grown up, married and together had given him 11 grandchildren. He saw them for the first time when he awoke. He said he had vague memories of family gatherings with his close relatives talking to him.

Human nature has changed little, however: 'Now I see people on the streets with cell phones and there are so many goods in the shops it makes my head spin. What amazes me is all these people never stop moaning into their mobile phones!' His most lavish praise was reserved for his wife, who had for 19 years tended his every need. 'It was Gertruda who saved me, and I'll never forget it,' he said.

The ending of the fictional story is not such a happy one, however. When Christiane finally discovers the Berlin Wall has fallen she reveals that her support for the former communist regime had been a sham all along. She had striven valiantly to conceal the truth from her children. And now they had returned the complement. Truth may not always be stranger than fiction. But it sure is stronger and more enduring.

-Dick Lyng

Items of Some Interest

For The Record

A recent edition of the 'Journal of the Irish Society for Archives' carried an account of a visit of members of society to the 'restored' Augustinian Church in Galway. Jacinta Prunty penned the article from which the extract below is taken:

'Next stop on our journey was the Augustinian Church in Galway, recently restored in a very imaginative way. The Ambo, altar and Presidential chair are the work of Cork artist Ken Thompson. Ken works in stone and wood, and mostly to commission. Completing the central axis is a fine baptismal font (c. 1750), located initially in the predecessor to the present Church, also on Middle Street. It is carved from Menlo limestone and it was wonderfully restored during the recent renovations by an immigrant Latvian stonemason. When polished Menlo limestone comes up like marble. This baptismal font makes a fitting centrepiece for the entrance to the church, welcoming the newly-baptised into full communion, and reminding the long baptised of their own baptism.

The antiphonal or choir layout of the church makes for the full participation of all the faithful. The eye is drawn to the stainless steel crucifix by Angela Godfrey over the altar, echoing the stained glass crucifixion window behind (George Walsh, c. 1965).

The success of the refurbishment (at least, from this reviewer's perspective), lies in its ability to be a living, welcoming, warm and bright place of worship, while truly appreciative of its historic character. All those interested in historic buildings and living liturgy are encouraged to visit, and to see what lessons might be learned from this fine example of sensitive reordering.

Sermons are Awful

A friend of mine offers his truth about sermons. There's one way, he says, to solve the problem about sermons once and for all. Do away with them. Give them up. Not just for Lent but forever. Forget about them! At one fell swoop, you will brighten up both the liturgy and clergy's Saturdays and the laity's Sundays.

There's something about the cool, crisp solution that appeals to us. And maybe this is it. After all, sermons are generally terrible. I shouldn't say that of course. Letting the side down and all that. Being a practitioner of sorts. But it's true, isn't it? Once you say "This is the Gospel of the Lord" you can see the collective glaze descend on the congregation, as in a dentist's waiting room when people pore over uninteresting magazines and nod to each other in feigned interest. Everything about the posture, body language and demeanour suggests that the assembled faithful want you to get on with it. Make it as painless as possible.

Some say that sermons used to be good. That's another myth. The truth is that in the past they were probably even worse than they are now. Because the Mass was in Latin and we spent the time parroting impregnable phrases from a foreign language and trying to distract ourselves from the tedium, the priest breaking into English was something of a change.

The problem with the sermon is that it is impossible to achieve. We're into conflicting expectations here. Black or white or grey? Some want you to lay down the law (usually for someone else). What about the the Ten Commandments? Others feel the need for a bit of encouragement, a sense that the preacher sympathises with the compulsions of their lives. But, the more you answer one need, the less you defer to the other needs.

So should we give up the sermons altogether or struggle on? Can we find a middle way? Between the 'Weighty Words About Life' and 'Random Thoughts While Shaving'? Suggestions on a postcard please. But don't send them to me. Find somewhere closer to home.

-Fr. Brendan Hoban, in 'The Furrow', June 2007.

Knock Summer Youth Festival

The Summer Youth Festival, Thursday 26h - Sunday, 29th of July, 2007, at Knock Shrine is an opportunity for young people to take time out to reflect on their lives and what God is offering: "Life to the full!"

Cost is on donation basis with accommodation and food provided. Special free buses will also be provided from certain locations. For more info contact Ann @ 094- 9388100, or look up Knock Shrine for further details.

What the Doctor said...

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