Sunday Newsletter
Masses Today
6.30: Joseph & Esther Crane and family, (Anniv).11.00: Nora Duggan, (Anniv).
6.30: Pauline & John Ryan, (Anniv).
- Masses Sunday, September 30th: 6.30 (Vigil): Philip & Delia Murphy (High St.); Michael Flaherty (Month's Mind); 11.00: Thomas Lenihan, late of Bowling Green; 6.30: Michael Folan.
- Recently deceased: Pray for the late Noreen McCusker, (Belfast), aunt of Mary Forde, who died this week. RIP.
- COLLECTION: Last Sunday's was €1,230.00.
- TODAY'S COLLECTION: Today's church collection (indoor) is going to COPE, formerly Galway Voluntary Social Services. These people run the hostel at Fairgreen for homeless men, and a hostel for homeless women at Osterley Lodge, Salthill.
- OUTDOOR COLLECTION: Today's church gate collection (outdoor) is for St. Patrick's Band. St. Patrick's is the 'Town Band' and it has provided musical tuition and instruments for Galway's young people down the years. They deserve your wholehearted support.
As I Was Saying...
A constant theme at any clerical gathering these days is "low morale" and "disillusionment". Clerical scandals, especially the sexual abuse of children by a relatively small number of their clerical, have taken a heavy toll of clerical self-esteem. Many clergymen harbour a morbid fear of false allegations. While the actual number of false allegation have been miniscule, nevertheless, some spectacular miscarriages of justice have resulted.
It is of course a criminal offence to falsely accuse someone of sexual abuse. To my knowledge just two such prosecutions have reached the courts. The priest-victim in one of these cases was a priest from the archdiocese of Dublin and a friend of mine. He was a caring, conscientious man with wonderful leadership qualities. Then, out of the blue, a Paul Anderson walks into a Garda station in West Dublin and claimed that he had been sexually abused by this priest. The priest was immediately asked to 'stand aside' by Church authorities.
Four years later, Paul Anderson is convicted of making these false allegations and sentenced to four years in prison. But the priest's life had already been destroyed. Here is an extract from his 'victim impact' statement read to the court:
"As I said at the outset, and I repeat again: I would honestly have preferred if the perpetrator had shot me through the head rather than put me and my family through the pangs of anxiety and the profound sufferings we have endured over the last four years.
When he went with One-in-Four to Archbishop's House armed with his accusation it hair-triggered the church's guidelines - with immediate devastating effect on me and on the practice of my priesthood.
I was instantly and publicly suspended from my ministry. So without any due process, my diocese, in this Guantanamo Bay reaction, had me stand aside from my work as a priest. I had to leave my home and stay with family and friends and I lost almost a year out of my pastoral work."
It is an extraordinary dilemma for the church. Does the church allow a priest continue in his ministry in the light of unproven allegations, or do they suspend him immediately from his pastoral work? If they don't suspend, they face accusations of not taking child abuse seriously, allowing a potential molester to keep on molesting. If they immediately suspend a priest who may be innocent, are they not guilty of a rush to judgement and actually destroying the life of a good and caring man, as happened above, obviously?
Such situations have sapped the morale of many priests, leaving them feeling isolated and vulnerable. The priests' 'Trade Union', if you like, is the National Conference of the Priests. This is an elected body that kept an eye out for the interests and welfare of priests, and ably represented those interests to the bishops. This week, at their AGM in Athlone, the National Conference of Priests voted themselves out of existence. No reason was given. Obviously, the low clerical morale has made its way to the higher echelons. What a great pity!
-Dick Lyng
Items of Some Interest
- Harvest Festival: We will celebrate our Harvest Festival on Sunday week, October 7th. At this festival we give thanks for 'fruit of the earth and the work of human hands'. It is customary for members of the congregation to participate in the Liturgy by bringing along to the service tokens of the harvest: apples, potatoes, jam, bread, or whatever. The church will be suitably and seasonally decorated. If you are in a position to help out with the celebration your assistance would be very welcome indeed.
- Altar Servers: We had our first Training Session for our new team of Altar Servers in the church yesterday afternoon. We now have a panel of eight, including Sam and Georgia. They will make their debut in two weeks.
- Church Maintenance:The Steering Committee ratified the following Church Maintenance Group: Paschal Leahy (Chair), Jimmy Mannion, Harry O'Connor, Cathal Cunningham, Gerry Ferguson, Peter Cunnane, Bernadette Whyte, Dick Lyng & Niall Coghlan. It will be their responsibility to see that the church fabric is properly maintained. We have in mind here ongoing day-to-day maintenance.
- Church Kneelers: Our fold-away kneelers are not working. You are all aware of the terrible noise they make when being put down, like grenades exploding at the Battle of the Somme! We tried to address the problem by attaching pads to the bottom of the kneelers. But it didn't work. The clatter remained a terrible distraction at the very part of the Mass that demands silent reverence. But there is a more serious problem still: some people have tripped over the kneelers. and have injured themselves. It is only a matter of time before someone does some serious damage to themselves. In a litigious age, this could have serious financial consequences for us. The Steering Committee went through all the issues thoroughly on Tuesday night last. Having looked at every option imaginable, we reluctantly decided to 'decommission' the kneelers for a trial period of a month or two. Therefore, beginning on Sunday next, the kneelers will be tied up and rendered unusable. It is suggested that the congregation stand from the Offertory Prayer to the Acclamation after the Consecration; then sit for the remainder of the Eucharistic Prayer until the Our Father. After all, the General Instructions of the Roman Missal has this to say about standing at Mass: 'Standing signifies respect and attention. Standing is the common posture for prayer. Ever notice how Catholics instinctively stand up when the priest says: "Let us pray?"' In fact there are no kneelers whatsoever in the Pope's own Church, the "Mother of all the churches", the Basilica of St. John Lateran. Generally speaking, the Mediterranean people stand for the entire Eucharistic Prayer. Posture in church has more to do with conditioning than with respect or lack of same. As already stated, we will given this new system a try for a month or so. We will review it then.
- Youth Mass: Mass for young people in the senior classes of Secondary Schools (male and female) and beyond will begin again after the Summer recess this Sunday evening, September 23rd at 6.30. It is not at all our intention to 'confine' the Mass to those young people who are attending Secondary Schools in the city. Our intention is to present a lively, musical and attractive celebration of the Sunday Liturgy; those who are interested in that sort of celebration (regardless of age or whether they are at school or not!) will be made to feel very welcome. Refreshments will be available in the Priory each Sunday evening after the Liturgy. Pass the word to your children, your grandchildren, and their friends.
- Meeting: You will recall that we set out to review all groups attached to the Church at this time, in effect the beginning of the Parish year. We asked the leaders of the various groups get their people together in the Priory here. (What I have to say here about the Eucharistic Ministers applies equally to our readers). With this exercise in view, Brenda Foy, as leader of the Lay Eucharistic Ministers, will meet with that group on Wednesday night next in the Priory at 8.00pm. Four aspects of that groups deserve attention: (1) Can current practice be improved? What things are we doing wrong, what things right? (2) Do we need more recruits? Bear in mind that we are dealing with three Sunday Masses and three Masses every day of the week. (3) Apart from new members, what else do we need to fulfil our Ministry adequately? Should we be looking at some spiritual or theological formation for Eucharistic Ministers? Such courses are readily available. (4) Leadership: is your present Leader happy to continue, or, more importantly, is the group happy that she should continue? These, and related issues, should be threshed out at your meeting on Wednesday night next.
- Child Protection: Our Diocesan Child Protection Policy Document, in the pipeline for a year, is now ready for circulation. It will be formally launched at a function in the Clayton Hotel, Ballybrit, on Saturday, September 29th. Every parish in the country will have to put in place this policy on child protection. Put simply, the welfare of children must from now on be the primary concern of every parish community. Each parish must put in place a protocol for dealing with children. During the coming months we will learn gradually what the details of this protocol are. Our Steering Committee has selected Donal O'Connell and Rosemary Ryan to act as our Parish Representatives. It will be the function of these two people to keep us au fait with what is happening at diocesan level, and to ensure that the Policy Document on child protection is being implemented on the ground in St. Augustine's here. More on this anon.