Sunday Newsletter
Masses Today
6.30: (Vigil): Denis & Kitty Daly, (Anniv).11.00: Annie Duggan; Tim & Bella Murray, (Anniv).
- COLLECTION LAST SUNDAY: €2027.00.
- THE SICK: Communion will be brought to the sick and the housebound on Christmas Eve at the usual time. If you are aware of anyone who would welcome a call from one of the priests, please let us know in good time.
As I Was Saying...
You will be familiar with the coloured Preacher Man on Shop Street. He comes from the fundamentalist 'Jesus Saves' stable. The last time I saw him was around the first week of December. I stopped to observe and to listen, out of professional interest. He wasn't quite shouting, just repeating certain phrases in a Belfast accent: 'Are you saved?' And 'Has Jesus come into your life?' The sane and the sober gave him a wide berth. The only ones (apart from myself) who paid any attention were two homeless men, drinking Scrumpy Jack.
Across the road, a female Father Christmas (and why not?) handed out discount vouchers to the shoppers and wished them a 'Happy Christmas'. She was much friendlier than the Preacher Man who never once said 'Happy Christmas' to anyone. He banged on with his message, undeterred indifference and the occasional hostile looks that said: 'What are you doing, you nut case?'
As I said, I haven't seen that Preacher Man since the run-up to Christmas developed into a gallop. Which poses an interesting question: 'Did Christmas push the last bit of religion out of Shop Street?' Will he be back when all this Christmas fuss is over? That reminds me of the Evelyn Waugh story. Two old ladies are admiring the famous window display at Selfridges on Oxford Street in London. One of them notices a miniature crib hidden away in the lower corner. She points at it scornfully and asks her friend: 'Do they really have to drag religion into everything!'
The Christmas Crib caused its own problems. They removed it from James' Hospital in Dublin some years ago for fear of causing offense to non-Christians. As you know, Veritas was not allowed advertise their cribs on RTE. This stuff has been going on in Britain for years. Only this week a survey from a law firm there, 'Peninsula', revealed that three out of four British employers have banned conventional Christmas decorations, lest they offend employees of other faiths. Bosses, the report said, are worried that they could be sued if they were to allow displays of Christian joy! True! Could it happen here?
With this in mind, I set out to find a way to say Happy Christmas that was as inoffensive as possible. With the help of my legal friends I came up with this message:
Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday.
Alternatively, and at the risk of causing offense, I'd like to offer you this Christmas message; a stupid piece of clairvoyance about an event that hadn't yet happened (written 600 years before Christ) and delivered by the original manic street Preacher Man himself - the prophet Isaiah:
'For to us a child is born, To us a son is given, And the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. The extent of his reign, and of his peace, will know no bounds.'
That'll do me fine. It will do you too! Happy Christmas!
-Dick Lyng
Items of Interest
- NATIVITY PLAY: Our Nativity Play runs at the 11.00 Mass today. Pat Lally and her assistants worked hard on the production. They have have had a series of rehearsals which will, no doubt, pay off handsomely. Shepherds, Angels, Wise Men (and women!), and all the bit-part players in the Christmas drama are all there. The ox, the ass and a stray sheep were rescued from the basement and forced into action. There isn't a tea towel left in the kitchen! This is usually the most joyous and chaotic celebration of the Christmas season. I'm sure it will live up to its usual billing! Just sit back and marvel!
- SANTA: This Sunday is traditionally 'Children's Sunday' in the Augustinian here. In addition to the Nativity Play, Santa will come calling after the Mass with gifts for all the children. The fat, bearded one is now an old man and should be treated with the respect reserved exclusively for the very old. Any attempts to frighten him through setting fire to his beard, biting his nose or stamping on his toes will not go unpunished. (He actually does have a vicious temper and I wouldn't push him too far! He has been known to retaliate). Audrey Lacey and Patricia Brennan paved the way for his arrival this year by forwarding your names to him. We have arranged a bodyguard to escort him from the premises and to keep at bay those children whose gifts didn't live up to their expectations! The morning should be great fun and I do hope you all enjoy it thoroughly. Well done and thanks.
- WEDDING BELLS: We had the first of our five Christmas Weddings on Friday last: Desmond Dalton and Cathy Vaughan from Athenry. Des and Cathy had grown up in Newcastle and were connected through their families with the Augustinian. We wish them every happiness together.
- FLOWER POWER: Congratulations to the ladies who decorated the church so wonderfully once again this year: Margaret Cunnane, Margaret Cunningham, Mary O h-Ici and Kathy Ashmore. (The parish priest acted as artistic advisor). They looked after everything, 'from farm to fork'. They purchased the flowers, collected the greenery, transported the lot to the Priory, and worked on it there for a full day. It demanded enormous work (and not a little skill) but you will agree that the finished article is really beautiful. Thanks ladies.
- PRIORY: Thanks to Annamarie Heanue who decorated the Priory. She is a patient woman! Most would have given up on those damn fairy lights long before Annamarie did. She was ably assisted by Bernadette O'Rourke who advised in particular on the tree in the Common Room, both on its gradient and its location! Your efforts certainly did not go unnoticed!
- THE CRIB: Larry Carter and Willie Andrew attended to the Christmas Crib once more. Larry inherited his interest and skills from his late father, Larry Senior, who had been Willie's original companion on the job. Willie has been putting up the Crib here now for almost thirty years. That's a tremendous record by any standards. Thanks very much men!
Dear Virginia
(A letter from 8-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon asking the Editor of "The New York Sun" to please tell her whether there really is a Santa Claus. The Editor, Francis P. Church, replied in an editorial which became famous across the world and which was printed in many newspapers every Christmas for over 100 years).
Is There A Santa Claus?
Dear Editor,
I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says "If you see it in The Sun it's so." Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?
Virginia O'Hanlon,
New York City
Dear Virginia,
Your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love, and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias! There would be no childlike faith, then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence.
We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fill the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.
You tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, not even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, cold tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view - and picture the supernatural beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
No Santa Claus! Thank God he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!
Christmas Programme, 2007
PENITENTIAL SERVICE
Monday, 24th: 4.30pm.
CONFESSIONS:
Monday, 24th: 11.30-12.30; 2.30-4.00.
CHRISTMAS MASSES:
12.00 Midnight.
11.00am Christmas morning.
Priory Office will remain closed from Christmas Day until Thursday, January 3rd. During that time, there will be one weekday Mass only - 11.00am.
Normality will return uninvited on Thursday, January 4th.