Sunday Newsletter
Masses Today
6.30: (Vigil) Willie Conneely, Market St. (Anniv).11.00 Edward Moloney, (Anniv).
6.30: Thomas & Mary Folan, (Anniv).
- Masses Sunday, August 10th: 6.30: Deceased members of the O'Donnell family; 11.00: John, Patrick & Winifred O'Connor; 6.30: Pierce Murrray.
- COLLECTION: Last Sunday's collection: €1,612.00.
- BANK HOLIDAY: Since tomorrow, August 4th is a Public Holiday, there will be no 8.30 Mass. As is customary also, the Priory Office will remain closed all day.
- VINCENT DE PAUL: The Galway Area Council are holding their annual outdoor collection this weekend. As you probably know, the SVP is a large, national Catholic voluntary-led organisation with extensive experience of working with a diverse range of people who experience poverty and exclusion. Through a network of over 8,000 volunteers, it is strongly committed to working for social justice and advocates the creation of a more just and caring society.
- YOUTH PILGRIMAGE: An orientation weekend is planned for all those intending to travel on the Augustinian pilgrimage to Italy in October. The weekend takes place from 5th - 7th September in Emmaus Retreat and Conference centre, Lissenhall, Swords, Co. Dublin. All those who are travelling are asked to attend. The weekend will provide an opportunity for the different groups to get to know each other, an introduction to praying together, and also the chance to ask any questions relating to the trip. The cost of the trip is working out at €970 per person. It is hoped that we here in Galway will have some fund raising event to bring this cost down for each participant. There are still some vacancies if any young person between the ages of 18 and 30 years is interested. Please contact Fr. Niall.
As I Was Saying...
For the past twenty years or so, the Vatican has been sending strange signals to the universal Church. Its whole demeanour and public utterances have been at odds the with universal 'mood music'. There have been several sartorial 'straws in the wind' indicating this trend. The splendour and style of the papal vestments has now become a matter for serious clerical discussion! Such 'nancy-banter' should be confined to Ballybrit on Ladies' Day!
There is no doubt but that there has been an upsurge of interest in historical ecclesiastical finery and other goods. Birettas (those funny three-peak hats with the fuzzy ball on top that come in different colours, depending on clerical rank) and cassocks (the kind with real buttons, no zippers for the purists) and ecclesiastically correct colour shoes and socks, and lots of lacy surplices have all received a new lease of life.
This stuff, if taken seriously, can hold the entire Church up to ridicule. For example, a Latin American cardinal recently strutted around London like a peacock, sporting the Capa Magna, an article of clothing originally designed as a horse-blanket. (How we could have done with it in Ballybrit on Thursday last!) It's as if a child discovered a trunk of old curious costumes in the parents' bedroom which she then insists on wearing and displaying at every given opportunity! It's harmless, if childish.
Rome, pestered by the abuse scandals that they've ignored for so long, are taking refuge in the paraphernalia of the past. They have found the things of a more settled time, a time when their authority wasn't dependent on persuading or relating to other human beings. It was sufficient to have the office and the clothing. Rank was power. Things worked.
Now playing at being a medieval prince is harmless enough. The action takes place on a remote stage, leaving the rest of us untouched. But the same characters are now turning their attention to old Latin texts they have found in that same old trunk. The proposed changes in the wording of the Mass is a result of this same process. (See below for details).
But the 'restoration' of the Tridentine Mass is the major act of this movement. This was a naive attempt to placate the implacable Lefevre rump. The Tridentine Latin Mass sustained an elitist clerical Church. The people are reduced to mere bystanders.
But, is the Mass a private devotion, or is it a communal celebration involving the whole congregation according to their different roles? In 1965, Pope Paul VI gave an unequivocal answer: "The new way of doing things will have to be different; it must invite the worshippers out of their passivity at Mass. Before, it was sufficient to assist; now it is necessary to take part. Before, being there was enough; now attention and activity are required". His wise words are still valid. Neither the Latin Mass, or all that foolish clerical foppery are helpful. You cannot pander to a bunch of liturgical and linguistic snobs, and at the same time claim that you are trying to restore the laity to their rightful place at the centre of things. Get real lads, for God's sake!
-Dick Lyng
Proposed Changes in The Mass
The Vatican has given formal approval to a new English translation of the central prayers of the Mass for use in the English-speaking world.
The new translation is said to adhere more closely to the Latin of the Roman Missal. Among the noteworthy changes that Catholics will notice when the new translation goes into effect sometime in 2010 are the following:
- At the Consecration, the priest will refer to Christ's blood which is "poured out for you and for many" - an accurate translation of pro multis - rather than "for all" in the current translation.
- In the Nicene Creed the opening word, Credo, will be correctly translated as "I believe" rather than "we believe."
- In the Nicene Creed the opening word, Credo, will be correctly translated as "I believe" rather than "we believe."
- When the priest says, "The Lord be with you," the faithful respond, "And with your spirit," rather than simply, "And also with you."
- In the Eucharistic prayer, references to the Church will use the pronouns "she" and "her" rather than "it."
- In the Agnus Dei, the text cites the "Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world," rather than using the singular word "sin."
- In the preferred form of the penitential rite, the faithful will acknowledge that they have sinned "through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault."
- Throughout the translation of the Offertory and Eucharistic Prayer, the traditional phrases of supplication are restored, and the Church is identified as "holy" - in each case, matching the Latin original of the Roman Missal.
If this is all it amounts to, wouldn't you wonder why they bothered?
Silly Season
Roman clerics are not the only one who are obsessed with lace and vestments. Nor was the late Princess Diana the first Royal whose intimate items became objects of morbid fascination for the general public! The news item below will enlighten you considerably!
The traditional 'Silly Season' begins during the last week of July. During this time, politicians go on their holidays and nothing of consequence happens, bar floods, storms, earthquakes, the Galway Races and assorted disasters!
As a result, the newspapers are forced to dig out silly news items in order to beef up their products. The resulting publication is often more entertaining and informative than the items produced during the 'sober season'. The item below, from the Irish Times of Monday last, is a very good example of this.
And the English always claimed that it was only devout Catholics who were interested in First Class Relics!
Victoria's not so little secret
- her smalls sell for £4,500
A pair of hand-stitched and embroidered knickers, with a waistband big enough to fit around a rain barrel, and a "VR" monogram proving they once belonged to Queen Victoria, sold yesterday for £4,500 (€5,725), against a top estimate of £500.
A Canadian collector bought the garments, which have a 128cm (50.4 inch) waist. They were sold by a Lincolnshire family whose ancestor received them as a reward for service as a lady-in-waiting. A royal nightgown from the same collection went for £5,500, and a chemise with an imperial 169cm bust for £4,000.
There has been much debate among costume historians about Queen Victoria's shape: paintings tend to flatter her as a girlish sylph right into middle age. However, later in her reign the camera reveals the truth: she had a cottage-loaf-shaped figure swathed in black mourning dress for the rest of her life after the death of her beloved Albert.
Measurement of Victoria's gowns show her height shrank so that towards the end of her life she was only 1.48m (4ft 8in).
She is also known to have preferred loose-fitting clothes to the corseted "Victorian" ideal. A petticoat from the same 1890s period as the knickers sold yesterday only has a 97cm (38.2 inch) waistband.
Victoria's underwear often turns up at auctions. Hundreds of sets, including stockings, petticoats and nightgowns, were given away after her death.
-The Irish Times.
Quotable Quotes...
- "Morals are an acquirement - like music, like a foreign language, like piety, like poker, paralysis, - no one is born with morals." -Mark Twain.
- "Parents are the bones on which children sharpen their teeth." -Peter Ustinov.
- "No absolute is going to make the lion lie down with the lamb, unless the lamb is inside!" -D.H. Lawrence.
- "I have come to regard the law courts not as a cathedral but as a casino." -Richard Ingrams.