Sunday Newsletter
Masses Today
6.30: (Vigil) George Herterich Jnr., R.I.P (birthday).11.00 Colleran family members, (RIP).
6.30: Sabina & Coleman Cooke, (Anniv).
- Masses Sunday, September 21st: 6.30: Michael & Anne Joyce; 11.00: Larry Carter & John Margetts; 6.30: Mick Folan.
- YOUTH PILGRIMAGE TO ITALY: As we announced here a couple of months ago, the Irish Augustinians are planning a pilgrimage for 18 to 25 year olds to Italy. The plan is to travel to places of Augustinian interest, like where the Order was founded in Tuscany, and on down to Rome. The group will include six young people from Galway. The pilgrims will leave Dublin on Sunday, October 26th, which means that it will coincide with the Halloween mid-term break. Those involved should direct queries to Niall Coghlan regarding practical arrangements.
- FUND-RAISING CONCERT: You will appreciate that the costs involved in the pilgrimage above would be beyond the means of many of the young people travelling. So the young people themselves have organised some fundraising. An evening of Sacred Music (of a mind-boggling variety!) will be held in the Augustinian here on Saturday night, September 27th at 8.30 as part of this fund-raising. Tickets will be available at the Priory Office, and at the church door on the night of the concert itself. These will cost €10 each.
- CHILD PROTECTION: We will introduce our patrons and parishioners to the Augustinian 'Child Protection' policy document at all Masses on Sunday week next, September 28th. We will also commission our two parish Delegates on that day. We have been working on this document for almost a year now; it is our hope that it will contribute to a culture of good practice in all activities involving children and the Augustinian Church.
As I Was Saying...
3,009 people died in the terrorist attack on America on September 11th, 2001. The toxic dust of that day has yet to settle. The debris that fell seven years ago brought chaos in its wake; yet, as the ground was cleared for action and reaction, the 'orthodox' account of what happened, and what should happen next, began to emerge.
The phrase 'war on terror' may have jarred with us, at first, but it was repeated by all the President's men and 'normalised' by the media. It soon became part of our everyday vocabulary. The response was 'gung-ho', reckless and counterproductive. But those who protested were dismissed as 'wimps'. So the plot twisted its destructive way through Afghanistan to Iraq, where the number of dead US soldiers has reached 4,119. Coalition casualties stand at 4,228, with an estimated 130,000 Iraqi civilians dying. An independent body, Opinion Research Business, now estimate that 1,033,000 people in all have perished directly as a result of the 'war on terrorism'. Violence begets violence, as all-too-predictably history seems to repeat itself.
Admittedly, violence is not the whole story of 9/11. Who could forget the courage, the heroism, and the simple humanity it called forth. Remember the New York firemen, so many of whom lost their lives saving lives? Or the passengers on the fourth plane, Flight 93, who, with amazing heroism, fought back and crashed their plane into a field so that others would not die. The thousands who tended the wounded, comforted the bereaved, and gave shelter to those who were stranded are also part of the 9/11 story. It was they who in the midst of terror gave birth to hope, because compassion runs deeper than hatred, and the human instinct for freedom will always eventually win against those whose idea of conflict resolution is to kill those with whom they disagree.
Yet history is also made by individual stories which can offer a compelling alternative to the official line. A young Oklahoma senator, Andrew Rice lost his brother David that day. Later, Andrew insisted on meeting the mother of the 20th hijacker, to try to understand, and then to forgive. He is now part of the Forgiveness Project - a movement established to tell quieter, less publicised tales of reconciliation; stories about people like Andrew Rice who, in his own words, 'has discovered that the only way to move on in life is to lay aside hatred and blame'.
But, how can anyone move on while this futile war continues? It is not our place to tell those who have suffered so terribly what they should do. But it is our responsibility to highlight the futility of revenge. John Paul II pulled every diplomatic lever at his command to forestall the 'preemptive strike'. On the eve of the invasion he sent out his No. 2 official, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, to bat: "We want to say this to America: Is it worth it to you? Won't decades of hostility towards you follow in the Islamic world?" he asked. How right he was!
The war began, we were told, to achieve 'regime change' in Iraq. Ironically, it may take 'regime change' in Washington to bring it to an end. That day cannot come quickly enough!
-Dick Lyng
'Papalmania'
Nine Irish bishops were among the seven hundred or so cardinals and bishops who joined Pope Benedict XVI at the recent World Youth Day celebrations in Sydney. A similar gathering will take place in Ireland in 2012, when the Eucharistic Congress is staged here for the first time since the 1930s. The cost of these public demonstrations and the carbon footprint involved raise questions about precisely what purpose they serve in the life of the Church. A certain triumphalism is almost inseparable from such occasions and that is an uncomfortable reminder of aspects of recent Church history which many would wish to forget. For critics, these occasions are simply an exaltation of the papacy, a participation by the Church in the modem cult of celebrity. Even for those who are well disposed, such events appear remote from the particular concerns of their local Church.
-Oliver Maloney, Retired Director General, RTE
Cope Collection
On Sunday next, September 21st, COPE will hold their annual collection. COPE has been providing Social Services in Galway since the 1970's. The Galway Diocese set them up; it was originally called Galway Social Service Council. In 2000 they changed their name to COPE (Crisis Housing, Caring Support) Ltd, by which name it is currently known. Among the services provided by them are: Meals on Wheels service for the city; a Day Centre for the older people in Francis St; a Refuge for women in violent relationships; and a hostel for Homeless Men. Please be generous.
Footnotes
Yesterday you told me
your feet were made of clay.
I coughed and lit a cigarette
And tried to look away.
Today I woke to find you gone,
A note pinned to the door.
Clay feet can travel pretty fast
Across a bedroom floor.
Went down to the chiropodist,
Said, 'Take a look at these.
I want them changing into clay.
Be quick about it please.'
Feeling much better now, must say.
I guess it's just because
Real feet get in the way, but that
was yesterday, that was.
-Jonathan Taylor
Terrorism in Quotes...
- "Terrorism is the tactic of demanding the impossible, and demanding it at gunpoint." -Christopher Hitchens.
- " Fighting terrorism is like being a goalkeeper. You can make a hundred brilliant saves but the only shot that people remember is the one that gets past you." -Paul Wilkinson.
- "If inciting people to do that [9/11] is terrorism, and if killing those who kill our sons is terrorism, then let history be witness that we are terrorists." -Osama Bin Laden.
- "Every leader, and every regime, and every movement, and every organization that steps across the line to terrorism must be banished from the discourse of civilized human life." Alan Keyes.
- "Terrorism is the price of empire. If you do not wish to pay the price, you must give up the empire." Pat Buchanan, in 'Where the Right Went Wrong.'
- "A 'war against terrorism' is an impracticable conception if it means fighting terrorism with terrorism." -John Mortimer.
- "Wanton killing of innocent civilians is terrorism, not a war against terrorism. -Noam Chomsky.
- "The terrible thing about terrorism is that ultimately it destroys those who practise it. Slowly but surely, as they try to extinguish life in others, the light within them dies." -Terry Waite.
- "The big threat to America is the way we react to terrorism by throwing away what everybody values about our country--a commitment to human rights. America is a great nation because we are a good nation. When we stop being a good nation, we stop being great." -Bobby Kennedy (2007).
Sepllnig Nwes
Aoccdrnig to a rscheearcr at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Slruey the rscheearcr has a pinot. The rasoen is spmlie: bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by itslef but the wrod as a wlohe. Terhe you hvae it!