Sunday Newsletter
Masses Today
6.30: Brian Flaherty, (Anniv).11.00 Eddie & Ellen Reynolds, (Anniv).
6.30: Eamonn Duddy, (recently deceased).
- Masses Sunday, February 20th: 6.30: Martin & Kathleen Coleman; 11.00: Tom Tierney; 6.30: Molly & Michael Forde, (RIP).
- COLLECTION: Last Sunday's collection: €1,565.00.
- NEW ENVELOPE COLLECTION: Thank you to everyone for your co-operation in setting up the new envelope system for the weekly collection. Thanks especially to the volunteers who helped with the logistics. And it's looking good.! As you can see from the income for last week there is an increase of some 29% over the previous week. If this continues there should be little or no deficit in the future. I would like to remind you of something which is probably more important than it appears: If you are away for a week or two now and then, the Bills will still come in screaming for attention! So, it would be important to bring in the envelopes for the missing weeks on your return. That way, the income will remain constant. If you have not yet taken an envelope you may still pick one up either after Mass or at the Mass Office. You need not, of course, return the envelopes for the weeks since we started. -Cathal Cunningham
- TROCAIRE REMINDER: The 24-hour Fast is scheduled for next weekend, the 23-24 February. The 2008 Fast will focus on El Salvador in Central America where rural communities are struggling to cope with the effects of climate change. Increased drought caused by climate change is leaving families without access to water for months on end and destroying crops. Episodes of severe flooding are also causing massive destruction of farmlands and housing. 40% of the population of El Salvador lack access to sufficient water. If you wish to participate in this Fast, give your name to Cathal before Sunday next.
As I Was Saying...
If you were asked to select one word that would best characterise life in Ireland at this time, what would you use? Wealth? Speed? Traffic? Sex? Drugs? Science? Space? Travel? Consumers? But we need a word with 'broader' possibilities, capable of being stretched along a wider spectrum of human behaviour. How about 'Excess'? Now that sure has possibilities.
Today 'excess' is associated with almost every field, whether 'work, rest or play'. In all areas, a great many people feel that they have to run in order to stand still. More people are at work now than ever before, and working longer hours at that. Many households require both salaries to meet mortgage demands. Even from the cradle our children are exposed to an insidious consumerism. They imbibe the Brand Names with their mothers' milk!
If we work hard, we sure play hard too. Drugs, once confined to the impoverished inner-city communities, have spread to the middle class suburbs. This was dramatically highlighted by tabloid frenzy at the death of model Cathy French. The numbers presenting at hospitals and health clinics with STDs have increased dramatically, by an alarming factor of four in some places. Our general culture is steeped in alcohol, literally. Diarmuid Martin of Dublin recently observed, "I get the impression that the energy Irish people once put into achieving the salvation of their own souls -- and the souls of others - has now been channelled into creating heaven on earth."
Ombudsman Emily O'Reilly observed that "...released from the handcuff of mass religious obedience, we are Dionysian in our revelry, in our testing of what we call freedom... hence the staggering consumption of alcohol..."
Medical experts and dieticians have been alerting us to increasing obesity among our children, due to the excessive consumption of unhealthy foods. Once again the truth of the old adage is borne out: "You are what you eat."
Of course our excess is most tragically obvious in our road deaths. Practically all of these can be attributed to excessive speed, often induced by alcohol. If our behaviour is marked by excess, the price to be paid is more excessive still: alcoholism, road deaths, broken relationships, and general bad health.
As soon as the Church abandons a practice, the world embraces it with great enthusiasm. Lent was once a season of fast and abstinence. Meat was forbidden. Daily diet was confined to 'one full meal and two collations'. Even hardened drinkers and smokers voluntarily abandoned their vices for the forty days. And the Lenten Pastoral was read aloud in every Church. But now the same messages are being preached to us daily by the HSE, and with the same effect too, I'm afraid. Come back +Michael Browne, nothing has changed. Three short bishops later, and your sheep are still drinking like camels!
-Dick Lyng
The Samaritans
Samaritan volunteers are available 24 hours a day to support those who are emotionally troubled. To do this we rely on members of the public to volunteer their time, and we depend upon you, the local priest, to alert your congregations to our needs.
We plan two Information Meetings: Monday, 25th February at 8.00 p.m. in the Galway Bay Hotel, Salthill and on Monday, 3rd March at 8.00 p.m. in the Quality Hotel, Oranmore. I would really appreciate if you could have the details included in your newsletter. Thank you.
Matters of some gravity
- READERS: A 'Day of Renewal' for those who read the Scriptures in their local Church will be held on Saturday, March 1st in Newtownsmith. A talk on 'The importance of the Scriptures in our Lives' will be given by the bishop, Martin Drennan. Those who intend availing of this day should have their names with their local priest before Monday, February 25th.
- LITURGY GROUP (1) THE STATIONS: Eight people attended our 'Looking at the Holy Week and Easter' on Thursday night last. It was a very worthwhile exercise. We looked first at our traditional Good Friday Stations of the Cross at 12.00. There have been problems with the function for a number of years now. We had been using projected images for our Stations, in conjunction with the existing traditional Stations on the Church wall. The main problem tended to be technical: the Church is actually far too bright at that time of day for slides or projections to work satisfactorily. So we decided this year that we will depart from our usual practice and experiment instead with The Stations of the Cross in tableau form, presented mainly through mime and movement. We will see how it works.
- LITURGY GROUP (2) NIGHT SERVICE: The other function requiring immediate attention of the Service on Good Friday night. During our Lenten Sessions with St. Nicholas' last year, Rev'd Towers floated the idea of sharing some Holy Week service. He pointed out that, in the Roman discipline now current, Eucharistic sharing is 'out'. But Holy Week presents ample opportunities for non-Eucharistic celebrations. He then suggested that we explore the possibility of getting both Churches together for a solemn celebration of 'Tenebrae' on Good Friday night. (A kind of Holy Week 'Carol Service'). Tenebrae (Latin for shadows) is characterized by the gradual extinguishing of candles. Lighting is gradually reduced throughout the service. Initially nine candles are lit, which are extinguished one by one after each lesson. Prior to the Second Vatican Council it was observed universally by the Catholic Church. With the radical revamping that followed, the Romans dropped it but the Anglicans kept it going. We'll join forces on it this year on Good Friday night.
- LEAP YEAR FROLICS: Join us for a dance at 'Leap Year Fun Night' on 29th of February with "Silkwood" in the Hotel Meyrick for AIDS Partnership with Africa. A stunning and valuable engagement ring donated by Blacoe Jewellers to the lady who successfully proposes to the love of her life. For more information see noticeboard, or give ALICE HOLLAND a ring (stunning, preferably) at 0876122280.
- WESTERN ALZHEIMERS: The Galway branch has vacancies for a variety of posts on their FAS Community Employment Scheme. For more information, call 565193.
Lenten Programme: 2008
Our Lenten Sessions with St. Nicholas' will begin on Tuesday next, February 19th. Because the Christian Churches are celebrating the 2,000 anniversary of the birth of St. Paul this year. From that point of view, the choice of programme was obvious enough. We will use video clips, DVDs and all the trappings of today's communications.
We will begin on Tuesday night with the following question: "What sort of guy was this Paul?" A contemporary admirer described him in the following terms: "He was small in stature, with a bald head, bowed legs, a well-shaped body, his eyebrows meeting over a slightly hooked nose, full of good nature. Sometimes he seemed a man, other times the face of an angel."
Fortunately for him, his enemies left no such record!
The entire programme runs as follows:
- Tuesday February 19: What sort of man was Paul?
- Tuesday February 26: Paul's Journeys and Letters.
- Tuesday March 4: Paul's Key Ideas.
- Tuesday March 11: Paul's Legacy: Augustine & Luther .
- Tuesday March 18: Seder Meal in St. Augustine's.
Each session will last from 8.00 to 9.30. There is a cup of tea (black) available for the addicted among you.