Sunday Newsletter

Masses Today

6.30: Martin & Kathleen Coleman, (Anniv).
11.00 Tom Tierney, (Anniv).
6.30: Molly & Michael Forde, (Anniv).

As I Was Saying...

A 16-year-old schoolgirl hanged herself in Bridgend, Wales this week. Her death brings to 17 the number of young suicides in that area since the beginning of last year. Is there a link between them? Speculation originally centred on the Internet, but police are anxious to play down these rumours. "These were all young people with big issues, including relationship break-ups, friendship issues and family problems," said the chief police investigator.

However, the number of suicides in Bridgend during the last 12 months is three times the previous average for that area. Three men aged between 15 and 24 committed suicide on average every year between 1996 and 2006. Last year alone, there were at least nine. Inevitably, this brings up the notion of 'cluster suicides' and 'copy cat killing'. In fact the parents of 15-year-old Nathaniel Pritchard, who killed himself last week, blamed it on press coverage. Nathaniel's mother, Sharon, said: "The Press has glamorised ways of taking your life as a way of getting attention without fully realising the tragic consequences."

I have concelebrated at the funeral Masses of no more than five young people who deliberately took their own lives. (Drug-related deaths belong to a totally different category). The main celebrant has an unenviable task. But, on at least three occasions, I was convinced that the preacher pulled his punches by (understandably!) ignoring the deliberated nature of the act involved. He opted instead to 'glamorise' the deceased. The suffering visited upon the victim's family was all but ignored.

We tend to think of 'a moral code' and 'compassion' as being at opposite ends of the one spectrum. The moralists may be right but their rules seem rather severe, we muse. While Liberals come over as wishy-washy, at least they are compassionate. How helpful is this caricature?

Inevitably, we ask ourselves why young people should take such drastic action? Should we blame the media or the Internet? Is it the fault of financial deprivation or peer pressure? But the 'Elephant in the Living Room' is the changed moral climate. It's considered bad form to talk about this. We often hear people say, 'Isn't it great that we have removed the stigma from suicide!' But we don't decide to 'remove' a stigma. A stigma 'lifts' as the social atmosphere changes. To the benefit of whom?

Suicide is no longer a crime. Nor should it be. We decriminalized it in 1993. But to confused minds, the removal of prohibition can be seen as the granting of permission. While criminalization was crude, it served a purpose: it expressed the conviction of this society that this act was seriously wrong.

Dr Bertollini, from the WHO, addressed this matter this week. He said that the way we present suicide makes a huge difference to the impact it has. If it is reported as failure - the destructive response of someone mentally tormented - then no one wants to identify with it and there isn't a copy cat response. Perhaps unsympathetic, but ultimately more merciful. We can denounce the sin without condemning the sinner.

-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.

Some Footnotes...

Lenten Programme: 2008

Thirty five people attended the first of our Lenten Sessions on St. Paul with St. Nicholas' on Tuesday night last. It was quite lively and very enjoyable. Incidentally, you can join in on the sessions at any point along the way. For instance, you don't have to have completed Session No. 1 to take Session No. 2.

The remaining sessions will run as follows:

Each session will last from 8.00 to 9.30.

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