Sunday Newsletter

Masses Today

6.30: (Vigil): Elizabeth Coyne, (Anniv).
11.00: Martin & Mary Nora Duggan, (RIP).

As I Was Saying...

I visited Beijing with an Augustinian colleague in 1999. Tiananmen Square is the largest city square in the world, occupying 109 acres, and capable of accommodating 10,000,000 people at one time. At the south of the Square is this massive ugly building called the Mao Zedong Memorial Hall, were the remains of Chairman Mao are laid in a crystal coffin. Admirers queue two hours before opening, and the queue remains constant throughout the day.

As we know ourselves, whole nations can go into denial. Because this man was responsible for murdering millions of Chinese citizens. "Together with Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler, Mao appears destined to go down in history as one of the great tyrants of the twentieth century." (Roderick MacFarquhar & Michael Schoenhals, Mao's Last Revolution. Harvard University Press, 2006) The numbers he murdered may well surpass the combined total of the other two monsters.

For seven weeks in the Summer of 1989, one million student activists gathered in Tiananmen Squares to shake their defiant fists at his repressive legacy. On June 4th, 20 years ago last Thursday, the tanks rolled in, with fatal consequences. The Chinese Red Cross estimated fatalities in excess of 3,500. Chinese authorities claimed 100 died, including soldiers!

The morning after the massacre, a column of 18 tanks pulled out of the Square and drove east along the Avenue of Eternal Peace. Then something happened which became a symbolic image of an individual standing up to military and political might. A young man with shopping bags in his hands strode out in front of the tanks. The lead tank came to a stop. It moved to the right in order to go around the man. He moved again into its path. It moved left, and he moved with it. The watching media never saw his face, or knew what words were said by him before he was pulled out of the way by others from the roadside. Indeed, the media have never been able to track him down, and knew him only as 'The Tank Man'. Time Magazine later named him one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century.

In the early church, such people were called in Greek 'idiotes'. They were the little people, who seemed weak and foolish in the world's eyes. Yet, as Paul wrote to a group in Corinth, it is through such people that God chooses to change the world. His confidence was based on an earlier event. For it was in the apparent folly and weakness of the crucifixion of Jesus, that Paul and others experience the power of God.

We will have to wait and see whether the image of 'The Tank Man' will be celebrated in the future of his own country. Some may talk of its foolishness and the failure of the revolt. Yet we must continue to believe that it is through the courage of individuals that oppression can be challenged and ultimately defeated. It matters little whether the agent of that oppression happens to be the Church or the State.

-Dick Lyng

Wonderful Galway

Throughout the last two weeks, Galway has been revealed to the world in all its glory. We so needed something like this 'Carnival' to lift us out of our current depression. A few brave spirits stood up and rowed against the tide! I have never experienced the 'feel good' factor sustained over such a lengthy period of time in Galway, or anywhere else for that matter. It was like winning every day at the Galway Races (dream on!). I went down to the docks every night and immersed myself in the Mediterranean atmosphere that prevailed. The crowds were massive, but always co-operative and good humoured.

You've got to hand it to John Killeen and his 'Lets Do It Galway' group who made all this happen. They obviously had a clear vision of what they wanted to achieve. The fact that they achieved this while working in the most adverse economic circumstances is nothing short of miraculous. Vision alone was not sufficient. Enormous courage was required too. They must be proud as punch of their achievement. But we have all basked in their pride. Well done again, and it was wonderful to be here.

A Time for Courage

The Irish Church, in the next few decades, will face a crucial question: as many parishes become priestless, what structure needs to be in place if what the Church is for - preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ - can continue? There is only one answer to that question: communities will have to run their own parishes. And there are two indisputable realities that flow from it: one, lay people will have to take responsibility for parishes; two, priests will have to facilitate it.

The reality is that unless a competent lay structure is put in place, for the first time in centuries there will be no framework to support the telling of the Story of God's love for his people. Unless there are new structures of governance that pay due recognition to the local Church, then we simply won't be able to respond to the challenges ahead. Therefore, the next 20 years will be absolutely crucial.

-Brendan Hoban, The Furrow, June, 2009.

SUMMER FESTIVAL, 2009

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