Sunday Newsletter
Masses Today
6.30 (Vigil) Martin & Kathleen Coleman, (Anniv).
11.00 Nichola Coe, (Anniv.)
6.30: Tom Drinkwater, (Anniv)
- Masses for Sunday, January 18th: 6.30: (Vigil) Tom & Maureen Lyons; 11.00: Agnes Margetts & Betty Creasa; 6.30: Nellie Carter.
- RECENT DEATH: Please pray for Eamon Molloy, brother of Sonny, who died this week in Dublin. Pray also for the late Eileen Boyle, mother of Maureen Rabbitt, who also died this week. May they rest in peace.
- COLLECTION LAST SUNDAY, Jan. 4: €1,746.00.
- COLLECTION FOR JANUARY 6: €876.00.
- OUTDOOR COLLECTION TODAY: This is for the Notre Dame de Lourdes group.
- BAPTISM TODAY: This is a big day for the Carter family. During the 11.00 Mass we will baptise Lorcan, adopted son of Larry and Lucy. It is so appropriate that he should be baptised on the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. We know you will have a lovely day and we pray that young Lorcan will bring you endless happiness and joy.
- CHRISTMAS DUES: The Christmas Dues usually come slowly, but surely nonetheless! The present tally is €14,325, very much on par with last year's €14520. That was a most generous response in difficult times and we are very grateful to you. I will let you know the final count at the beginning of February.
- CHURCH UNITY WEEK: The Inter Church Service for Christian Unity will be held this year in St. Nicholas' on Sunday next, January 18th at 7.30pm. Roman Catholics, led by our bishop, Martin Drennan will join members of other Christian communities in Galway to pray for unity among all Christians. The Service should be rather pain-free, and will last for about 40 minutes! Refreshments will be served afterwards.
- FAREWELL FUNCTION: Thanks to all of you who helped in any way with the organisation of the function for Patrick and Anne Towers. Around Christmas time is not the best time for organising a function such as this. People have so many demands on their time and, this year especially, on their pocket. However, we know you had a wonderful night, and the cause was good!
As I Was Saying...
Over one hundred parishioners of St. Augustine's said a formal 'farewell' to the Rev'd Towers and his lovely wife Anne at a function in the Ardilaun Hotel on Friday night. It was a most enjoyable occasion, with banter and wine flowing in equal measure. But the occasion was tinged with sadness too, for obvious reasons.
Patrick arrived in Galway nine years ago, shortly after our celebration of the Millennium. London born, though with Irish roots, he came to Galway by a very scenic route indeed. He was ordained an Anglican priest for the Church in Japan in 1974 where he ministered for over ten years. His first Irish appointment was a Rector in Nenagh where he served throughout the 1980s. He arrived in Galway, of course, in the year 2000, an auspicious beginning indeed to the Millennium!
Traditionally, the relationship between the Catholics of Galway and St. Nicholas' Collegiate Church (or 'The Big Church') was ambiguous. Many old Galwegians remember the days when Catholics were forbidden to enter that church under pain of mortal sin. Others had heard rumours of the Devil's presence there! This, of course, ensured that fear and fascination informed the local Catholic attitude to the wonderful building (and probably its patrons too). Obviously, this local 'theological paranoia' was symptomatic of the more general frosty relationship between that two Churches up to the 1960s, when the great Pope John XXIII opened the windows and allowed in some fresh air. Under John's inspiration, ecumenism experienced a new and exciting springtime. However, it took some time for this openness to percolate down the ranks.
Many will argue, with good reason, that this ecumenical openness is now history and that the Catholic Church is once again in the icy grip of another ecumenical winter.
But local ecumenical relations are never quite as bad as they are 'officially', at the hub. Warm personal relations on a local level can overcome the formidably barriers erected by ecclesiastical officialdom. In fact frosty officialdom of whatever provenance will find it difficult to survive the flamboyant presence of a man like Patrick Towers. His whole outlook on life, the very force of his exuberant personality, is inimical to exclusion of any kind. He works out of a deep conviction that a Christian Church must be an open Church; it must be a generous Church, with a special place in its heart for the underdog. He was fortunate in that he was able to create in St. Nicholas' a veritable 'laboratory' where he could put his open Christian experiments to the test. And these experiments worked, most of the time!
We at St. Augustine's were fortunate recipients of his open generosity at the time of our renovations. It was a wonderful privilege to celebrate the Catholic Mass there for the first time since the Reformation. Our nine months in St. Nicholas' transformed the relationship between both our Churches. The burden of history was finally shed, and a new freedom experienced. This was due in the main to Patrick Towers. We were blessed by his presence. We will miss him greatly. We wish Anne and himself a long and happy retirement.
-Dick Lyng
A note of thanks...
Galway Diocesan Youth Services,
Tagaste House,
No. 4 St. Augustine St.,
Galway.
18th December, 2008
Dear Fr. Lyng,
On behalf of the Galway Youth Services, we would like to thank the Augustinian community and your congregations for the marvellous generosity shown to us through the Christmas 'Giving Tree' once again this year. Our people were most thankful and appreciative of the gifts received. Distribution of the gifts formed a central part of our Christmas Lunch at No. 4 on December 17th.
Thank you once again for remembering us, and we wish you and your congregations a very Happy New Year.
Mary MacLynn and Mary Mernagh.
Did you know?
- It is impossible to lick your elbow.
- A crocodile can't stick it's tongue out.
- A shrimp's heart is in its head.
- In a study of 200,000 ostriches over a period of 80 years, no one reported a single case where an ostrich buried its head in the sand.
- It is physically impossible for pigs to look up into the sky.
- A pregnant goldfish is called a twit.
- More than 50% of the people in the world have never made or received a telephone call.
- Rats and horses can't vomit.
- The "sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick" is said to be the toughest tongue twister in the English language.
- The cigarette lighter was invented before the match.
- 23% of all photocopier faults worldwide are caused by people sitting on them and photocopying their buttocks.
- Most lipstick contains fish scales.
- Over 75% of people who read this will try to lick their elbows!
The dilemma that is Gaza...
For anyone familiar with the poetry of Milton the very name Gaza conjures up the tragic tale of Samson, whose fate is in the book of Judges, turned into magnificent poetry in Milton's Samson Agonistes.
Samson was a hero of ancient Israel, a big, strong, sexy, violent playboy; bold, but not over-intelligent. The secret of his strength was in his uncut hair, a secret which he gave away to his nagging mistress Delilah. Alas, she was a spy, and the result was that he was captured by the Philistines, blinded, and taken to Gaza in bronze shackles. In Milton's poem he laments his blindness which makes him subject to 'daily fraud, abuse, contempt and wrong'. His plight was made worse by the mockery of his captors. Finally he was dragged out to entertain them while they feasted at the victory of their god.
The mockery of Samson gives the story pathos. This blinded hero regrets his flaws:
'O impotence of mind in body strong.
But what is strength
without a double share of wisdom?'
I suppose that question could be asked of both Israel and Hamas in their current conflict. Both have strength and both use it to mock one another. The Hamas rockets casually lobbed across into Israel, constantly reminding the Israelis of their insecurity. Israel's brief ceasefire and opening of borders only to shut them again, raising hopes of food and medicine for a few hours and then dashing them. Each side knows exactly where the other feels most vulnerable. The lament of Milton's Samson could apply to the apparent hopelessness of the situation.
'O dark, dark, dark,
amid the blaze of noon'.
Samson, mocked beyond endurance, dragged out to dance like a bear in front of his foes, curled his great hands round the pillars of the house and dragged the roof down on his enemies, killing himself in the process . He was perhaps the first suicide bomber of ancient history. Meanwhile today Gaza sits like a great prison camp; keeping both sides captive to their grievances. The rest of the world wrings its hands and calls for a cease-fire, but neither side seems quite ready for that.
The way the two sides use mockery makes me realise how well they know each other. What we are seeing in Gaza is not a war of strangers but a bitter family struggle between the descendants of Abraham. We all know that family quarrels can be the worst of conflicts and yet just because they run so deep, warring families have resources for understanding each other that strangers lack.
One day, God willing, Israelis and Palestinians will make a formal and lasting peace. It will be a better peace if it acknowledges that both sides have an interest in the other's destiny. That will be when strength truly meets wisdom.
-Rev. Angela Tilby