Sunday Newsletter

Masses Today

6.30: (Vigil): Michael & Anne Joyce, (Anniv).
11.00: John Margetts, (Anniv).
6.30: John & Pauline Ryan, (Anniv).

As I Was Saying...

As the dust settles on any traumatic event, so in time we settle on the story we choose to tell about it. The debris that fell eight years ago this week in New York brought chaos; 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, and it soon became part of our everyday vocabulary.

The plot twisted through the hills of Afghanistan and the deserts of Iraq, where this week the number of dead Coalition soldiers stands at over 4,600 with over 100,000 civilian fatalities. (2,819 died in the original 9/11 attack.) Violence begets violence, as all-too-predictably history seems to repeat itself.

Yet history is also made by unpredictable, individual stories, including our own, which can offer a compelling alternative to the official line. An outstanding example of this 'alternative story' is Andrew Rice who lost a brother David, an investment banker, when the Towers collapsed.

But Rice immediately rejected the 'retaliation' cry and opted for reconciliation instead. He sought out the mother of one of the captured hijackers 'to try to understand, and then to forgive.' He spent three hours with her and concluded that this woman suffered as much as his own grieving mother.

"One day I'll meet Zacharias Moussaoui (the hijacker). I'll say to him, 'you can hate me and my brother as much as you like, but I want you to know that I loved your mother and I comforted her'. My attitude is not all altruism. I'm protecting my brother's spirit by putting a barricade around him. I'm refusing to fall in line with what "they" want, which is visceral hatred between two sides; this gives me permission to reconcile."

He is now part of the Forgiveness Project - a movement established to tell quieter, less publicised tales of reconciliation; of people like him 'who have discovered that the only way to move on in life is to lay aside hatred and blame'.

It's not our place to tell those who have suffered so terribly what they should do. But neither, perhaps, is it our job to seek revenge on their behalf. As Rice says, "Those people crying loudest for retribution so often seem to be the least affected."

To talk, from a distance, of forgiveness on this eighth anniversary may yet sound trite. Only through incarnation in the story of ordinary people offering extra-ordinary hope does it really come to life. As Jesus asked God to forgive his executioners while he hung on the cross, he began the next scandalous chapter in God's reconciliation with us. It's another account which draws little publicity today; yet it invites us all to become characters within it, and offers us a crucial role to play. Whether we accept that role or not, every one of us has a telling story that contributes to the whole. One small act of reconciliation may not win 'the war against terror'; but it may, yet, help to win some peace.

-Dick Lyng

Swine Flu Guidelines

We had a very positive reaction to the precautionary measures taken in the Augustinian in the light of the present swine flu pandemic. (Pardon me for repeating here some of the stuff I wrote last Sunday, but some of you may have been at the match and missed it!) You will have noticed that we removed the Holy Water from all the fonts. (Holy Water is available in the Sacristy, if you wish to take it home). For the time being also, we will 'refrain from embracing' (cf. Ecclesiastes 3:5) at the Sign of Peace. In addition, we offer you the following guidelines regarding the reception of Holy Communion

  1. We recommend that communion be taken in the hand only. Given the manner in which the virus is primarily passed on, reception of Communion on the tongue is discouraged in the Augustinian for the present.
  2. We recommend that you do not drink from the chalice, except for people whose special health conditions require it, such as coeliacs.
  3. If you do decide to receive from the chalice, we recommend that you do it by 'intinction', that is, you receive the host on your hand from the priest or the minister, you then proceed to the chalice on the altar and you dip the host into the chalice before receiving it in your mouth.

We anticipate your kind co-operation.

MORNING AFTER DEATH

Morning after death
Silence up above
Crying across streets
Rubble and debris
Dust still aloft
Thousand dying screams
Empty table places
Empty morning beds
Hope against dark
Manhattan, Washington, America
If only, only, only.

-Edward Ruffin

Day for Ministers & Leaders

I hope you have slotted Saturday, September 26th in your diaries? On that day, of course, we will host our 'Day for Readers and Leaders' in Taylor's Hill. I won't be back in the country until September 24th. So, from today, Sunday September 13th, Fr. Des will take the names of those who are attending the course. It is important that we have exact numbers because we have arranged to have lunch in the Ardilaun Hotel for those attending. Obviously, the hotel, (and of course the Conference Centre), will need to know the numbers beforehand. So, here goes the the 'hard information' once again:

Father Michael Gilroy, Lecturer in The Newman Institute, Ballina, and priest of the Killala Diocese, has kindly agreed to act as Director for the day. Michael's area of expertise is the Sacraments and Liturgy.

Quote, Unquote....

CATHOLIC PRIMARY SCHOOLS

Historically, the Catholic Church has been the provider of the great majority of primary schools in the State because of its position as the Church of the great majority of the people.

However, that situation has changed and continues to change. We are now providing primary education for 92% of the population even though the proportion of those in the population who describe themselves as Catholics has fallen to 87%.

If we take into account those who are simply nominal Catholics and who may not wish to have their children educated in a Catholic school, and those who, while continuing to be attached to the Church, would choose to send their children to schools under different patronage, it is clear that our stake in educational provision is disproportionate to our needs.

- Bishop Leo O'Reilly, The Furrow, Sept. 2009, P. 459.

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