Sunday Newsletter
Masses Today
6.30: (Vigil): Mary Barrett, (Anniv).
11.00: Martin Ryan, (Anniv).
6.30: Michael John O'Connor, (Anniv).
- Masses for Sunday, July 26th: 6.30 (Vigil): Mary McGrath & family; 11.00: Joseph & Catherine Kelly; 6.30: Jimmy & John Lally.
- LAST SUNDAY: The collection last Sunday was €1,842.00. Thanks very much.
- COLLECTION TODAY: One collection each month is a 'diocesan collection'. The money collected is forwarded to the diocesan office. This weekend is the turn of the Hierarchy Commissions. Following on Vatican II, the bishops of Ireland found it necessary to set up a number of committees to help meet the needs of the Irish Church today. (Commissions on Catholic Education, Communications, Ecumenism, Emigrants, Liturgy, Social Welfare, and so on.) Each diocese is levied for the annual running expenses of these commissions, and it is in an effort to meet this levy that this collection is being taken up today.
- CRYING BABIES: The number of small children in our Sunday congregations seems to be on the increase. This development is of course welcome. But small children do as small children must and they scream their heads off from time to time. But they usually reserve their most raucous renditions to coincide with the preacher's punch line! But, on a helpful note, the big dining room in the Priory is always open on Sundays now for that very purpose. Have no hesitation or embarrassment whatsoever about taking up junior and retiring to the dining room for as long as is necessary. All the facilities you need are available there. In fact, why not chill out with a cup of soothing tea as junior bawls himself to a serene standstill! Seriously though, the facilities are there. Why not use them? But the choice is yours. You and baby are welcome, whether or which!
- GALWAY ART CLUB: This annual exhibition continues in St. Patrick's School Hall until Saturday, August 1st. Open daily from 10.00-6.00, and after 11.00 Mass on Sundays. Why not drop in?
As I Was Saying...
Forty years ago tomorrow, Neil Armstrong made that "giant leap for mankind." 'The Man in the Moon' was no longer just the stuff of fairytales. Not even Pope Paul VI could resist a poetic flourish when he greeted "the conquerors of the moon, pale lamp of our nights and our dreams." Optimism abounded. President Nixon called it "the greatest week in the history of the world since the Creation." Former President Lyndon B. Johnson said the landing proved America "can do anything that needs to be done." Future President, Ronald Reagan, was one of thousands who joined the waiting list that summer for the first commercial flight to the moon. It was scheduled for the year 2000! With hindsight, this was a little early technologically and a little late commercially, since the reservations were being taken by the now-defunct Pan American World Airways!
That sense of optimism was shared by many prominent figures. The Dalai Lama foresaw space travel imbuing human knowledge with "a new dimension of infinite scope, development and dynamism." But others were downright hostile. The novelist Arthur Koestler lamented humanity's "spiritual vacuum" and declared: "Prometheus is reaching out for the stars with an empty grin on his face."
However, several of those who subsequently walked on the Moon were spiritually transformed by the experience and devoted much of their later lives to religious quests. James Irwin and Charles Duke became full-time Christian ministers. Irwin spent the rest of his life on Turkey's Mount Ararat in search of Noah's Ark! This issue remained unresolved at his death in 1991.
But people lost interest once the Apollo landings became routine. The reaction to the moon landing 40 years ago resembled the enthusiasts reaction to the first airplane flights, when some predicted a plane in every garage! But at least the plane enthusiasts had something tangible to help sustain interest. Nothing really obvious came of the Apollo program. It was never a necessary technology and it never offered anything that was meaningful to people in economic or social terms.
Nevertheless, the Moon landing ranks with the discovery of the New World by Columbus. A new scientific playground was opened up. And the very process of "attempting" to launch moon missions led to technological leaps in robotics, computers, telecommunications and "life support" techniques.
The collective work of innumerable people across the civil, electrical and mechanical fields made Project Apollo one of the greatest feats of humankind. We left our planet. Members of the human race stepped onto another world. It was astoundingly miraculous then, and remains impressive to this day, despite how blasé people have become with a "been there, done that" mentality. Even the mobile phone is itself a by-product of the Apollo programme. A dubious legacy perhaps, but nevertheless a significant legacy that changed our lives.
-Dick Lyng
The 12 Moon-Walkers
- NEIL ARMSTRONG: The first man on the moon left NASA to become a teacher. After retiring, he returned to his farm where he still lives. He became something of a recluse and he stopped signing autographs after discovering they were being sold.
- BUZZ ALDRIN: Aldrin suffered depression and alcoholism after his moon landing, but recovered. He has appeared on The Simpsons and made a rap record with Snoop Dogg.
- PETE CONRAD: The Commander of Apollo 12, he described himself as the third man to walk on the moon but the first man to dance on the Moon. He flew on Gemini 5 and 11, Apollo 12, and Skylab 2 missions. He moved into aeronautics after leaving NASA. He died in 1999.
- ALAN BEAN: Conrad's co-pilot, Bean took a piece of clan McBean tartan to the moon. Bean resigned from NASA in June 1981 to devote his full time to painting. He is pursuing this dream at his home and studio in Houston.
- ALAN SHEPARD: Commanded Apollo 14 and played golf on the moon. Always a shrewd businessman, Shepard was the first astronaut to become a millionaire while still in the program. He died of leukemia on July 21, 1998.
- EDGAR MITCHELL: Shepard's pilot, Mitchell was the most controversial of all the astronauts. His interests include consciousness and paranormal phenomena. During the Apollo 14 flight he conducted private ESP experiments with his friends on Earth.
- DAVID SCOTT: The commander of Apollo 15, which stayed on the moon for almost 67 hours. After the return of Apollo 15 to Earth, it was discovered that, without authority, Scott took 398 commemorative first day stamps to the moon and sold them to a German dealer. As a result, Scott and his crew never flew in space again.
- JAMES IRWIN: Beyond his achievements as an astronaut, Irwin is most notable for his Christian work. He retired from the Air Force with the rank of colonel in 1972 and founded High Flight, a Christian ministry. He died of a heart attack in 1991, aged 61.
- JOHN W YOUNG: Flew Apollo 16 and drove the moon buggy. After the Apollo program ended, Young stayed on as an astronaut and flew two missions of the Space Shuttle. Young worked for NASA for 42 years and retired on December 31, 2004 at the age of 74.
- CHARLES DUKE: The US Air Force pilot was part of the Apollo 16 crew. He 'found God' after retiring from NASA, and involved himself in prison ministry.
- EUGENE CERNAN: Cernan was the last man to set foot on the moon - as part of Apollo 17 in 1972. He retired in 1976.
- HARRISON SCHMITT: The geologist is the only non-pilot to have made it to the Moon, in Apollo 17. He is the last of the Apollo astronauts to arrive and set foot on the Moon. (Cernan returned to the craft last).
Just in Case
{They left nothing to chance! The following speech, revealed in 1999, was prepared by President Nixon's then speech-writer, William Safire, to be used in the event of a disaster that would maroon the astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin on the moon}:
Fate has ordained that the men who went to the moon to explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace. These brave men, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, know that there is no hope for their recovery. But they also know that there is hope for mankind in their sacrifice.
These two men are laying down their lives in mankind's most noble goal: the search for truth and understanding.
They will be mourned by their families and friends; they will be mourned by their nation; they will be mourned by the people of the world; they will be mourned by a Mother Earth that dared send two of her sons into the unknown.
In their exploration, they stirred the people of the world to feel as one; in their sacrifice, they bind more tightly the brotherhood of man.
In ancient days, men looked at stars and saw their heroes in the constellations. In modern times, we do much the same, but our heroes are epic men of flesh and blood.
Others will follow, and surely find their way home.
Man's search will not be denied. But these men were the first, and they will remain the foremost in our hearts.
For every human being who looks up at the moon in the nights to come will know that there is some corner of another world that is forever mankind.
A relieved President Richard Nixon later laughed with Apollo 11 astronauts, Commander Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin, through the window of the Mobile Quarantine Facility aboard the USS Hornet.